Task ahead for Chuan

The less than acceptable personalities in the Chuan Cabinet are, more or less, secondary to the public expectation that the new government must tackle the economic and financial crisis head-on. There is a need to exercise caution -- something Chuan is well-known for -- but in this abnormal situation, the prime minister's main challenge is to ensure his ministers work in unison.

Actions quickly dealing with the precarious situation brought about by the financial crisis are long overdue. The 58 suspended finance firms alone have assets close to one trillion baht and shutting the majority of them down will be easier than the gargantuan task of auditing their good and bad assets.

Time, however, is not something that the economic team, led by Supachai Panitchpakdi and Tarrin Nimmanahaeminda, have. There is also no guarantee that they will successfully meet the public's high hopes which helped sweep this government into power. But the two men can give the ailing economy their best shot.

It is crucial that the duo make Chuan understand that the situation is graver than he might realize. And Chuan must be able to hammer home this economic reality into the hearts and minds of his Cabinet members so that they can project themselves and communicate with the public accordingly. This is where the former premier failed, simply because he and his ministers had mistakenly thought that the economy would heal overnight after organizing the International Monetary Fund bailout and hiring a couple of technocrats to handle the economic and financial crisis.

The problem not only lies with the notorious ministers, but on the hard facts of the economic and financial difficulties that have now degenerated beyond what even the IMF had expected. Chuan needs support from his ministers to carry out whatever is necessary to give the economy a new platform for medium-term growth. There will, no doubt, be street protests and people who are unhappy with the economic programs. And there will also be the need for hard decisions concerning the Bank of Thailand which was the catalyst behind the financial crisis.

-- The Nation, Bangkok