English Transcript

Cập nhật 29/09/2008 16:31:58

In Thailand, King Bhumipol Adulyadej has sworn in new Prime Minister, Somchai Wongsawat, and his freshly-announced cabinet. The new government comes into office after a year of political turmoil. But analysts warn the line-up of veteran politicians and academics are unlikely to defuse tensions, with the opposition Democrats saying accusing the new government of being filled with the cronies and supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Presenter: Liam Cochrane
Speakers: Giles Ji Ungpakorn, assistant professor at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Political Science; Dr Somjai Phagaphasvivat, associate professor of political science at Thammasat University.

COCHRANE: Thailand's new cabinet is taking control at an especially volatile period of the country's notoriously unstable political environment. They face the grim prospects of a global economic crisis and a violent separatist movement in the south, but analysts say the new government's first priority will be simply staying in power. Giles Ji Ungpakorn is assistant professor at the Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Political Science.

UNGPAKORN: They've first of all got to find a way of surviving, because the anti-government, extreme right, Royalist protests will continue. The protesters are committed to creating chaos so that they can bring in a new order of dictatorship, they want to reduce the democratic space.

COCHRANE: Those protesters are members of the People's Alliance for Democracy, who accuse the new leaders of being proxies for deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and want more MPs appointed rather than elected. Some opposition figures have claimed that the new Health Minister lacks the experience needed for the job and have raised questions about previous conflicts between the new Finance Minister and the Bank of Thailand. But Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat has taken the criticisms in his stride, saying they are normal, and has asked for the chance for the cabinet to prove its worth. But some think the cabinet may not get much time to make their mark, with legal action pending against the ruling People's Power Party. Political science professor Giles Ji Ungpakorn says further legal action is possible.

UNGPAKORN: They might find that their party gets dissolved by the courts so they're going to have to try and sort of limp along and see what happens and then they'll have to call a general election sooner or later.

COCHRANE: Another analyst, says that because of the chance of an election in the near future, the new cabinet has been chosen to be popular rather than effective. Dr Somjai Phagaphasvivat is an associate professor of political science at the Thammasat University. He says the new cabinet line-up makes the most of Thailand's culture of loyalties between patrons and their clients at local levels of politics.

PHAGAPHASVIVAT: The main mission of the cabinet is to make sure they will get more votes because in Thailand we have what we call the patron-client culture, if you look at the cabinet its more of a local politician that can get more votes in the local constituency.

COCHRANE: In the meantime, the new government must put forward policies to deal with the global financial crisis, says Thammasat University's, Dr Somjai Phagaphasvivat.

PHAGAPHASVIVAT: What we need here is what we call the emergency plan to make sure that we can tackle the crisis from the US. One of the plan, that is the need of the working together of the fiscal policy of responsibility and the Bank of Thailand, that is what we call the liquidity plan to make sure we can stabilise the financial institutions.

COCHRANE: Professor Phagaphasvivat said the prime minister has included economists in the new government, in an effort to face the dark clouds of world finance. If they can weather the economic and political storm of the next few months, Thailand's cabinet faces the ongoing issue of violence in the south, where the army has struggled to deal with muslim separatists. Professor Ungpakorn, from the Chulalongkorn University.

UNGPAKORN: And it's quite clear that the military can at best just keep the situation as it is, they can't win the war, and the other side can't win the war either, the separatists.

COCHRANE: Other disputes, such as the spat with Cambodia over a temple on their shared border, may have to wait, say analysts. The new government is expected to present its policy statement sometime next week.