Thai govt under fire from all sides

Thai govt under fire from all sides

By Jim Hatton

BANGKOK (AFP): Barely a month after taking office, Prime
Minister Banharn Silapa-archa's government is under fire from all
sides, including such heavyweights as the military and the
monarchy.

Discontent appears to be growing in both urban and rural
areas. Villagers in northern Phrae province, opposed to a dam the
government wants to build, threw stones at Banharn's helicopter
on Aug. 18 when he came to inspect a reservoir.

Then the Stock Exchange of Thailand fell when Banharn, unable
to find a respected technocrat to take the Finance Ministry
portfolio, gave the post to an aide. The bourse still has the
blues.

The local press remains highly critical. The most tepid
criticism has come from the political opposition, which promised
to hold fire during an initial honeymoon period.

While no one has suggested the government is ready to fall or
the military is about to take over, an aide to Banharn was quoted
Friday as saying a cabinet reshuffle could come as early as
January.

Banharn's seven-party coalition government was in trouble even
before it was born.

During the run-up to the July 2 election, which Banharn's
Chart Thai party won, there were widespread charges of massive
vote-buying. Banharn himself was labeled the "mobile ATM"
(automatic teller machine) for his largess.

Two Chart Thai canvassers were caught with 11 million baht
(US$440,000) in cash and campaign literature on them, but police
said that since no crime had been committed yet, no charges could
be filed.

A Chart Thai legislator later defended the two, telling
Parliament "all MPs have bought votes."

When Banharn set out to form a government, the fight for
ministerial posts was so intense he took the unusual route of
accepting the royal appointment as prime minister before settling
his cabinet lineup.

Several of his cabinet choices have been criticized as
unqualified. Some had been declared "unusually wealthy" by an
ethics panel set up after the army deposed Prime Minister
Chatichai Choonhavan in 1991 on grounds that his Chart Thai-led
government was hopelessly corrupt.

But two senior Chart Thai men suspected by the US of having
ties to the drug trade, Vatana Asavahame and Narong Wongwan, did
not get cabinet seats.

Narong was ignored because he failed to win a House seat, and
Vatana's plea that he be given a top post to prove his innocence
went unheeded.

Since the cabinet was sworn in July 20 it has had two main
problems: Bangkok's traffic and rising inflation.

Deputy Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said after being
named Bangkok's traffic czar that he would find a way to solve
the congestion within six months. Since then he has voiced
several imaginative but largely unworkable ideas, such as using
army helicopters as airborn tow truck.

The Nation daily has been running a graphic with its traffic
stories that has Thaksin's face and says, "Keeping Traffic Vow,
Deadline: Jan. 26, 1996. "

The Bangkok Post has had almost daily editorial cartoons
lampooning Banharn and Thaksin.

When cartoonist Nop draws Banharn he frequently puts a "B" on
his buckle or tie with a vertical line through it, making it a
"baht" sign for the local currency.

If Banharn has been unruffled by the press, he reportedly
"panicked" when King Bhumibol Adulyadej criticized the
government. The monarch said on Aug. 17 that Thaksin and Deputy
Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, tasked with improving traffic in
the suburbs, had not been working together.

Last Friday, the military waded in, blasting the government
for high prices and for not solving pressing social issues.

"We Thai people are hoping that some day soon we will have a
leader who is brave enough to create fairness in society" and
control food prices, a military radio program said.

The political opposition has also joined the fray, accusing
the government of failing to resolve the problem.