Billionaire forms new Thai party
Anakot Mai or Future Forward Party hopes to challenge traditional powers
BANGKOK: Thailand’s slow move from military to civilian governance has attracted dozens of new political parties to register in barely two weeks, including one by an Internet-famous billionaire who says he embraces democracy and wants to challenge the country’s traditional powers.
Anakot Mai, or the Future Forward Party, was registered yesterday under the name it received just this week after “Help Thanathorn name his party” trended among Thai Twitter users. A Facebook live interview with party co-founder Thananthorn Juangroongruangkit had over 100,000 views and prompted warnings he was being watched by the ruling junta.
Thailand’s military seized power in 2014, and allowing political parties to register is a step toward long-delayed elections, now promised by next February. The Future Forward Party was the 58th to register since the junta opened the process on March 2.
“My idea is to make this party stand for democratic principles,” Thanathorn, 39, told reporters at a news conference.
“I want to see a political party that dares to oppose organisations, institutions, and values that oppose democracy.”
“We will make democracy a part of every decision-making process from the choosing of party members, the determining of party direction and strategy, to the developing of party policies,” he said.
Thanathorn, the executive vice president of leading auto parts manufacturer Thai Summit Group, said he would rely on crowd-funded resources to support his party rather than his own wealth.
He said the party believes in transparent governance, equal rights and economic equality, among other progressive principles, and that it will not take sides with popular figures.
For more than a decade, Thailand had been wracked by occasionally violent political fighting between supporters and opponents of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra seen as a challenger to Thailand’s traditional elite.
He was ousted in a 2006 coup and his sister’s government in 2014, and the delays in returning to civilian rule are seen as an attempt to prevent a comeback by Thaksin’s powerful political machine.