From: kamol@ipied.tu.ac.TH (Kamol Hengkietisak)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.thai
Subject: Bangkok Post Dec 20: Weekly news roundup
Date: 20 Dec 1992 22:50:57 +1100
Organization: Mail/News gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: munnari.oz.au


THE Opposition has decided to organise an out-of-Parliament debate on
the "non-transparency" of the Anand Panyarachun government in January
1993 at a hotel.
 
Matichon daily said that it is strange that while many of the
opposition leaders had lost much benefits from the coup by the
National Peace-keeping Council, they had chosen to vent their anger on
the Anand government which admittedly is the by-product of the coup.
 
Without the coup the Chatichai Choonhavan government would not have
found itself out of a job, with the demeaning label "buffet Cabinet"
slapped on it. Many ministers were also accused of being unusually
rich and had their assets seized.
 
The vengeance campaign against Mr Anand took many forms, starting with
the submission by Chart Thai MP Songsuk Pakkasem on October 8 of an
urgent motion asking for a special committee to be set up to
investigate the working of the Anand government.
 
On the debate day, the Opposition managed to move the item up the
agenda while at the same time government coalition party Social Action
crossed the floor to vote with the Opposition and causing much
consternation before the Government managed to defeat the motion.
 
On December 1 the Opposition also agreed to submit a motion to
investigate the Anand government on two matters namely its sale of a
government-owned oil refinery to Thai Oil for 8,716 million baht and
its handling of a bid to install one million telephone lines in the
provinces.
 
The proposal was turned down by House Speaker Marut Bunnag because
Parliament was ending its session on December 21. This prompted the
Opposition to attempt to organise a debate on the matter at a hotel in
a relentless campaign against Mr Anand.
 
The Opposition claimed that the Anand government had carried out its
work without any checking by opposition MPs in Parliament. The Anand I
government was set up by the NPKC while Parliament had been dissolved
during the the Anand II government time.
 
Matichon daily said that the Opposition's action is curious since no
where else in the world does Parliament try to set up a committee to
probe a past government.
 
Why then does the Opposition try so hard to discredit Mr Anand?
 
The daily suggested that one reason was that during the Anand II
government, Mr Anand had attacked the MPs bitterly in Parliament
before he dissolved Parliament.
 
Secondly, Matichon pointed out that the matters raised by the
Opposition for probe against Mr Anand appear involved with members of
the opposition including Social Action Party leader Montri Pongpanich:
 
The one-million-line provincial telephone line project stemmed from a
three-million-line project originated by Mr Montri during the
Chatichai Choonhavan government time. The plan was divided into two
parts by Mr Anand who said that the Government would lose 200,000
million baht in benefits if it was allowed to continue as it was.
 
One part consisted of two million lines in Bangkok which was won by
CP. The second part of one million lines in the provinces was almost
certain to be won by Loxley who had submitted the most beneficial
conditions.
 
However, before the bidding process was completed, the Anand
government was replaced with the Suchinda Kraprayoon government of
five coalition partners, with Banharn Silpa-archa acting as the
unofficial government manager.
 
Allegations were rife that a "big little politician" had approached
companies involved in the bidding, asking for 1,000 million baht to
ensure success in the bidding.
 
Unfortunately for the politician the Suchinda government floundered
before agreement could be reached. Undeterred however, he tried to
push for ACM Somboon Rahong to become prime minister and repeated his
offer to the bidding companies.
 
But lightening struck again when Speaker Arthit Urairat submitted Mr
Anand's name to His Majesty the King as the next prime minister and
the politician saw 1,000 million baht disappear in front of his eyes.
 
The Thai Oil Refinery matter is less clear, but the Opposition is
likely to exploit the fact that the Chairman of Thai Oil is Mr Kasem
Chatikavanich, the husband of Loxley Chairman Khunying Chatchanee
Chatikavanich, which means that two companies in the same group had
benefited greatly from government deals.
 
Also, Khunying Chatchanee is the sister of Bancha Lamsam, former
Chairman of the Thai Farmers Bank who is close to Pol Gen Pow Sarasin,
deputy prime minister in the Anand government.
 
The third reason for the Opposition vendetta may be due to a signal
from a powerful member of the now-defunct NPKC who may have been
angered by Mr Anand who had refused to toe the line drawn by the
military. He had stood up against the military in several matters such
as the telephone line project and the purchase of weapons.
 
