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In the thrust forward for greater transparency. the management of public
"paticipation" or public "input" into policies which govern rights issues. or indeed. any public
issue at any level. is an immensely difficult job today. and is only going to become more
difficult as time moves on. Anyone who has been in government either as a legislator or as a
public official knows very well the feelings of anger. controversy and frustration that can be

stirred up when the public starts to meddle in matters which those in authority regard as their
job. This is particularly true when the meddling involves professional matters such as the
allocation of funds. the environment. land use issues or where the next bridge or dam should
go. These are areas which until recently have been squarely in the domain of the professional
civil servants and their masters.

No longer. As we go into the next century. we are all going to have to adapt to the

new reality that the public is every bit as well equipped as the professional manager to assess
the merits of a particular initiative. policy. or program. What with a highly educated populace
worldwide. and increasing access to the most up-to-date information about everytheing. one
might claim that there are many outside of the governance circles who are better equipped to
settle the critical issues of the day.

It used to be that politicians and bureaucrats alile argued the case of the "greatest
good". That is. they felt justified conducting business. making decisions on the grounds that
the alone knew what was in the best interest of the greatest nembers. Trouble with that is :

"who says?" In this day of universal education. access to information in an unprecedented way.
data previously only available to the professionals or the mandarins is now at anyone's finger-
tips. Everything is amenable to detailed scrutiny. For everything. there are other sides to the
argument.

So. in today's world. what is rightfully the domain of the politician or of the public

servant? What are the subjects available to the public for its "input"? Because there is no clear
line of demarcation. in advanced democracies. matters of governance have reached the point
of "stasis". At its extreme. stasis as a state of affairs where everything in government has
ground to a complete halt because the legislators are not willing. or not equipped to decide a
course of action. and no bureaucrat is prepared to risk his or her career taking responsibility
for either. For example. in Canada and Australia. decisions regarding ejection of illegal mi-
grants are bogged down in a welter of contradictory policies and laws. No early resolution
seems likely. Recently here in Thailand. Ministers and senior bureaucrats have been pitted

against each other in the press on issues from the price of cassava to the appointemt of senior
officials. In such cases there can be no winners.
In a situation where there are no prescriptions. how is the public good best served?
In a climate where the public must be "consulted" on everything to achieve "transparency".