Tongue-Thai’ed! Part III: O brother, where art thou?
Originally published at Siam Voices on May 17, 2011 "Tongue-Thai'ed!" is the new segment on Siam Voices, where we encapsulate the most baffling, amusing, confusing, outrageous and appalling quotes from Thai politicians and other public figures - in short: everything we hear that makes us go "Huh?!". Check out all past entries here.
The election campaign has now really begun this week with the opposition Puea Thai Party finally putting Yingluck Shinawatra forward as PM candidate. Of course, we all know that she is the younger sister of one Thaksin and that this fact alone will certainly irk many voters.
More unsurprising is what Thaksin said during an exclusive interview with Post Today:
“ผมบอกเลยว่าไม่ใช่นอมินี แต่เรียกได้เลยว่าเป็นโคลนนิงของทักษิณเลย ผมโคลนนิงการบริหารให้ตั้งแต่เรียนจบใหม่ๆ สไตล์การทำงานเหมือนผม รับการบริหารจากผมได้ดีที่สุด อีกข้อสำคัญหนึ่งก็คือ การที่คุณยิ่งลักษณ์ซึ่งเป็นน้องสาวผม มานั่งเก้าอี้หัวหน้าพรรค สถานะนั้นสามารถตัดสินใจแทนผมได้เลย เยส ออ โน นี่พูดแทนผมได้เลย”
"I say straightaway that [Yingluck] is not a nominee, but you can say that she is a clone of Thaksin. I have cloned my [way of] leadership [to her] ever since graduation. [Her] style of work is the same as mine. [She] got all my best administration [skills]. Another important point is, since Yingluck is my younger sister and she is head of the party, she can decide for me. 'Yes or no,' she can do that for me."
"ทักษิณบอกยิ่งลักษณ์คือโคลนนิงของผม", Post Today, May 17, 2011 (translation by me)
Clearly, the opponents (both lawmakers and the press) will bite on this bait and point out that this alone is enough not to vote her (as our favorite Suthep already did). But it would a mistake to rail just on that, because having a Shinawatra running for office is exactly why the Puea Thai Party is poised to gain many votes. Attacking her just for being a Thaksin proxy (or worse, digging up her private life) might prove ineffective.
People who hate Thaksin won't vote for Puea Thai anyway and voters who still think highly of him will give their vote to his sister - there's nothing to change about that. What's crucial now is whether she can win over the undecided voters. We'll have to wait for the campaign trail to see if Yingluck can stand on her own. She still has enough opportunities to prove herself as a politician and not only as Thaksin's sister.
(You might ask why this is still filed under "Tongue-Thai'ed" - well, it's the well-known bluntness and bravado of Thaksin's quote that in my view still deserves a spot here. And I can't just put up yet another Suthep quote!)
A lot of stupid things will be said during the election campaign in the coming months. If you come across any verbosities that you think might fit in here send us a email at siamvoices [at] gmail.com or tweet us @siamvoices.
Exiled Thaksin takes center stage at Puea Thai Party campaign launch
Originally published at Siam Voices on April 27, 2011 Last weekend the opposition Puea Thai Party launched its campaign for the anticipated election later this summer (despite the chances that there might be none after all) and unveiled its promises policies at the Rangsit Campus of Thammasat University north of Bangkok (which might be surprising in itself). If you were looking for a bold, fresh new start for Thailand's opposition and paradigm change in Thai politics, you'll be disappointed! Because last Saturday one man stood above all despite the lack of his physical presence.
The exiled Thaksin Shinawatra took center stage and phoned-in during the event, as he did regularly at recent red shirt protests and executive party meetings, to list all the things he'll do if the Puea Thai Party wins the election.
Thaksin later promised to increase the village fund by Bt1 million per village if the opposition Pheu Thai, of which he is the de-facto leader, wins. ... Thaksin then vowed that the party, if elected, would solve the flood problem in Bangkok for good by building a mega-dyke some 30 kilometres in length as in the Netherlands.
Thaksin also vowed to reclaim some 300 square kilometres of land from the sea around Samut Prakan and Samut Songkram provinces and build a new city with an excellent environment and rail link to Bangkok and acting as an IT and financial hub.
The former premier also promised:
- Ten new electric rail lines would be introduced in Bangkok with a fixed fee of Bt20 per ride
- New flats and houses would be built to allow students and poor people to rent at Bt1,000 per month.
- Construct a land bridge linking the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea.
- Eliminate the drugs problem within 12 months and eradicate poverty within four years.
- Debt moratorium to those owing between Bt500,000 to Bt1 million for three to five years.
- Minimum corporate income tax would be reduced from 30 percent to 23 percent within the next year.
- Fresh university graduates would be guaranteed a minimum monthly salary of Bt15,000 and the minimum wage will be set at Bt300 per day.
