Leaders of Thailand's ruling party agreed Monday to nominate acting prime minister Somchai Wongsawat to take on the job permanently as they try to douse weeks of anti-government protests. Parliamentarians from the People Power Party (PPP) will be asked to endorse Somchai at a meeting today. However selecting Somchai, who is married to the sister of deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra, will likely inflame anti-government protesters, led by the People's Alliance for Democracy, who seized the prime minister's offices last month.The PPP was forced to search for a successor to Samak Sundaravej after his bid to return to power last week, three days after being stripped of office, was torpedoed by a party revolt. Two other candidates had been considered -- co-deputy PPP leader Sompong Amornviwat, and party secretary-general Surapong Suebwonglee. The party's eventual choice will be presented to its five coalition partners before going to parliament for a vote set for Wednesday.
"Somchai is going to be a sitting duck if he takes over the premiership as expected Wednesday, because the PAD will attack his fatal weakness as being Thaksin's brother-in-law," said political analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak.
But any of the candidates would struggle to end Thailand's political chaos, as the thousands of protesters besieging the grounds of Government House since last month have declared they will stay as long as the PPP is in charge. The demonstrators stormed Government House nearly three weeks ago to try to force the resignation of Samak and his cabinet. Last week the Constitutional Court stripped him of office, ruling that he had illegally accepted payments for hosting television cooking shows. Samak then Friday ended his bid to return to power after being deserted by his allies, scuppering a re-election vote in parliament. The demonstrators, who represent Thailand's traditional elite, claim Samak and the three candidates to replace him are proxies for Thaksin. The PAD also spearheaded protests against Thaksin in 2006, leading to the military coup that toppled him. They are also pushing a broader agenda to scale back democracy by reducing the influence of poor, rural voters, who gave Thaksin their steadfast support for providing universal health care and low-interest loans.
Thaksin now lives in exile in Britain to evade corruption charges, which he says are politically motivated. Despite that he casts a long shadow over Thai politics. His supporters won last December's election and he was consulted about Samak's renomination last week. Meanwhile the Supreme Court is set to rule Wednesday in a corruption case against Thaksin and his wife. That verdict is expected shortly after the vote in parliament for the new prime minister. [End of report]
If you remember in my previous post regarding the current situation in Thailand, I said that I thought Samak would be nominated as the Prime Minister again but of course that wasn't the case. You would think that the ruling party, PPP would choose someone else that at least doesnt have any link to Thaksin for obvious reasons, but they have decided to choose Somchai out of of the members in the party. As you can read from the report, Somchai will definitely not be a popular choice among the Thai people because of his relation with Thaksin. I dont know which is a worst choice for the Thai people, Samak or Somchai. I would like to think its the latter. He is afterall the brother-in-law of Thaksin, therefore there will even be more speculation that he will just be another proxy for Thaksin. I dont know how the Thai people will react if he becomes the next PM. Let's just put his relationship with Thaksin aside for a while and judge him on whether he has what it takes to be the next PM. One of his strong points I guess is that he has a lot of bureaucratic experience. He has been a judge for over 20 years so Im sure he wont have any problems in making tough decisions. Other than that, he doesnt have any other qualities to support his bid to become the PM. He is particularly a low profile and uncontroversial figure who was a deputy prime minister and education minister in Samak's Cabinet.
Then there are also the two other potential contenders that had been considered, co-deputy PPP leader Sompong Amornviwat, and party secretary-general Surapong Suebwonglee. The Thai people though has said that they wont accept a PM who has any links with Thaksin or from the PPP party. As a Thaksin supporter, I find the accusations that Somchai are trying to run the government as a proxy for Thaksin baseless. I dont think it is right to say that you are running the government for Thaksin just because you have any links with him. I mean Thaksin is not interested in running the country anymore even if he is given the opportunity to do so, he is busy with his job in England, as the owner of the Manchester City Football Club. I think the Thai people are taking their frustrations towards Thaksin a bit too far which is bad for the country. They should judge Somchai or any other new Prime Minister by the job that they are doing and not because of their relationship with Thaksin. I dont know much about Somchai but since the PPP has chosen him to be the PM then I think the whole country should unite and get behind him and the new government. If they choose to continue their anti-government protests, then I doubt there will be any chance of success for both parties. Its time that they stop protesting and start supporting the government. Firstly they wanted Thaksin out, and they got it, and then they wanted Samak out and they got it too, so what's next?
Im sure Somchai will do a good job as the PM if he doesnt allow the Thai people to get in his way. He should do what he think is best for the country and not listen to the demand of the people, if stepping down is what they are asking. They have done a lot of damage to the country over the last few weeks or so and I hope that they wont repeat their actions all over again if they know what is best for the country.
*The report was taken from AFP.
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