Fourthly, the Social Action Party may want to create an atmosphere of
uncertainty and doubts to justify its action in case it wants to break
away and join the Opposition in an effort to set up a new government.
A symbolic outburst
 
AFTER a long silence and non-involvement in political affairs
subsequent to the downfall of Class 5, Deputy Army Chief Gen Salya
Sripen suddenly lost his cool, issuing a stern warning to Deputy
Finance Minister Trairong Suwannakiri over his statement allegedly
trampling on the dignity of the military, according to Naew Na and
Manager dailies.
 
"We military have been trampled on," said Gen Salya, adding that there
is a limit to the military's patience.
 
Gen Salya's outburst was preceded by similar but milder comments of
Territorial Defence Director Lt-Gen Yuttapan Makornmanee, who spoke
out in support of his former superior Gen Suchinda Kraprayoon's
re-entering the political arena to redeem his reputation.
 
In response, Mr Trairong denied he had alluded to the soldiers as
irrational beasts, pointing out that he was merely commenting on the
Government's handling of the Hill 491 incident, the dailies said. The
embattled minister has declared the case closed, reportedly saying he
had cleared the misunderstanding with Gen Salya on the phone.
 
Such a high-profile politician-military dispute, with dubious
coincidences, has drawn a host of comments and speculations.
 
Is it sheer accident that Gen Salya chose an appropriate time to
"justifiably" explode over the alleged stepped-up attack on the
dormant military whose status has suffered bad press following the
Black May crisis, the dailies commented.
 
Claiming his patience has a limit, Gen Salya apparently displayed
anger in the presence of well-known media figures who were there to
help educate military men on the art of public relations.
 
Such a scenario is reminiscent of the former military strongmen who
failed to show up for morning coffee at then prime minister Gen
Chatichai Choonhavan's residence prior to their overthrow of the
elected government.
 
Could the incident be the Chuan Government's "last warning?"
 
Would the time be ripe for the vicious cycle to be re-activated,
considering a series of untoward events resulting from the
Government's blunders and indecision, noted the dailies.
 
The coalition, looked upon as a bunch of amateurs with no political
and administrative expertise, is said to have no real appreciation and
knowledge of the military institution.
 
"By either isolating the military or by using their authority in a
vengeful pursuit, the politicians are not worthy of the profession,"
Manager daily commented.
 
Ostensibly, the Chuan Government has borrowed others' hands to get
things done to appease the public and to come out unblemished, letting
the chips fall where they may, so to speak.
 
The Judicial Council has been empowered to determine the Amnesty
Decree application supposedly in response to the popular call to get
the former military strongmen punished over the May 17-21 Black May
massacre.
 
Prime Minister Chuan, gentle and compromising by nature, has
increasingly tried to project himself as a firm no-nonsense national
leader, to the extent of advocating Army restructuring and pushing for
an abolition of the 1978 Internal Peacekeeping Act -- a move to curb
the traditional military grip on politics.
 
A point worth wondering would be when will the military's patience or
tolerance be pushed to the limit.
 
Basically, past and present military leaders differ only in individual
backgrounds, characters and personal sense of values. In terms of
professionalism and deep-seated military indoctrination, however, they
are well unified.
 
The apparent changes in leadership manifestations may just be
transitory or situational. There is no absolute guarantee that history
will not repeat itself -- the fact the Chuan Government does not seem
to be aware of, observed Manager daily.
 
Although leadership has changed, the military ideal, strategy and
tactics will always remain part and parcel of the institution.
 
There can neither be a government nor a nation without a military
institution, commented the daily.
 
"It is by no means wise to create monsters out of such unblemished
professional military top brass like ACM Voranart Apijaree, ACM Gun
Pimarntip, ACM Suvit Chanpradit, Army Chief Gen Vimol Wongwanich and,
especially, Gen Salya Sripen. Should they be forced to intervene in
politics, their actions would be seen as justified by virtue of their
clean past and pure intentions." Manager said.
 
Putting two and two together, the Chuan-led coalition would do well to
heed the warning of Gen Salya, who on December 14 spoke on behalf of
Army Commander-in-Chief Gen Vimol Wongwanich who was abroad.
 
What Prime Minister Chuan may have overlooked is the fact that the
military top brass do function as a unit. All their moves appear well
coordinated.
 
