Thai voters: Do we need politicians?

Since parliament was dismissed in February, power has been in the hands of a caretaker administration led by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Mr. Thaksin, a former police colonel turned telecommunications billionaire, won a second victory last year before running into a storm of controversy in January. The tempest was over the tax-free sale of the family's stake in a telecommunications company that Thaksin founded to an arm of Singapore's government. The row fueled street protests in Bangkok and polarized its political elite.

On Thursday, the first day of the election campaign, police defused a bomb hidden in a car near Thaksin's house, AP reported. An Army officer was detained.

Under pressure to resign, Thaksin agreed to take a "political break" after the April 2 polls, only to reverse his decision a month later. He remains popular in rural areas and is still seen as the candidate to beat. But with his party caught up in a slugfest with the opposition, and Thaksin facing an inquiry into the telecom deal as well as election tampering, there's little time for policymaking.

So day-to-day governance falls largely to powerful civil servants. They have had plenty of practice. During the 1990s, the average government lasted 18 months, and ministers rarely spent enough time in their jobs to make changes.

While Thaksin's government has had more staying power, his frequent cabinet reshuffles have had a similar effect.

Economists say that a bureaucracy running on autopilot won't revive confidence. 'The real problem ... is that the private sector has started to seize up with the political situation. How long before we start to see long-term damage to the economy?" asks Bill Belchere, an economist with Macquarie Bank in Hong Kong.

Infrastructure projects are one area where governments play a crucial role, say economists. Without political consensus, nothing is likely to get built at a time when Thailand's neighbors are rapidly upgrading their infrastructure.

Another victim is a US-Thai free-trade agreement, on hold after two years of talks. The US has since turned its attention to other Asian trading partners such as South Korea and Malaysia.

Then there's education, often seen as a weak link. Inspectors said this week that two-thirds of 30,000 primary and secondary schools underperform. Urgent reforms are needed, say economists, if the workforce is to hold its own.

Kasit Piromya, a retired diplomat turned opposition politician, goes a step further, arguing that the government needs to raise its own game. "We can't compete with India and China on unskilled, low-tech workers, but we can compete on good governance and having an open society," he says. "This should be our strong point."

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