Thai Families In Parliamentary Politics

[Ricardo]

I am struck by a feature of Thai politics, in all of the parties, which seems more prominent here, than in most other democracies. This is the extent to which whole families seem to go in for politics.

Whenever some politician gets a 5-year ban, it is very often his wife, or one of his children, who are then nominated as the replacement MP. This tends to defeat the aim of the ban. One classic example was the way one former-PM was followed, a few years later, by his brother-in-law taking the same role, regardless of his ability to manage the job.

I regard this as generally a bad thing, nepotism only helps the country when the whole family actually is skilled or talented, but must recognise that it seems to be generally-accepted so far by the electorate, perhaps because of a past-history of patrons and culture of respect for older wiser heads ? Or is it solely down to money ?

I would welcome more individuals, not linked to power-families, coming through the system, and would hope that this might speed-up the evolution of the established or indeed new parties, based on political-beliefs rather than family-based or regional power-blocks.

Is this too much to hope for ?

[JetsetBkk]

...I would welcome more individuals...coming through the system...

...Is this too much to hope for ?

In the short term, yes. Nepotism is rife in all walks of Thai life, not just politics, so you often get the wrong people in the top jobs relying on their more qualified underlings to get things done properly.

Regarding politics, you have to have a certain level of education and the certificates to prove it, before you can be an MP. (Not so long ago Chuwit threatened to name some TRT MPs with fake degrees.)

So a large proportion of rural farmers and their children cannot get into politics. Hence the mess that Thailand is in right now.

[Crushdepth]

I am struck by a feature of Thai politics, in all of the parties, which seems more prominent here, than in most other democracies. This is the extent to which whole families seem to go in for politics.

Whenever some politician gets a 5-year ban, it is very often his wife, or one of his children, who are then nominated as the replacement MP. This tends to defeat the aim of the ban. One classic example was the way one former-PM was followed, a few years later, by his brother-in-law taking the same role, regardless of his ability to manage the job.

I regard this as generally a bad thing, nepotism only helps the country when the whole family actually is skilled or talented, but must recognise that it seems to be generally-accepted so far by the electorate, perhaps because of a past-history of patrons and culture of respect for older wiser heads ? Or is it solely down to money ?

Why don't we ask George Bush Jr and Senior for their views on the benefits of family politics to the well being of humanity?

[tigerboy]

Why don't we ask George Bush Jr and Senior for their views on the benefits of family politics to the well being of humanity?

And let's not forget the Clinton's or the Kennedy's either!

In any case nepotism seems to be working well for Singapore, the current PM, Lee Hsien Loong, is the son of the first and longest serving PM, Lee Kuan Yew. It just doesn't seem to work for North Korea though.

Which of these models should Thailand follow I wonder? Open to people of many origins and races or shut off from the rest of the world and massively xenophobic...

[tigerboy]

Ricardo, sorry if i appear to be hi-jacking your thread...

[Ricardo]

Ricardo, sorry if i appear to be hi-jacking your thread...

No problem, I rather suspect it wasn't going anywhere much, rather like democracy here thus far ...