December 16, 2008
Thai Parliament Picks New Premier
By SETH MYDANS
BANGKOK — A young, Oxford-educated opposition leader, Abhisit Vejjajiva, was
elected prime minister on Monday in a parliamentary vote, taking on the
challenges of political turmoil and economic crisis that have wounded two
previous Thai governments this year.
Mr. Abhisit, 44 , won with 235 votes against 198 for the former national police
chief, Pracha Promnok. The new prime minister assembled a coalition in which he
will have to depend on some of his most powerful political opponents for
support.
His election at the leader of the Democrat Party ends seven years of dominance
by parties loyal to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. But Mr. Thaksin
continues to exert political influence from self-exile abroad and still
commands the largest party in Parliament.
Monday’s vote followed six months of protests against pro-Thaksin parties that
culminated in a weeklong blockade of Bangkok’s two airports that ended Dec. 3.
A day earlier, a court disbanded the governing People Power Party for fraud in
the election a year ago, opening the way for Monday’s vote.
Outside Parliament on Monday, about 200 red-shirted Thaksin loyalists shouted
and threw bricks, raising the possibility that street demonstrations might now
begin from the other side of the political divide.
On Saturday, more than 40,000 supporters gathered in downtown Bangkok to hear a
video address by Mr. Thaksin, taped in Bali, Indonesia, in which he implicitly
condemned what he called military interference in the vote.
The military, which ousted him in a coup in 2006, has in recent months refused
orders by the pro-Thaksin government to crack down on anti-Thaksin
demonstrators.
The election of a new prime minister is a low point for Mr. Thaksin, who fled
abroad in October to avoid sentencing on a conflict of interest conviction. He
was denied a visa to remain in Britain, where he had been living, and now
travels between Hong Kong, Dubai and Indonesia.
Although the vote offered the possibility of a respite from political tensions
that have all but paralyzed the government in Thailand, intense social and
political divides remain unresolved.
The Democrat Party enjoys strong support from the middle class, the urban elite
and many in the business sector, but a majority of voters among the rural poor
still overwhelmingly support Mr. Thaksin.
“I don’t even want to talk about their ability to heal that division —
rich-poor, rural-urban and old establishment and Thaksin,” said Pavin
Chachavalpongpun, a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Southeast
Asian Studies in Singapore.
“Just to bring back economic confidence, especially after the airport closings,
that will be a major challenge,” he said of the new prime minister. “And of
course the most important thing is how to stamp his authority on the fragile
coalition. Nothing is permanent in Thai politics.”
No elected Thai government, apart from Mr. Thaksin’s, has ever served out its
full term, and some political analysts said Mr. Abhisit’s was too precarious to
last long.
“If they stay more than three months, I salute them,” Mr. Pavin said. “Sorry to
be so pessimistic.”
By-elections are due next month to fill 29 seats that were previously held by
pro-Thaksin legislators, and the result could tip the balance against Mr.
Abhisit.
Mr. Thaksin, a billionaire telecommunications tycoon, took power in 2001, and
his government was the first in Thai electoral history to enjoy an outright
majority in Parliament.
He created a huge electoral base among the rural poor but was accused of
corruption and abuse of power and was ousted in a nonviolent coup in 2006 while
he was in New York at a session of the United Nations.
When a parliamentary election was held a year ago, Mr. Thaksin’s supporters won
again. But the new prime minister, Samak Sundaravej, was forced to resign when
a court ruled that he had accepted money for appearing on a cooking show.
His successor, Somchai Wongsawat, who is Mr. Thaksin’s brother-in-law, was
forced to step down when the People Power Party was dissolved last month.
Though Mr. Abhisit has styled himself a reformer, he took power through
backroom deals of the sort that have characterized Thai politics.
A turning point was the defection of a faction controlled by a close Thaksin
lieutenant, Newin Chidchob. In a telling moment that seemed to signal the end,
for now, of the Thaksin era, Mr. Newin last week was reported to have told Mr.
Thaksin over the telephone, “Boss, it is all over.”
"My Khmer Compatriots, ask not what Cambodia and her People can do for you, ask
what you can do for Cambodia and her People"
The Khmer Politicians have only interpreted the Cambodia and her beloved people
in various ways.
The point, however, is to change it...
---Khmer Blood---
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