'Independent lawmakers must' for a fair govt

The Senate committee on good governance and a group of 40 senators yesterday organised the seminar aimed at improving the political system.
Key panellists included two senators, Paiboon Nititawan and Kamnoon Sidhisamarn, former senator Chirmsak Pinthong and former charter framer Komsan Pokong.
Chirmsak said the emergence of a political party owned by an individual could be attributed to the fact that party founders had no ideology and relied on their financiers to sustain the party.
This led to the spread of funds to woo electoral candidates to join and boost the party, he said.
Aspiring candidates, in turn, opted to flock to the party with the most potential to name a prime minister, he added. A clear example of one-man party ownership was the case involving the ruling Pheu Thai Party, whose de facto leader, many believe, is former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Under partisan politics, lawmakers have no choice but to vote in accordance with the party line, he said.
He called for an antidote to partisanship by allocating seats for independent MPs.
Kamnoon said the system of partisanship should be overhauled.
Under the present system, lawmakers were like company employees dictated to by capitalists, he said.
In a true democracy, lawmakers should be able to exercise their discretion in serving the public interest and not be dominated by party financiers, he said.
He said the prevailing political system was similar to the market dominance of one player.