"Thaksin woos voters with promises, ready to return and 'serve the people'", The Nation, April 24, 2011
These were just some of the dozens of overambitious campaign promises (anybody recalls his infamous promise in 1995 to solve Bangkok's traffic problems "within six months"?). Many of his new policies are more or less a continuation of his policies during his tenure as prime minister from 2001 until 2006, aimed at the poor and rural population. As mentioned before, those who expected a big progressive change, are left to look elsewhere than the Puea Thai Party. Thus unsurprisingly, it didn't took long until the first critical voices weighed in (apart from the usually shrill "Thaksin is the devil"-trolling):
As good as those might seem in theory at least to some people, coming from Mr. Thaksin the ideas are gimmicky, dilettantish and often cynical. His late conversion to the cause of political freedom fools no one, and his thoughts about fiscal policy are rooted in a superficial understanding of Thailand's competitiveness problem.
As is typical of Mr. Thaksin, then, these proposals fail to amount to a coherent program of government or a formula for addressing Thailand's most fundamental problems of social division, inadequate human capital, and diminishing confidence in leading institutions.
"Thailand Caught on the Thaksin Rebound", by Michael Montesao, Wall Street Journal, April 26, 2011
Exiled Thai academic Giles Ji Ungpakorn also did not have many nice words to say about Thaksin:
The recent speech by Taksin [sic!] was designed to outline policies for Peua Thai Party for the upcoming election. However, there were great weaknesses in this speech. (...)
What Taksin did not talk about was HOW to dismantle the web of dictatorship which has throttled Democracy. He also ignored the Red Shirts who are the only real force which can challenge this dictatorship outside parliament. This is not surprising, since Taksin had no role in creating the Red Shirt movement.
Taksin talked too much about himself, but worse still, he kept insisting that he was a loyal subject of the Monarchy. (...) Taksin refused to campaign for the scrapping of Lèse Majesté.
On issues that really lie in the hearts of most Red Shirts: (...) the need to release all political prisoners and drop charges, Taksin was silent. This was a huge mistake on his part. (...)
On the drugs war, Taksin showed that he has learnt nothing, repeating the need for the failed and violent tactics of the past. On the South he did make some concessions that he had made mistakes (...).
At best, Taksin’s speech was a utopian wish list. It showed the weakness of his party that he had to make the policy speech. The Red Shirt movement must continue to develop its political understanding and campaigning which goes beyond Taksin and Peua Thai. We may have to grit our teeth and vote for Peua Thai, but the struggle will have to continue, whether or not the conservatives and the Military manage to fix the elections.
"Ji on Thaksin’s election promises", via Thai Political Prisoners, April 25, 2011
It is indeed the weakness of the party, but one that is intended - if one proposed slogan "Thaksin thinks, Puea Thai acts" is anything to go by, then it is apparent that Thaksin was never gone and is calling the shots. With still no party leader and PM candidate picked (although most likely Thaksin will choose his politically inexperienced sister Yingluck to run), it rarely made any attempts to move beyond their former prime minister.
Also, the red shirts' continued repression (as seen lately with the crackdown on community radio stations) was blatantly left unacknowledged, his hint to continue the brutal 'war on drugs' (which the current government has resurrected), the lack of support for unions' rights and other social gifts to the people indicate that Thaksin is not interested in a long-lasting, political change that ironically he set off (somewhat unintentionally) by actually doing something for the rural electorate and empower them with at least a political consciousness.
Having said that, it is evident that the Puea Thai Party, despite it's figurehead and his tainted record, is still the lesser evil at the ballot box with no other viable political alternative present at the moment. A vote for the Democrat Party is a vote for the military-dominated status quo, a vote for the opposition is the potential return of social gifts but also a polarizing figurehead - but then again, you could also give up on democracy and not vote at all, as the yellow shirts have decided recently.
Thailand’s opposition searches for a leader
Originally published at Siam Voices on March 23, 2011 With a potential snap election looming in the not-so-distant future all political parties are preparing for a very short, but certainly intense, campaign. For the opposition Puea Thai party (PT) this means finding a new leader and a promising PM candidate. But not much has changed since last year when then-leader Yongyuth Wichaidit was bizarrely re-elected just days after he resigned (see my and Bangkok Pundit's previous posts here and here, respectively). In fact, more contenders have entered the scene.
