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