Seems to me that the gun is being jumped; surely the main thing should be to demonstrate that an altered governmental system is open to social pressures.

Here even social pressure is bought.

I was waiting for today's barking looney statement from our dear rulers and here it comes right on schedule.

Why bother with elections at all, just have, say, an army General appoint himself Prime Minister.

Oh...

the one MP per province has one huge and fatal flaw, it is unequal representation.

Classic Thainess, it's not about representation, it's about status, and thus you only need one boss per province. They are f**kn clueless about democracy.

Do they really think that increasing the power of local government (District/tambon/municipality) would reduce corruption? They must be barking. Just even more chances to fill their pockets.

"with one elected MP from each province" is the perfect thing for vote buying.

Make it 100 MPs all party list MPs. No need for province MPs.

Reduce the 77 provinces to 5-20.

Allow referendums like in Switzerland.

Less Politicians = less corruption, hes down to 77 - how long before it's only one politician?

all happened before.

ah i forgot history isn't part of the Thai curriculum....

How does decreasing the number of MPs and giving more powers to local bodies cut corruption, when even the post of village heads is determined by vote buying?

The picture sums up so much of what happens here, A Thai would be ' somebody ' plus a microphone = a d..ickhead comment.

national goverment TO local ones.

so thats why the local ob-bor-tor has been giving food to the monks every day.

That's like prescibing Aspirin for Ebola.

It works out mathematically. Seventy-seven corrupt politicians minus 70 corrupt politicians equals 7 corrupt politicians, which clearly results in less corruption.

This would be the end of the Democrat Party if they really move ahead.

Orwelian state that is proper

Looks like dear Chai-Anan is laying the building stones for a one man rules it all governing.

The picture sums up so much of what happens here, A Thai would be ' somebody ' plus a microphone = a d..ickhead comment.

You certainly know all about those.

Less Politicians = less corruption, hes down to 77 - how long before it's only one politician?

well taking this Thai logic to its conclusion.. NO politicians or people in authority = no corruption at all. Every Thai will act in the best interests of society and his fellow Thai without being told to, and every Thai will follow the guiding principle of sufficiency economy and there will be Thainess and happiness all round. Easy really.

the one MP per province has one huge and fatal flaw, it is unequal representation.

A fatal flaw or design intent? I guess that depends if you are on the side that can't seem to win an election or not.

Doh! How many MPs are elected in BKK? Most go to which party? hint , it's not Pay Twice (real value) Party.

If that were an important consideration, ie was key to continued dominance of the democratic process, then you might have a point. But, it is not. The large population of BKK and its associated representation is NOT enough to maintain control of Thai politics, control has required coup after coup. Therefore it is a failed, and unimportant advantage.

If you have a weak position, with no apparent/appealing way of strengthening it in the current system, then change the system. You sacrifice your insufficient advantage, and put in place a new Potential advantage. What is the potential advantage? The ability to target low population districts and gain exactly the same incremental power (one MP vote) as winning a huge population district. Now you have a scenario where a relatively small investment, can reap enormous rewards. A small gov program that benefits only one area is much cheaper than trying to buy the votes of a large population.

I hate to bring up US politics again, but I am familiar with it and it is illustrative because that is how the US senate works. Wyoming with under 600k people has the same 2 votes in the Senate that the nearly 40 MILLION people of California has. Which senate seats do you think are cheaper to buy? And THAT is the system this guy is proposing for Thailand.

Also, the system he is proposing is demonstrably un-fair, disenfranchising, and easily corrupted. So, after the smokescreen of reducing corruption blows away, you have to ask... WHY is he proposing it as a "democratic" reform?

'Fewer Thai MPs would mean less corruption'

..........And fewer cars would mean less traffic.........yeah..right!

"..........And fewer cars would mean less traffic.........yeah..right!

Well actually, yes, that would be 100% accurate

I think that the government should decentralize, however there is corruption at every level here so corruption must be stopped first before it is just taken from the city and spread to the countryside. Already my husband complains about the corruption in our province. Claims we live in the most corrupt province in Thailand...

How about no MP's at all.

This is just the start of the 'softening up' period to provide reasons to reduce the voting power of the poor in the North and NE.

That's been an on-going project since 1932.

So, by his reasoning, fewer MP's would mean less corruption? Let's expand on his reasoning. Then NO MP's would mean NO corruption.

Duplicate post, sorry

Less Politicians = less corruption, hes down to 77 - how long before it's only one politician?

Errrrr ... I believe it already is (down to one) but who's counting?

Correct me If I'm wrong , so by reducing amount of MP's less corruption? or in other words translates to bigger bribe pots spread among fewer corrupt MP's Equals Less corrupt officials? Where is my Thainess handbook?

Aha.

So logically, if they only had one MP like a dear leader such as north Korea there would be almost no corruption then.

Why does Thailand produce such simple minded pooyais?

How about this Civilian Review board watching over MP's if Mp found to be corrupt all assets seized and upon conviction serve 20 years in prison at hard labor no early out, and family plus him or herself banned for life for any office.

the one MP per province has one huge and fatal flaw, it is unequal representation.

agreed - proportional representation is critical

Why does Thailand produce such simple minded pooyais?

Because it's much easier to stand up in public and repeat this nonsensical drivel if you are sufficiently stupid that the obvious absurdity of it all completely escapes you.

How about this Civilian Review board watching over MP's if Mp found to be corrupt all assets seized and upon conviction serve 20 years in prison at hard labor no early out, and family plus him or herself banned for life for any office.

Could we have one of those for the military also?