Tips for tackling Thaksinism

The well-entrenched patronage system, cronyism and too much centralisation of power are the real culprits. Centralised power has alienated people at the grass-roots level who are Thaksin’s strongest political base. Without them, no amount of money in Thaksin’s arsenal would be enough to enable him and his surrogates to win successive elections time after time in the past or in the future.

Without real reform of our political system, it would be very difficult for meaningful changes to take root. Even if the Yingluck government is toppled and a general election is called, Thaksin and his allies will always find ingenious ways to game the system. Judging from their past successes, they are masters of this game under the existing system.

I regret to say that there is no quick fix for Thailand, a white knight in shining armour, or any magic tips to tackle Thaksinism.

The only way for Thailand to escape this political quagmire is the long and arduous road of real political reform. Otherwise, even if we didn’t have a Thaksin today, there’d surely be another Thaksin, who knows how to exploit the system, waiting for us down the road.

Having tried this road once and hit a dead-end is no excuse for not trying it again. We owe it to the generations that will follow and live with our legacy to get it right this time.

Anan Pakvasa

Bangkok