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the elections as unlimited as license to do anything, there will be opposition, there
will be people who are suspicious, there will be people who are not quite comfortable

with that kind of creeping power into everything. And that is what Levitsky called
“Competitive Authoritarianism.” So, in the legislature, Chairperson of the National
Reform Council, we have to think about how to make sure that the power of the

people is not going to be hijacked for the purpose of certain groups, certain parties,
and certain coalitions. The balance of power in the parliament is necessary. Check and

balance inside.

The third one is the balance in the relations between the political leadership and

the bureaucracy. I have just mentioned that. How to create and guarantee that the
bureaucracy will be protected from political interference. I had an opportunity to meet

with Mr. Blair when he came in to share his experiences how to reconcile with the
Northern Ireland separatists. I told him that the bureaucracy is a problem. I said, in
your system, your Excellency, Mr. Prime Minister, you have this TV series called “Yes

Minister,” meaning when the political leaders want anything, the bureaucrat will have
to say yes. It is a comedy. But I asked Prime Minister Blair, “has there been an

occasion when the bureaucrat said no minister, even no prime minister?” Mr. Blair said
“oh yes, when they don’t want to go to jail with us, they will say no. Oh yes when
they can’t take our policy, they will resign.” The problem with our bureaucracy is it is

a collection of nepotism, relatives, friends of friends, appointed because there is a
phone call coming to ask for that appointment. Appointed because there is a name

card saying that this person should be given that position. To the point where the
entire bureaucracy has become totally weakened, unable to perform the functions.
So, the balance between the political leadership and the bureaucracy has to be found.

Can we find a system that the bureaucracy has its own buffer? That any bureaucracy
will have to have its own line of succession very clear, that you groom people coming

up to become a deputy director-general (อธิบดี) or a permanent secretary (ปลัด) so that
“ไม่มีใครกระโดดร่มมาจากที่อื่น,” so that political leadership is not going to bring
anybody from outside, MY PROTÉGÉ, from somewhere and become a deputy

director-general or a permanent secretary in your ministry. The bureaucracy will have
to be shielded, protected and given a space of themselves, of their own so that they

will be saved from interference from the political leadership, particularly when the bad
political leadership takes majority as license as I said earlier.

Corruption. Corruption distorts power relations in the state. When you
accumulate wealth. And in our system, when you have wealth, you have power.