Campaigns of bait and switch

General News : Monday December 10, 2007

EDITORIAL

Campaigns of bait and switch

When voters go to the polls on Sunday, Dec 23, they will hope to find good people to vote for. They will balance the performance and reputation of the various candidates.

Many or most will consider the party membership of the candidates. And well they should. The top parties contesting the polls offer some stark choices, particularly in their political platforms. But seldom has there been a national political campaign in this country in which parties and candidates have so shamelessly issued economic promises. Voters should be wary about awarding their votes to parties and candidates who have jumped so heedlessly on the populist bandwagon.

Even the claim of being populist is a fib. Populism, as the very word implies, is a political movement from the bottom up. True populists oppose the elite kleptocrats and take control of the government coffers to benefit the population rather than those in government. It's a little rich, then, to see the fat cats of the leading parties grasp the populist banner.

This election is already well known for having almost every questionable, old politician from the bad old days of corrupt governments. It's a little rich to see many of these men proclaiming they are converts from top-down paternalism and now suddenly see the wisdom of community funds _ administered from the top down, of course.

The word ''populism'' aside, however, it is unfortunate that pretty well all contending parties and candidates have jumped on giveaway politics.

No serious voter can believe that any of the parties will keep their economic promises, even if they gain a parliamentary majority. Any imaginable ruling coalition will be beset from the outset by duelling election promises, doubling or tripling the cost of any attempt to keep the campaign promises of all party leaders and members.

The sorry and dirty fact of this election campaign is that party leaders, candidates and literature are making promises they know will not be kept. Serious political analysts and academics have pointed out correctly that the country does not have the money to pay for the promises of any of the parties likely to be in the next government. Economists have been virtually unanimous that there is no way beyond considerable increases in taxes and government service fees to raise such money.

Serious political parties, in Thailand and abroad, typically make election commitments to improve the lives of everyone. The election promise is a tried, true, traditional part of democratic politics. But there is a line. Many of the so-called populist promises of the top political parties in this campaign are essentially false advertising.

What is worse, the top politicians know that what they are doing amounts to virtual bait-and-switch marketing. Many voters who give their confidence to parties and politicians on Dec 23 because of attractive economic policies will be disappointed next year. The promises of instant comfort, quick relief from financial pain, and fast, fast access to cash for luxury goods are no better than similar promises to relieve pain and cure cancer from the snake-oil salesman at the Sunday afternoon market.

Thailand's economy is healthy but hardly thriving. Growth is low, unemployment is rising. The cost of living is about to rise far more dramatically in 2008. The government that will be formed after the elections _ no matter who wins _ will be seriously searching for funds to keep regular services at a dependable and efficient level. There is no foreseeable chance of the sort of surplus that will be needed to keep government running while also starting up handfuls of new services costing hundreds of billions of baht, not in 100 days or a year.

The answer to this problem is that voters should be sceptical in making their decision. A vote is a precious asset. It should not be handed over any more easily than hard-earned money. No one is going to pay a door-to-door salesman who promises to return next month with the goods, without some other form of security.

Neither should any voter give his or her valuable ballot to a politician who says, basically: ''Trust me.''

Those who vote on the basis of expecting quick, no-pain returns in the form of so-called populist projects and easier life will be disappointed.

By : Bangkok Post