From: kamol@ipied.tu.ac.TH (Kamol Hengkietisak)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.thai
Subject: Bangkok Post Dec 13: Weekly news roundup
Date: 15 Dec 92 03:17:52 GMT
Article-I.D.: ipied.9212131609.AA00479
Organization: Mail/News gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: munnari.oz.au


Why senators rebelled
 
WITH the disintegration of the Samakkhi Tham Party, the Senate now
constitutes the strongest focus of the support for the former National
Peace-keeping Council (NPKC), according to "Cherng-at Datchanee",
writing in Matichon daily.
 
The Senate's action in not passing a bill to abolish the post of
Director of Internal National Peace-keeping was not just a defiance at
the Chuan Government, but also a defiance of the National Defence
Council which is traditionally considered to be the controlling
influence behind the military faction within the Senate.
 
The whole incident demonstrates that in actual fact the NPKC still has
sympathisers in Parliament as well as within the Government itself.
These people make themselves evident every time there is a debate on
the bloody May incident.
 
In addition to the Senate's delay of the bill to abolish the Internal
National Peace-keeping Director Act, the NPKC's persisting influence
was also demonstrated by the Constitutional Tribunal's interpretation
of the Amnesty Decree earlier.
 
The only comfort was the fact that the Senate only delayed the
processing of the bill and only bought time, although this can be seen
as a worrying show of force in defiance of the new elements within the
National Defence Council.
 
The daily Naew Na was more pessimistic and predicted that the bill
will never be passed within the lifetime of this government.
 
The daily pointed out that all the senators had been appointed by the
NPKC. While the Senate appointed a 29-man committee to scrutinise the
bill, an overwhelming majority of the committee members are known to
have strong ties with the NPKC and several had spoken out against the
bill within the Senate.
 
Academics and students saw the appointment of the scrutinising
committee as a deliberate attempt to delay the passage of the bill in
defiance of public opinion. The rules dictates that the committee will
have to finish scrutinising the bill within 30 days, after which the
bill will have to be sent to the House of Representatives to be
considered within 180 days.
 
The delay and problems with the passage of the bill will give
satisfaction to many people who want the power to remain within the
hands of the prime minister since more than a few of them have
aspirations to become prime minister themselves.
 
MP Sansern Kraichitti was philosophical in commenting that most of the
senators had been appointed by the NPKC Chairman Gen Sunthorn
Kongsompong, so their thinking may not correspond with that of the
Government.
 
After all, he reasoned, the 260 senators had been appointed with the
expressed intention of coordinating with the "military parties" to
push for the appointment of Gen Suchinda Kraprayoon as prime minister.
Chart Thai Pattana Party
 
WHILE Maj-Gen Chamlong Srimuang has been trying hard to entice Mr
Anand Panyarachun to become Palang Dharma Party leader, the Chart Thai
and Chart Pattana parties have apparently reach agreement in principle
to merge under the name Chart Thai Pattana Party.
 
Under the proposed arrangement, Chart Pattana leader Gen Chatichai
Choonhavan will become party leader, Chart Thai secretary-general will
become secretary-general of the new party while Chart Thai leader Gen
Pramarn Adireksarn will become chairman of the party advisory team.
 
The arrangement will give the new party 137 votes in the House while
it may not be difficult to ask for the cooperation of another 22 MPs
from the Social Action Party.
 
But the path will not be strewn with rose petals. The proposed new
party will have to reckon with the "Therd Thai" faction of former
Samakkhi Tham MPs as well as the thorny problem of what to do with
Chart Thai secretary-general Prachuab Chaiyasarn. While Mr Prachuab
may not be up to Mr Banharn in political stature, he still controls
many votes in Parliament, particularly those from the Northeast.
 
Sources in Chart Thai and Chart Pattana said that it is time for the
parties to end their split since the influence of the NPKC is receding
while at the same time the boundary between the "good" and the "evil"
parties is becoming very blurred, particularly with the strong
in-fighting within the New Aspiration Party.
 
Another consideration is what the two parties conceive to be an
uncertain future for the government of Chuan Leekpai who has proved to
be a better politician than he is an administrator. This may give the
opposition an opportunity to combine forces and launch an attack.
 
Certain to feel a chill from the proposed merging of the Chart Thai
and Chart Pattana parties is the Democrat Party which may have good
reasons not to feel 100 per cent confident in the Social Action and
New Aspiration parties.
 
There certainly have been less than full solidarity between the
government coalition and the proposed merger may prove very tempting
for the SAP and the NAP whose leader Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh had
always aspired to be prime minister. The Chamlong dilemma
 
THAILAND has a large area, but is short of people of high calibre.
 
The stream of democracy is strong, but there is a dearth of
leadership.
 
Thailand has many followers, but few leaders.
 
Given these facts, observers may be forgiven for becoming excited over
reports that Palang Dharma Party's de facto leader Maj-Gen Chamlong
Srimuang may turn down official leadership of the party at the
scheduled January 23 party meeting, said Thai Rath daily.
 
