ACT’s ‘new face’ shakes up party funding

Rank-and-file donors courted over big business to ensure members get a decent say, writes Nattaya Chetchotiros

Katerut Laothamatas, a 29-year-old politician, wants to prove that the Ruamphalang Prachachartthai Party, which was co-founded by Suthep Thaugsuban, is not just an ad hoc group created to support the military government.

The fledgling party is also known as the Action Coalition for Thailand (ACT). “If we were created to serve that purpose, why do we need to build a new political culture?” Mr Katerut quipped as he gave an interview to the Bangkok Post.

“And if so, wouldn’t it be better to join the Palang Pracharath Party?” said Mr Katerut, referring to another pro-government party believed to be working for the return of Gen Prayut as prime minister after next year’s election.

Mr Katerut is a new face, one of those “young bloods” in Thailand’s political landscape. A new face ... yet not exactly brand new in terms of his political lineage. Like many “young bloods” in Thai politics, Mr Katerut has relatives who are politicians.

His father — academic-cum-politician Anek Laothamatas — is co-founder of the Ruamphalang Prachachartthai Party.

Father and son are alike in many ways. Like his father, Mr Katerut started his career in academia as a lecturer before shifting to politics.

Mr Katerut is one of 600 founding members of the ACT party.

Many of them are new faces but some are his academic friends from the university where he taught.

The hundreds who gathered to set up ACT are required by law to contribute 10,000 baht each as initial capital. However, the party asked each of them to give 50,000 baht to cover the party’s expenses.

With their contributions, the party now has more than 30 million baht, sufficient to organise party meetings and talks with communities nationwide to learn from people and understand their problems and needs, he said.

Mr Katerut was appointed as the party’s spokesman and asked to oversee youth development and educational policy.

Yet, during his interview with the Post, Mr Katerut appeared to focus on how the party will create a new political culture through its membership system and how membership fees can ensure people feel a sense of ownership of the party.

Mr Katerut said the membership system is a means to help people become real owners of the party.

Such a concept is new to Thai politics. Political parties in Thailand traditionally have rich donors as sources of funding. But donation money often comes with strings attached.

“To mute the criticism, the number of party members will be an important tool,” said Mr Katerut, who graduated in economics from Virginia Commonwealth University in the US.

“Now we have nearly 10,000 members. We have to go on to hit the 100,000 target,” he said.

The party needs at least 100,000 members because it intends to use only money from those members to run its operations.

ACT does not want to rely on financial support from businessmen who might view their help as a kind of investment for a pay-off in future.

“This will be a big change in Thai politics as only people, not business people, will be allowed to join the party to run its affairs,” he said.

“People will become the real owners of the party with the right to appoint and dismiss party executives as well as shape party policies,” he said.

The ACT caused a big splash when the party announced that it wants only one thing in return from its members — a contribution of one baht a day, or 365 baht a year.

The amount is higher than the legal requirement of 50 baht-100 baht annual membership fees, but the ACT wants its members to sacrifice a bit more for its financial health.

“If we have 100,000 people registered with the party, we will have 100,000 baht a day coming in,” Mr Katerut said.

“That is more than enough to run the party for a decade and this will explain why we’re not just an ad hoc party.”

Apart from recruiting more members, Mr Katerut and his team are visiting people and holding forums to exchange views with them.

The party is not targeting community leaders with political charisma during the discussions as it only wants to meet villagers who possess “local wisdom” and give the party some insights into community development.

In Mr Katerut’s view, the activity can be declared a success if the party gathers useful information from hundreds of experts.

It is an exhausting job as he and his ACT colleagues are always on the move, travelling across the country.

However, more exhausting is helping Mr Suthep and his father and veteran politician, Anek, gather new party members.

After travelling to meet people and trying to develop the party, Mr Katerut told the Bangkok Post that he already understands why his father was physically drained when he became the first leader of the Mahachon Party in 2001.

Mr Katerut was then aged 13 and had no idea why a political career depleted such a large amount of energy.

But today, Mr Katerut said, he understands fully why it is so draining.

He also understands the sheer joy that might prompt his father to leave his teaching career and jump into politics.

Now we have nearly 10,000 members. We have to go on to hit the 100,000 target.

KATERUT LAOTHAMATAS ACT PARTY MEMBER