Why, for instance, did the symbolic military outburst take place at a
most opportune time in the absence of both Army Commander-in-Chief Gen
Wimol Vongvanich and Air Force Chief ACM Gun Pimarntip? Manager asked.
Thai territory in Burma?
 
ALTHOUGH Lt-Gen Yingyos Chotepimai was able to negotiate with Burma on
December 8 to withdraw their troops from Hill 491 to allow a joint
team from both countries to define the border clearly, there is still
another long-unsettled border problem which the Thai side would like
to raise for talk, according to Khao Thai.
 
However, the occasion was not appropriate for raising such an issue
for discussion since this has to wait until the heated climate between
the two countries turns calm and friendly.
 
The source said the Thai military delegation has already informally
raised the issue with their Burmese counterpart and the Burmese side
fully realises that they had obtained that piece of land
illegitimately or through a technical error.
 
The Burmese know that the land theoretically belongs to Thailand, but
it happened to be in their possession.
 
The spot which was lost to Burma is located between Chiang Mai's Fang
District of Thailand and the Shan State of Burma. The area is 3,800
square kilometres.
 
In the Thai-British border demarcation agreement, the watershed of the
Thong Chai Mountain Ranges were set as the demarcation line between
Thailand and Burma.
 
The spot where error occured starts from Mae Sai District of Chiang
Rai where the demarcation line was drawn from a 1592-metre-high ridge.
The line divides Hin Taek Mountain and was drawn downward to Thaton,
Mae Ai District of Chiang Mai, then the line moves south-westward to
the 2,285-metre-high ridge of Pahom Pok Mountain, and to the east of
it to a ridge 1,931-metre-high in Fang District.
 
However, another ridge located to the west of Pahom Pok Mountain
previously agreed as being 1920-metre-high, now turns out to be 1979
metres above sea level. This means that the ridge is 48 metres higher
than the present demarcating spot which is only 1,931 metres in
height.
 
The magazine said now that the error is found, it is right that a
correction should be made in the map to correspond with the principle
set in the demarcation agreement.
 
Footnote: THE popularity of government spokesman Abhisit Vejjajiva
among reporters is reportedly declining like the current SET index
after he made comments about the performance of reporters, according
to Lak Thai weekly magazine.
 
Many reporters said they were upset with Abhisit whom they had hoped
would be a new blood politician and even gave him the title "Little
Chuan". Instead, they now dubbed him "Little God".
 
Is it a case of fast to rise and fast to fall?
* * *
WHILE many top men in the Opposition bloc led by Chart Pattana
Party leader Gen Chatichai Choonhavan came out to urge the Chuan
government to send troops to seize Hill 491 back from Burma, nothing
was heard from Chart Thai Party leader Pol Gen Pramarn Adireksarn on
this issue.
 
An inquiry by Lak Thai weekly magazine revealed that there is a
20,000-rai palm plantation belonging to a familiar company near Hill
491. If fighting was to break out there, the plantation will certainly
be affected so Gen Pramarn has remained tight-lipped and left it to
his brother-in-law Gen Chatichai to make an uproar.
* * *
A SENIOR Khmer Rouge military officer had recently accused Japan of
trying to play a trick concerning the Khmer peace plan. The disclosure
was made during a recent meeting between Thai timber businessmen and a
group of Khmer Rouge officials.
 
He said Japan ordered the UNTAC Special Representative Yasushi Akashi
to use every means to stop Thai investment in logging and gems in
areas under the control of the Khmer Rouge. If the move succeeds it
will force the Khmer Rouge to negotiate for peace since most of the KR
interests are connected to Thai businessmen.
 
However, there are reasons to believe that Japanese investors had
brought in many modern machines and equipment to be used in the timber
industry in Cambodia, but the KR denied them entry to their territory,
causing the Japanese Government to want to take revenge against the
KR.
 
The Japanese Government's effort coincided with Singaporean
businessmen's willingness to exploit natural resources in Cambodia.
 
The move has put Thailand in an embarrassing position following the UN
Security Council resolution.
* * *
KHAO Thai weekly magazine predicted that the next Air Force
commander-in-chief will be a graduate of the Air Force Academy Class
1, the same one as ACM Voranart Apicharee and ACM Gun Pimarnthip.
 
This senior air force officer will remain in office until 1996. The
magazine mentioned the name of ACM Rerngchai Santiphan who will be the
last Class 1  officer to retire from the Air Force.