It's stell 'them' and 'us'

General news - Thursday December 13, 2007

ABOUT POLITICS

It's stell 'them' and 'us'

Prospect of other parties ganging up against PPP leaves Thaksin unworried, even if party ends up on opposition benches / DSI probe raises fresh challenge for list candidate Plodprasop, who will have to put his survival skills to the test / Sonthi still occupying three official army homes, including one worth B13 million, despite stepping down as army chief

The "them or us" mentality still reigns supreme. Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted prime minister widely regarded as the mentor of the People Power party, has declared that the PPP will settle for spending the next term on the opposition benches if it falls even one seat short of gaining a parliamentary majority.

Nearly every opinion poll predicts the PPP will outperform the rival Democrat party on Dec 23.

However, Abac Poll, reputed to be one of the most academically reliable surveys, has predicted only a narrow margin of victory for the PPP.

The pollster said figures show that as many as 61% of voters have still not decided which way they will vote.

Only 15% of respondents have indicated they would definitely tick their ballots in favour of either the PPP or the Democrats.

Abac Poll painted a more moderate electoral win for the PPP, predicting it would snare no more than 200 seats in the House, a stark contrast to some other polls, which projected the rebranded Thai Rak Thai party would definitely top the 200-seat mark.

Running a distant second is the Democrat party with 150 seats, even after putting on its best performance, according to Abac Poll.

At stake are 480 seats in the House of Representatives, 400 constituency seats and 80 from the proportional representation system.

Watching closely as the political events unfold, Mr Thaksin broke his silence in a recent interview in Hong Kong.

He said it would not be the end of the world if the PPP was to occupy the opposition benches after the election.

The deposed prime minister reaffirmed it mattered little if the PPP was isolated by other parties, who may band together to forge a coalition government even if they have only a bare majority.

Analysts said his comments were intended to spur people to choose sides.

He seemed to be testing public reaction to the notion of his making a return to the country, where criminal charges await him for alleged policy corruption.

An impression was created that Mr Thaksin's abilities were being wasted with him being "disabled" from politics since the Sept 19 coup last year.

Many Thaksin loyalists were hesitant to be frank in opinion surveys about their favourite party.

But an overwhelming PPP victory is seen as the only way Mr Thaksin could stage a comeback and pick up where he had left off a year and a half ago.

He seems fearless enough, clearly identifying himself with the PPP even though he is one the 111 former Thai Rak Thai party executives banned from politics for five years for election fraud.

The PPP executives also do not seem perturbed by the prospect of any legal trouble Mr Thaksin may invite against the party.

A PPP source lambasted the coup-making body, the Council for National Security, for driving the party into a corner.

The source claimed that despite the council's best efforts to come after the PPP, by directing independent agencies to attack it, the party's popularity was actually growing in leaps and bounds.

The more criminal cases brought against former Thai Rak Thai members, the wider the PPP support base gets.

The source was confident the PPP would not be dissolved, maintaining any criminal proceedings would be lengthy and could be decided only by the Constitution Court.

By the time the verdict was out, the election would be long over and the PPP the clear winner.

Meanwhile, VCDs have been released of Mr Thaksin addressing his supporters, while the PPP continues to discount the reliability of campaign policies and political claims of its rivals.

Bouncing back

Plodprasop Suraswadi is a man seldom free of controversy, but every time he encounters a new problem he seems able to bounce back.

Mr Plodprasop is a former chief of the Forestry Department and former director of the Designated Area for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Dasta), an organisation created by the Thaksin Shinawatra government to manage high-end tourist attractions on Koh Chang island in Trat, Phi Phi island in Krabi and the Chiang Mai Night Safari.

He tackles problems aggressively, which puts him on newspaper front pages. Yet there is no question about his ability. As forestry chief he managed to develop tourist attractions in national parks to compete with privately-run resorts. He introduced business-style management models to national parks.

Private operators were contracted to build accommodation and run the places under concessions.

When the Thaksin government gave him authority over Dasta, Mr Plodprasop was criticised by civic sector groups for the ambitious scale of the projects he undertook, and their huge budgets.

Before the end of the Thaksin administration, Mr Plodprasop was also taking care of the Chiang Mai Night Safari under Dasta. The safari park drew opposition from residents and conservationists, and was enmeshed in land conflicts and controversy over the importation of wildlife.

He eventually managed to go ahead with the project by acquiring supporters' signatures.

When Mr Thaksin was ousted Mr Plodprasop was asked to leave Dasta and many projects under the Thaksin government were gradually scrapped.

Yet trouble still lies ahead for Mr Plodprasop, now a party-list candidate for the People Power party, as the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) is probing his role in a Sop Kok forest encroachment case in Chiang Rai province. A former minister under the Thaksin administration is also being investigated.

Mr Plodprasop has survived past controversies.

It is not yet clear whether he will manage to overcome doubts concerning his role in the forest encroachment case.

Too hard to move

Deputy Prime Minister Sonthi Boonyaratkalin occupies three "official" houses, but this is not because he is a Muslim and has three wives.

The general has raised many eyebrows for his failure to give up three army-owned residential quarters, especially the latest one - a fully-furnished 13-million-baht home in the 11th Infantry Regiment in Bang Khen district - after he retired in September.

Gen Sonthi has lived in the army house, which is next to the Kesakomol residence, ever since he was made deputy army chief.

After taking up the army's top job, he used the Kesakomol house to welcome and entertain guests, so much so that many thought he slept there. But because many top brass faced lightning transfers in the past after they moved to the Kesakomol house, Gen Sonthi has never spent the night there. He has only hosted VIP guests.

For appointments with politicians, he prefers the private ambience of hotels.

As the Kesakomol house sits on a main road and any visitors can be seen by reporters who trail his every move, Gen Sonthi started looking for a "safe house". But all the residential units providing a sense of security in the military complexes that he has looked at are fully occupied.

Then he stumbled across a big block of land in the 11th Infantry Regiment compound. He endorsed an army budget to build five houses for the army's top five - the commander-in-chief, his deputy, their two assistants and the chief-of-staff.

After a year of construction, he moved into the new house a few months after he staged the coup on Sept 19 last year. "I often stay here on Friday, because I need not rise early the next day to go to work," he said.

He has not surrendered any of the three houses, even after retiring from the army and leaving the Council for National Security.

Under army rules, an officer must move out of an official house within six months of retirement. In practice, retired officers may stay on for up to one year while they build a new house.

But with former army chiefs, no one dares ask them to let go of the official houses, said an army source.

"Some phuyai hold on to official houses, with the army footing their electricity and water bills," the source said.

Gen Sonthi is banking on his post as deputy prime minister in charge of security affairs to justify his stay at all three houses, keeping new army chief Gen Anupong Paojinda waiting.

"The 11th Infantry Regiment already gave the land where Gen Sonthi's new house sits to the army. Gen Sonthi can stay on after his retirement, but not for the rest of his life," said the source.

Bangkok Post