Junta-installed regime under fire four months after coup By Peter Janssen


dpa German Press Agency
Published: Friday January 19, 2007

By Peter Janssen,
Bangkok- Thailand's junta-installed governments just aren't
what they used to be, judging by the performance of the team of
technocrats who have been running the kingdom since the military
ousted former premier Thakisn Shinawatra four months ago.
The September 19 coup, although criticized by Western democracies,
was generally welcomed by the Thai and foreign business community as
a means of ending the political instability that rocked the kingdom
much of last year and was focused chiefly on one man - Thaksin, a
billionaire businessman-turned-politician who was prime minister
between 2001 to 2006.

"We didn't see another way out," said Stefan Buerkle, chief of the
economics division at the German-Thai Chamber of Commerce. "Most of
us who have been here for a long time thought the coup was all right."

And when the junta under Army General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin
selected gentleman-general Surayud Chulanont as prime minister, who
in turn appointed a bunch of respected technocrats as his ministers,
many old-timers in Thailand fondly recalled the enlightened
government of Anand Panyarachun.

Anand, a former senior diplomat-turned-businessman, was appointed
prime minister by a junta in the aftermath of Thailand's 1991 coup.

His brief premiership between 1991 to 1992 proved one of the most
progressive in Thai history. Anand, for instance, pushed through
almost 400 laws that reduced red tape, introduced the value added tax
and pushed for a Southeast Asian free trade pact.

Surayud's team of technocrats have yet to live up to the Anand
example.

During its first four months the junta-appointed regime introduced
capital controls in an effort to curb speculation on the baht
currency, sparking the steepest fall of the stock market in Thai
history, and pushed through amendments to the Foreign Business Act
which have dampening investment enthusiasm in the kingdom.

A spate of bombs set off on New Year's Eve in Bangkok, that killed
three people and injured another 40 - including nine foreigners - has
added to the sinking feeling about Thailand, especially as
authorities have yet to arrest anyone for the attacks.

Then the government renigged on its commitment to support press
freedom when it slapped a ban on local television and radio coverage
of Thaksin's activities abroad.

Thaksin, who has been in unofficial exile since the coup,
responded by giving interviews to CNN and the Wall Street Journal
while visiting Singapore, where he was also feted at a private dinner
at Government House by his "personal friend" Singapore Deputy Prime
Minister S Jayakumar.

Thaksin's Singapore swing succeeded in souring Thailand's
relations with the city-state and left the regime looking
flat-footed. He is now in Japan where he is scheduled for a similarly
high-profile visit and much media coverage.

"He's in the news all the time," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a
political scientist at Chulalongkorn University. "The military is
being out-manouevred."

Wrong-footed on its economic policies, and flat-footed in its
dealings with its nemesis Thaksin, the government's performance has
raised serious questions about the viability of the technocratic
solution to Thailand's political problems, a la Anand.

"It doesn't look as good an option any more because these
technocrats don't seem as good," said Buerkle.

Disillusionment with military-inspired political solutions may be
a good development for Thailand's democracy in the long run.

"This is a learning process for society," said Jon Ungphakorn, a
former Thai senator and keen pro-democracy activist.

"I really believe that Thaksin was a set-back for democracy, and
this government is another set-back, but if society gets fed up with
both types then there will be a stronger role for political reform,"
he added.

Jon and many other pro-democracy advocates in Thailand, although
still supportive of the coup for having toppled Thaksin, want to see
the current regime concentrate on drafting a new constitution that
will plug some of the loopholes that allowed Thaksin to monopolize
political power for six years and to pave the way for a new general
election before this year is out to return power to the people.

There are high hopes that the junta's constitution drafters will
stick closely to the 1997 charter, deemed Thailand's most liberal
constitution to date, while preventing the rise of one single
political party, as happened under Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai
Party.

In other words, there are hopes that Thailand, post-junta, will go
back to the kind of political coalition governments that
characterized Thai politics for decades before the Thaksin phenomenon.

"The hope lies with two groups: first, the old politicians who
have really been the ballast of Thailand's parliamentary democracy
for two decades, because they represent the real interests in
Thailand's society and economy," said Chris Baker, co-author with his
wife academic Pasuk Phongpaichit, of the book Thaksin The Business of
Politics in Thailand.

"Second, civil society, the usual reform coalition, which is
gradually coming back together," added Baker.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency