Telephone tycoon likely to enter Chuan's cabinet
Telephone tycoon likely to enter Chuan's cabinet
BANGKOK (Reuter): Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai has
submitted a final list of cabinet changes, which local newspapers
say includes the controversial nomination of a businessman who is
not a member of parliament as foreign minister.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej was expected to approve the list
yesterday, an official at the prime minister's office said.
Chuan's list, handed in at the royal palace on Monday night,
contained at least 14 full or deputy ministerial changes
recommended by two out of his five coalition parties, according
to Thai newspaper reports.
Thaksin Shinawatra, hitherto chairman of Shinawatra Computer
and Communications, was earlier nominated for the Foreign
Ministry by Palang Dharma party leader Chamlong Srimuang.
In the present coalition government, member parties are
allocated a certain number of portfolios, and the party leaders
have the power to replace their representatives in the cabinet at
will. The three other parties made no changes to their cabinet
posts.
Departing Foreign Minister Prasong Soonsiri bitterly contested
his replacement along with other Palang Dharma dissidents who
have refused to resign from their cabinet posts.
Whether or not they hand in their notices, the outgoing
officials' tenure lapses automatically once the new office-
holders are formally announced.
Oppose
Prasong, a veteran public servant, opposed his party leader's
decision to appoint a non-member of parliament to the key post.
"When it comes time to write a history of Thai politics, it
should be recorded that a minister whose performance was flawless
and supported by opinion polls had to quit because of a party's
leader and its executive committee," Prasong told reporters after
a farewell lunch given by Chuan on Sunday.
Thaksin has quit as chairman of his company's flagship
company, but political commentators have said there could be
potential conflicts of interest since the Shinawatra group holds
important broadcasting and satellite concessions.
Chamlong was prominent in the 1992 pro-democracy movement
against the appointment of a non-member of parliament as prime
minister, Gen. Suchinda Kraprayoon.
At the height of the protest soldiers gunned down scores of
demonstrators in the streets of Bangkok in May, 1992, causing
Suchinda's government to resign in disgrace.
Chuan came to power in September that year leading a coalition
of parties that favored more democracy in a country that has seen
at least 16 successful or attempted coups since the end of
absolute monarchy in 1932.