Last week's censure debate was a good opportunity for Puea Thai not only to attack the government on their countless wrongdoings and thus present them in a bad light, but also for some MPs to audition as the next leader of the party or even of the country. The opposition agreed for Mingkwan Saengsuwan to lead the parliamentary grilling. The former Toyota executive and former Commerce Minister is described as soft-spoken but also largely unknown to the public. And while the mud-slinging was left to others, Mingkwan tried to portray himself as the next PM. Bangkok Post's columnist Suranand Vejjajiva wrote about his performance:
So far Mr Mingkwan has performed better than expected. He was calm and able to control his opening delivery which listed all the allegations of abuse, corruption and mismanagement of the current administration. Although listeners were somewhat distracted by his 119 plates of prepared PowerPoint display, this performance surpassed his previous speeches. If he can tie up the loose ends and make a convincing closing statement tonight, his path towards leading Puea Thai would become clearer.
"Win-lose-draw in the censure debate", by Suranand Vejjajiva, Bangkok Post, March 18, 2011
That also applies to the rest of the sessions, going so far as to announce in his closing speech that he'd be the party's candidate to contest against Abhisit in the next election (btw, the government unsurprisingly survived the no-confidence vote). Nevertheless, or maybe because of that, Mingkwan was criticized for his performance by his own party:
Pheu Thai Party MPs will take their party list MP Mingkwan Saengsuwan to task for "overpresenting" himself as the PM candidate of Pheu Thai during last week's censure motion, a source said yesterday. (...)
Some party MPs are disappointed with Mingkwan's performance in grilling the government saying he spent too much time on the floor wooing voters instead of launching a stinging attack, causing a party setback, the source said.
"Pheu Thai MPs critical of party's censure performance", The Nation, March 21, 2011
And worse, during a general meeting on Tuesday, where a new party leader should have been nominated, Mingkwan was left hung out to dry because the party members couldn't decide on a new front-runner. Part of the plan was to make him the new head of PT and to introduce his restructuring plan for the party. But the plan was thwarted by none other than...
However, Thaksin, who is the party's de facto leader, passed a message to the meeting blocking the group's plan saying it was not the right time to make a choice. The party could continue its activities under its current structure which would not cause it any harm.
Earlier, there had been speculation that Thaksin would choose between Mr Mingkwan and his sister Yingluck Shinawatra, considered an outsider to be the party's candidate for premier.
"Thaksin leaves Mingkwan dangling", Bangkok Post, March 23, 2011
The role of Thaksin in the Puea Thai Party should not be underestimated*. The party is still very much loyal to him and the fact that members are still meeting and consulting him for key decisions indicates that Thaksin is still calling the shots in the re-re-incarnation of his former Thai Rak Thai party. Since late last year, it was reported that he wants to 'install' his own sister Yingluck as the new party leader.
Yingluck Shinawatra is the youngest sibling of Thaksin and an experienced business executive, having served at the family-owned AIS communications and now working at SC Asset, a property firm with the Shinawatra family as the largest major shareholder (conflict of interest, anyone?). Although she is not a party executive or even a member and has virtually no political experience, she claims to have attended several party executive meetings. Despite showing no clear sign of any political ambitions and even just recently ruling out a potential candidacy, Yingluck is still being brokered as the top contender at PT. She is also blessed by the support of somebody, who was just recently considered a front-runner as well.
Those backing her include Puea Thai chairman of MPs Chalerm Yubamrung, who has been disgruntled by Mr Mingkwan's attempt to take the party's helm. The veteran politician has threatened to quit the party if Mr Mingkwan is successful.
"Yingluck rules out taking Puea Thai helm", Bangkok Post, March 28, 2011
Chalerm, a seasoned politician for over 25 years, has made no qualms in the past about his contempt towards Mingkwan. Already earlier this year he threatened to leave the party should Mingkwan lead the censure debates and on Wednesday, as a consequence of being snubbed...
Veteran politician Chalerm Yubamrung has resigned as a party-list MP, but remains a member of the Puea Thai Party, Si Sa Ket MP Thanes Kruerat said on Wednesday. (...)
Asked about a report that Mr Chalerm felt belittled when asked by Chaturon Chaisaeng, a former executive of the dissolved Thai Rak Thai Party and an adviser to Puea Thai's censure debate team, to cut short his debate speech in the House of Representatives, to allow Mingkwan Saengsuwan more time to deliver his conclusion, Mr Thanes admitted that this might also be a reason.
"Miffed Chalerm resigns MP seat", Bangkok Post, March 23, 2011
So that pretty much leaves us with Yingluck and Mingkwan. If Mingkwan becomes the front-runner, it means for the party a step away from Thaksin, since the party restructuring may or may not be a means to lessen the influence of the exiled former prime minister. If Yingluck becomes the party's new leader, it's underlining Thaksin's influence in the Puea Thai Party and strengthening his position as the de-facto leader who pulls the strings even from outside the country. The party has announced that it will reveal its PM candidate after the parliament has dissolved, which should in the coming months. Until then, they will have to assess their options and ultimately decide which way they will go into the next elections.
