Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra inched a step closer towards staking a claim as a great reformer when his sweeping plans to change Thailand's 110-year-old bureaucracy was approved by the country's monarch this week.

The political triumph places Thaksin ahead of his 29 predecessors, none of whom, according to politicians and political analysts here, dared to challenge the power of the bureaucracy.

''Previous prime ministers were unwilling to consider changing the bureaucracy,'' says Kraisak Choonhavan, chairman of the Senate committee on foreign affairs.

''Political parties in power had been so unstable that by default the bureaucracy had grown in strength.''

''The bureaucracy has been the most influential and powerful institution in the country, and often was even more powerful than the politicians,'' says Sunai Phasuk, an analyst at Forum-Asia, a Bangkok-based regional human rights watchdog.

''Governments feared being brought down if they attempted change of this scale.

'' If Thaksin's reform agenda prevails, it will assure the prime minister a lasting legacy, says Sunai. ''However only time will tell,'' he adds, a view shared by Kraisak.

Modern civil service

The 110-year old institution that the premier is taking on was established by King Chulalongkorn, the Thai king credited for guiding his country down the road to modernisation. At the time, Thailand was still an absolute monarchy, a phase that ended with a coup in 1932 that ushered in democracy.

''What the king founded during the years 1890 through 1910 was not only the centralised Thai state that has continued till date, but also a modern civil service comprising specialised ministries,'' states The Nation , an English-language daily, quoting from a book on Thai history.

''Modern law codes were drafted and put into force by administrators, judges and lawyers. Fiscal administration was centralised and modern accounting, budgeting and auditing procedures introduced,'' it adds.

But since then, the bureaucracy has been unable to keep pace with contemporary needs, to ''help Thailand to go forward,'' says Pimuk Simaroj, deputy spokesman for Thaksin's governing Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thai - TRT) party. The prime minister is seeking to establish an efficient system through the reforms, adds Pimuk.

''Thailand needs such efficiency to move ahead, and also for faster problem solving and for the people's needs to be served.'' Among the significant developments in Thaksin's plans is his expansion of the bureaucracy, with the number of ministries increasing from the present 14 to 20.

The new ministries will include those for social development and human security, natural resources and environment, energy, environment, information technology and communications and culture. While Thailand's opposition party, the Democrats, supports in principle the long-overdue bureaucratic reforms, it questions the rational for an expanded bureaucracy.

Greater burden

''It goes against the international trend for smaller governments,'' says Abhisit Vejjajiva, deputy leader of the Democrat Party.

''Rather than expanding the number of ministries, the government should have reduced the bureaucracy's size and shifted some of the work load to the private sector.'' Furthermore, he contends, the Thai tax payer will have to bear a greater burden due to the reforms. ''The government needs about 1.5 billion baht (345 million U.S. dollars) more to fund the new ministries.''

Thailand has two million civil servants among its 66 million population. But the Democrats are not the only ones lacking in enthusiasm over Thaksin's feat. A recent survey conducted among 1,377 Bangkok resident reflects a mood of scepticism about how much Thaksin will be able to achieve through the bureaucratic shake-up.

For one, nearly 74 percent of the people questioned in the poll felt that the reforms will not curb the rampant spread of corruption in the bureaucracy, while over 54 percent had doubts about the bureaucracy being able to function efficiently, as envisioned by the government.

''These people are correct, I agree with their views. Corruption in the bureaucracy is deep and wide and has been with us for a long time,'' says Arasdharma Promma, head of Ramkhamhaeng University's Public Opinion Centre.

The survey, ''The Bureaucratic Reform: What People Gain from It?'' was conducted by the Bangkok-based centre on Sept. 27. However, she advocates the need for reform. ''It is important, but the problem is the bureaucrats and politicians benefiting.'' And for his part, Kraisak, the senator, is also critical of the way the government pushed this agenda through, with limited public participation and greater bureaucratic input.

More public hearings

''The entire process should have had more public hearings from the beginning,'' he says. ''The public had to be involved every step of the way.''

What the public got, instead, was a steady dose of messages in the media portraying the reform package in a positive light. Some of the message on government-owned television and radio stations guaranteed the public and efficient and people-friendly bureaucracy after the reforms.

The tenor of these messages was in keeping with the populist agenda of Thaksin, a business tycoon, whose TRT secured an unprecedented mandate at the January 2001 elections. After TRT's electoral victory the largest in Thai political history the party has attracted into its ranks smaller parties, consequently giving it an absolute majority in the 500-seat parliament. It was such a thumping majority that enabled the premier to push through his reform package without fearing a backlash from the bureaucracy, says Sunai of Forum-Asia.

''This marks the end of the unlimited power the bureaucracy enjoyed,'' he adds. ''It is the first time that parliament has demonstrated it has the power to change the bureaucracy.'' IPS