Some say that tomorrow's gubernatorial election in Bangkok will be a good reflection of whether the city's voters are politically mature or whether they have the mind set of teenagers, who, many believe, love or hate on emotional rather than rational grounds.
But wait a minute: the results last week of the popular reality television show "Academy Fantasia" have proved that teenagers can be fair judges too.
The audiences voted Phatcharapon "Wit" Chantiang the winner, after a nine-week contest in which each of the 12 contestants demonstrated his or her talent under the full glare of live cameras, 24 hours a day.
Wit was picked as the most talented contestant, despite not being the most favoured at the beginning of the race. When the show was first aired, only about 50,000 viewers participated by sending SMS votes, and Wit was by no means a leading candidate. On certain weeks he was even on the verge of being voted out. (Each week the contestant with the least votes had to bow out of the competition.)
Neutral followers of the show knew well that the voting viewers were influenced by their personal feelings about each contestant and did not always take skill or talent into consideration.
Many initial votes went to good-looking candidates and were not at all in line with the quality of their performances.
But things started to change during the final few weeks, when some of professionally unimpressive contestants were voted out. It was clear that the audience was gradually becoming aware of the importance of their votes, and now each contestant's development and quality came into play.
Towards the end of the show Wit emerged strongly as a favourite, together with two other contestants who demonstrated their determination and delivered impressive performances at the weekly concerts. The trio took home the winner's and runner-ups' trophies without surprise or protest from the audience.
Meanwhile Bangkok voters have more than 20 candidates to choose from in tomorrow's poll, outnumbering the contestants in "Academy Fantasia". Bangkokians can be profiled into groups that parallel the viewers of "Academy Fantasia". There are passive spectators, who enjoy the spectacle but don't want to cast their votes for any candidate in particular; active audience members, who enjoy the contest before suddenly deciding who their favourite is; emotional voters, who like or hate particular candidates without really knowing them; and rational supporters, who make judgements based on proven quality or background.
At the beginning of "Academy Fantasia" about 50,000 votes were cast, but this figure rose to around 700,000 a week towards the end of the series. The number of viewers was much higher than the number of votes, for many decided to just sit back and enjoy the show. Perhaps they didn't think it was worth spending Bt6 to pick a winner. Some no doubt thought: "Let the others choose and see if they pick the one I like." Does this sound familiar?
"Academy Fantasia" had its fair share of emotional voters who, no matter how obvious the differences in talent and quality were, would pick the one they liked. This group's favourite line is something like: "I'm fed up with the popular faces and want to try something new." (Somehow this reminds me of the time when many people thought a rich and successful businessman would turn this country around for the better.)
The final result of "Academy Fantasia", however, showed that the die-hard fans who followed the show closely and knew the quality and talents inside out prevailed. This group of voters scrutinised all contestants and voted for the best.
Emotional, irrational or die-hard, these voters had one good thing in common: they knew their right and they exercised it. But there is another kind of voter, which certainly exists in both "Academy Fantasia" and the Bangkok governor race, and I think they are the ugliest of all.
This group will certainly remain at home during the election, without even realising the importance of their presence in a democratic society. They will not vote for any reality game or political contestant: they will just sit and watch, and in the end, when the winner is announced, they will whine and, worst of all, blame the voters for "picking the wrong one".
I challenge people who call "Academy Fantasia" a nonsense teenage fad to better the youngsters when tomorrow comes.
Published on Aug 28, 2004
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