The report prompted much speculation about what will happen, whether
Maj-Gen Chamlong will really turn down the position and what the
future of Thai politics in general and Palang Dharma Party in
particular will be like without Maj-Gen Chamlong in the scene.
 
This all goes back to an open letter hand written by Maj-Gen Chamlong
and distributed to probably over a million people. The letter was
written just one day before the general elections and said, in effect,
that if the Palang Dharma Party loses out to "dirty power" he would
cease his political role and be MP for just one term, after which he
will devote his time to develop a school to train political leaders.
 
The action back-fired however and Palang Dharma won only 47 seats, far
short of expectation.
 
A political hick-cough on the part of Maj-Gen Chamlong is nothing new
and we have noted his refusal to accept a position in the Chuan
Cabinet, choosing to stay apart from the political circuit.
 
Thai Rath commented that Maj-Gen Chamlong is adept at creating
conditions to justify his action. One example was the writing of the
letter which unfortunately back-fired on him. The goal had been to get
as many people as possible to vote for his party.
 
He may now be creating another condition to build up public pressure
for his return as party leader. If things work out, then he is likely
to return to the political arena as PDP leader and the condition he
had set in that letter will be washed away like his earlier vow to
fast unto death in May.
 
Thai Rath predicted that there will be an overwhelming pressure for
Maj-Gen Chamlong to return and that he will not abandon the party he
had given birth to. He may be tempted to return since his whole
political activities had been geared to making him prime minister.
 
It may be possible that he really wants to cease his involvement in
the political vicious circle with endless vote-buying and
mud-slinging. It may also be true that he wants to create a new
dimension in Thai politics namely that political parties should not
adhere to personalities.
 
But if Maj-Gen Chamlong refuses to be party leader, who can assume the
role of Palang Dharma leader?
 
Me Anand Panyarachun has already turned down the offer and the fact
that he had been approached implies that Maj-Gen Chamlong does not
have much confidence in people within the party, be they Mr Suthep
Attakorn, Col Vinai Sompong, Mr Boonchu Rojanasthien or Sqdn Ldr
Prasong Soonsiri. If the choice should fall on party members, however,
Col Vinai will be the most likely choice.
 
But then the PDP has always been the Chamlong party in people's mind.
It was born out of a Chamlong fever at the time. Should Maj-Gen
Chamlong pull out now, the PDP is likely to become a political bonsai
while his return is sure to rejuvenate the party as well as Thai
politics in general.
 
While Thai politics will not disintegrate in the absence of Maj-Gen
Chamlong, he is a symbol of goodness, cleanliness, honesty and purity.
If this symbol should pull out now it will have an adverse effect on
the people who want to see more good people participating in politics.
Footnotes THE border bandits are in most cases undisciplined soldiers
of the Sihanouk faction, according to Maj-Gen Prasert Pakcharoen who
pointed out that Kabcherng village in Surin Province -- the area
adjacent to the Sihanouk faction-controlled region -- has been
repeatedly plundered.
 
"It is least likely for the strictly-controlled Khmer Rouge to be
behind the frequent border pillages as those found guilty of such
offences or caught trading weapons will be executed on their return to
the camp," said the commander of the Sixth Infantry Division in his
capacity as chief of the Suranari Force. * * * THE new naval Chief is
tipped to be a "dark horse". Contrary to speculations that either Adm
Pravit Sivarak or Navy Chief of Staff Adm Suravutthi Maharom is
heir-apparent of Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Vichate Karunyavanij
who is due to for mandatory retirement next year, a highly reliable
source has it that the top naval post will be filled by Adm Prajatana
Siridet who was recently promoted Assistant Navy Chief. * * * OUT of
the 10 Khmer Rouge areas, six are in western Cambodia adjacent to the
southeastern Thai border. The 25-km stretch of Khmer Rouge-dominated
regions run deep into Cambodia -- from Borai District's Chumpol border
checkpoint, Trat Province, to Panom Markhin opposite Aranyaprathet
District, Prachin Buri Province.
 
Bordering Trat Province, the territory guarded by the Navy's Marine
Corp, the six Khmer Rouge-controlled logging and gem regions comprise:
 
-- Panom Tahuk and Panom Kanrenrom adjacent to 4-m wide, 15-km long
Highway 58 which runs from Soi Dao District, Chanthaburi Province, to
Sisopon -- the gateway to Battambang reputed for logging and gem
trades.
 
-- Gem-rich Pailin including the whole of the circular 80-square-km
Panom Terang region.
-- Panom Kampongtuk which is half the area of Pailin.
 
-- Panom Samroot, adjacent to Panom Kampongtuk and opposite Borai
District, including the area to the east of Nanom Samroot. This Khmer
Rouge-controlled territory is 15 km from the Thai border.
 
-- Panom Tansoke, as big as Samroot, and part of the area -- between
Samroot and Panom Tuksoke -- is a stone's throw from the Free Khmers'
former refugee camp at Chumpol border checkpoint. .
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