*I should stress that no one should fall for the over-simplified "Red Shirts = Puea Thai Party = Thaksin" fallacy that many of their enemies would like us to think. Though there are overlapping intersections between these three areas (e.g. red shirt leader Jatuporn is a Puea Thai MP), in my opinion there are (like in any other movement) different visions among the red shirts and part of them want to move beyond Thaksin. But on the other hand, seeing Jatuporn still on stage and Thaksin still phoning-in during the rallies show that the leaders might be one step behind their followers.
Puea Thai Party's Flip-Flop Leadership
Originally published on Siam Voices on September 15, 2010. The opposition Puea Thai Party (PT) had some turbulent days in the past week with the sudden announcement of Yongyuth Wichaidit stepping down as the party's leader. But why?
Yongyuth has served for less than two years as an unhappy nominal Pheu Thai leader, whose job was exclusively to fulfil legal and constitutional requirements of a political party. It was no secret that he wanted out. It's unclear, though, whether yesterday's sudden announcement followed a long-distance request from Thaksin or Yongyuth simply felt he had had it with all the disrespect and knives in the back. [...]
"Party chief quits in mystery move", The Nation, September 10, 2010
Yongyuth himself said he wants to make room for the party to restructure itself for the next general election. "Today I tender my resignation in order to ensure my party's readiness for the next poll," he said.
The resigning of the party leader followed after the equally surprising announcement of a 'peace proposal' to the government earlier this month. The five-point-plan states that PT is ready to hold talks with "all parties in conflict" and "exchange opinions in a peaceful manner." Of course, like any plan, it had it's opponents from their own supporters and fiercest enemies and it had doubters.
What then followed were mixed signals. The party itself was at doubt on who will actually represent the party in the talks, then it suddenly has quit the reconciliation process and then it was reconsidering again which then the story, for the time being, peaked with Yongyuth's resignation.
The question of his successor flared up immediately and one name has been touted suspiciously often in the headlines.
A source in the opposition party said Pol Gen Kowit, who is well connected with leading bureaucrats, is expected to lead the party into a "reconciliation process". [...]
Pol Gen Kowit is tipped as the strongest candidate because of his clean image, seniority and respectful nature, the source said.
"He has no known affiliations with the Shinawatra family and he isn't afraid of a party dissolution and being stripped of voting rights," the source said.
"Yongyuth quits as Puea Thai leader, making way for Kowit", Bangkok Post, September 10, 2010
A clean politician? May be. Well connected? You bet! But some would be really surprised to hear how well connected Kowit is.
Pol Gen Kowit was in Class 6 of the pre-cadet school with Gen Sonthi. He was also a member of Council for National Security (CNS) set up immediately after the coup on Sept 19, 2006 military coup that removed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra from power. [...]
"Coup leaders welcome Pol Gen Kowit", Bangkok Post, September 10, 2010
With these credentials, Kowit would make a definitely more 'agreeable' party leader for some. But with an endorsement by coup leader Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, it could have made Kowit unelectable for many party members (and certainly many red shirts) as PT leader. Also, Kowit has failed to publicly state any desire to succeed Yongyuth as the party leader and consequently ignored any formality in order to be nominated as the party leader.
This might explain what happened on Tuesday when the party was electing a 'new' leader.
Yongyuth Wichaidit was yesterday re-elected leader of the opposition Pheu Thai Party, with overwhelming support from party MPs just days after his resignation.
The party's general meeting held at its headquarters voted 267 to 6, with four abstentions, in support of Yongyuth as its new leader. The decision came after a heated debate between a small group of northeastern MPs and the rest of the party, particularly those from the North and Central region.
"Yongyuth returns as party leader amid turmoil", The Nation, September 15, 2010
So, we're back to square one again! Apparently better stick with the status quo for now instead of having a battle for the leadership.
Of course, with everything related to PTP, it didn't take long until somebody mentioned Thaksin's possible involvement. First, at the heels of Thaksin's recent visit to South Africa, there was an outpouring of tweets by him last week where we was extensively talking about his thoughts on the peace process (here's a sample tweet in Thai). Then there were news of Puea Thai MPs meeting Thaksin in Moscow, possibly to counsel with him over the upcoming changes - even though any involvement by Thaksin has been quickly denied before.
If Thaksin really has given his approval to possible structural changes in the party, the re-election of Yongyuth is a blow to Thaksin's influence over PT. Nevertheless, that still doesn't stop both The Nation and Bangkok Post stating that the Puea Thai Party is still listening to Thaksin's command.
What this (no-)show of this party reveals, is that it is still trying to find a new direction and with some MPs deflecting to the rival Bhumjaithai Party, it has real problems keeping itself together.
While the Puea Thai Party is struggling, the government will continue its 'reconciliation' efforts - no matter with whom.