The political reform committee, appointed as one of the 13 committees under the new national reform law, this week invited leaders of key parties to share with it their views on Thailand’s future politics and the reform blueprint.

The first day of the week started with Chartthai Pattana’s director Nikorn Chamnong who was first to meet with the committee, before being followed by Bhumjaithai Party’s leader Anutin Charnvirakul, Chart Pattana’s advisor Suwat Liptapanlop and Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva.

Chair Anek Laothamatas presented them in turn with five key political reform issues that the committee has addressed to guide reform in the blueprint.

While wanting to give support to free and fair elections, the committee wished also to promote Dharma-led democracy where compassion and morality wouldbe adopted to lead the regime, introduce mechanisms to address conflict, decentralise power and, last but not least, promote a healthy political culture as a solid foundation for future Thai politics.

Anek later said the invited parties had agreed with all the points, and suggested that political culture, though a long-term process, would be key to helping lay a foundation for strong politics in the country.

Anek said the committee has been developing the plan for transforming political culture, so that it could be put in place, and it’s something “educational” and “time consuming”.

However, he said, concerned parties need to join hands and nurture it following their roles and duties. He added that several requirements for developing a stronger political culture already exists, pending further utilisation, and suggested “compromise” as an example.

During the meeting, Anek noted his observations on that front. The invited leaders agreed that to reduce conflict and division, they would help reduce their stated “conditions” in order to participate in “negotiations” so that the country could move forward. They said if the conflict and division continued, they wished to see peaceful approaches to deal with it.

They also said they agreed with new rules and laws that have been set, and agreed that they would accept the election results. Whether to join the government or not, the “conditions” could be discussed later, Anek quoted Suwat as saying, recounting his mention of popularity as one of the factors in their decisions.

“With such compromise, what we can see now is that the ‘political temperature’ has reduced,” said Anek.

Anek said Democrat leader Abhisit particularly stressed that point, calling for introduction of a set of political ethics standards.

Abhisit had said that the best political reform was not through laws, but through political ethics and guidelines to follow. Anchoring behaviour in ethical norms and standards may take time to develop, and time is the biggest challenge in Thai politics.

Nikorn also agreed. He said while the election was important, political culture, decentralisation and others were no less so, as they were actually fundamental to politics.

The noted political reformer suggested the committee reprioritise its work in the blueprint.

“After listening, I have realised that ‘political reform’ is [implementing] critical changes in the way we do things, with concerned parties taking part based on their roles and duties. People need to take part, and on alert, having not just rights, but duties to perform. The politicians, meanwhile said they didn’t want to see a coup again, and they too should take part,” said Anek.

The committee will meet with Pheu Thai’s heavyweight, Sudarat Keyurapan to hear her views on Tuesday before holding public hearings and submitting the plan to the government next month.