Conflict, Legitimacy and Government Reform: Equitable Allocation of ...

Panel Discussion
GDP growth was 9.5 per cent per annum which was the highest in the
world at that time.
Nevertheless, a reputed scholar who is keen on this found a
conclusion from his study that even if we don’t need a democratic system
to propel economic growth, democracy has its inherent values that other
regimes like communism, authoritarian or military government don’t
have. These values include freedom, equality and human rights. Dr.
Bavornsak also agreed on these points when saying “…We must be
democratic to live in the global society with dignity and for ourselves
because democracy bestows rights, liberties and freedom of choices on us
while authoritarian doesn’t have ...” (Bavornsak, 2009: 12)
Aside from that, democracy also has another merit. It is an
administrative regime that can resolve conflicts in an industrial society
with the lowest cost. Institutions such as political parties, parliament,
independent bodies, transparent and trustworthy justice system, and a
constitution that is the supreme law that regulate political rules have
been accepted internationally that they can be used as the most efficient
tools to resolve conflict. We can observe that many countries in the
world, including even India, still uphold democracy.
Thailand is part of the globalized societies. Thus, it cannot avoid
having any connection with democracy and must seek to consolidate our
democracy.
There is another criticism on the democratic system that must be
mentioned, that is, corruption by politicians. Corruption is a problem in
every political system. Certainly, switching from democracy to other
regime will not solve corruption problems and even switching from
elected MPs to appointed MPs will not solve the problems either. Many
studies, including studies conducted by the research team at
Chulalongkorn University where I am also a member, discovered that
democracy is the best means to mitigate corruption. This is because legal
frameworks and institutions can be developed to deal with such
problems, particularly checks and balances system and reform of judicial
processes. Mr. Rakkiat, Mr. Wattana and Kamnan Poh who used to be an
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