BANGKOK, 4 May 2012 – A leading development expert is against an effort to adapt international concepts to political and economic development in Thailand, saying that making such an effort without thorough understanding of the difference in basic and social structures of each country has put Thai politics on an insecure foundation.
Giving a talk on “Sufficiency Economy Philosophy and Sustainable Democracy” to participants in a high-level course on political and election development on Friday, Secretary-general of the Chaipattana Foundation Sumet Tantivejakul said that Thai politics has undergone a rise and fall all the time because Thailand has never had its own development pattern that corresponds to the true conditions of the country. At the same time, efforts have been made to bring in foreign development concepts for adaptation in Thailand, without paying attention to the fact that each society has a different background.
Mr Sumet believed that laws and regulations including the constitution must be based on the middle path that is suitable to the Thai ways of life and can be applicable to everybody using the same standard. He also believed that the new constitution being drafted would not be much different from the 2007 charter. He hoped the number of articles in the new charter would be fewer than that in the current constitution as the number is also an indication of development.
He advised that constitution drafters should adhere to the middle-path principle both in terms of number of articles and quality of content. If not, amendments will recur repeatedly. Most of all, people in the country must be instilled that democracy will be achieved only when people respect rules, observe their duties and show responsibilities.
He concluded by quoting His Majesty the King’s statement as saying that in developing a country, it is necessary to study its geo-socio background because people in each country possess different perspectives and social norms; political development, therefore, has to correspond with the people living in that area.
