We need political reform in Thailand. The military junta’s constitutional drafting committee will not come up with anything of any use. It won’t increase freedom, nor will it decrease the gross inequalities in Thai society.

Everybody should pay tax, and the rich should pay a super tax. We want this money to be used to build a comprehensive welfare state in Thailand.

We want to get rid of the very narrow nationalism which is strangling Thai society and is the root cause of the violence in the South.

We must under no circumstances rely on undemocratic forces to make political changes, whether it be the army, the palace or business people.

There are only two kinds of people who are neutral politically: liars and idiots. If you’ve got a brain, you have a political opinion. But you can have an opinion and lie and say that you’re neutral.

It’s a good thing for students to be exposed to differences of opinion so that they can really make up their own minds.

Have I ever been afraid? Yes. I was afraid on the second day after the coup, when we staged the demonstration. But that’s nothing compared to the man who stood in front of the tanks in Tiananmen Square, or the people who actually confronted the military in May 1992.

The whole notion that education is the key is something I completely oppose. After all, it is the poor who understand that their rights have been taken away by the coup d’etat, whereas people with doctorates are saying that coups can build democracies.

There’s a real problem with the freedom of the press and the freedom of the media. Under the military, we have direct censorship. But we also have self-censorship, when people decide they’re not going to criticize the government.

The army should not own TV and radio stations. The state should set up a public service corporation like the BBC, rather than handing out the contracts to big business.

My mother and father used to talk politics all the time. They were very critical of military dictators and not afraid to stand up to them. My father did that and suffered the consequences.

I have set up a political party. We only have 200 members, we don’t have any members of Parliament and we don’t stand in any elections. But it counts a lot in the long term if you want to build and spread political ideas.

My friends and I believe in politics that doesn’t emphasize important people. If our party were to stand candidates, we would like to see ordinary people standing as members of Parliament.

Thailand? I love and I hate it. I love the beach, the food, the Thai attitude to children, my friends and my memories.

What I don’t like is all the groveling to puu yai, the wai-ing, the narrow-minded nationalism, the periodic military dictatorships, and not being able to walk down the pavement without being run over by a motorbike.

I think I will always be politically active. I would like to see a more just society, a socialist society. Not just in Thailand but everywhere.­