Thai premier bounces back with new lineup

Thai premier bounces back with new lineup

By Tony Austin

BANGKOK (Reuter): Dismissed last week as a lame duck, Thai
Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai has suddenly taken wing with a new
coalition partner lifting his government's hopes of lasting until
its full term ends in 1996.

Only four days after the New Aspiration Party had quit his
coalition without waiting to be expelled, the opposition Chart
Pattana party said on Monday it was ready to switch sides and
restore Chuan's parliamentary majority.

Analysts and diplomats questioned by Reuters generally agreed
that Chart Pattana, whatever its past reputation, was likely to
bring at least the same stability to government as the New
Aspiration Party (NAP) which stormed out on Thursday.

A straw poll of television viewers showed most in favor of the
new line-up, but there was also criticism from some commentators
who regarded Chart Pattana as a party of "Devils" opposed to
Chuan's "Angels" in the Thai political spectrum.

"The 'angelic' coalition has lost its do-good/no evil image
and it's only a matter of time before it again succumbs to in-
fighting," the Nation newspaper said in an editorial on Tuesday.

Campaigning for greater democracy, Chuan's Democrat Party
emerged strongest in the September 1992 election which followed
the army suppression of a pro-democracy movement in July that
year, in which troops shot dead more than 50 people.

Chuan went on to form a coalition with four other parties
which Thailand's news media collectively dubbed "Angels" because
of the priority they gave to democratic principles in a country
notoriously prone to military intervention in politics.

But a Bangkok diplomat, recalling the sharp political
alignments of 1992 said, "those distinctions are becoming blurred
now."

"There are no longer angels or devils," Sanan Kachornprasart,
the Democrat secretary-general responsible for bringing Chart
Pattana on board, told reporters.

The NAP voted against the government line on Thursday in a
joint session of the Lower House and appointed Senate, causing
the rejection of two constitutional amendments to have local
councils elected for fixed terms.

Chatichai Choonhavan, the Chart Pattana leader and a former
prime minister ousted in the 1991 military coup, was among those
who voted against the reform.

"Political expediency has always been the name of the game in
this country," one diplomat commented. "It is wrong to pigeon-
hole these political parties too much," she added.

Peter Schiefelbein, chief representative of Standard Chartered
Securities in Bangkok, said financial markets had perked up
dramatically on news of the inclusion of Chart Pattana.

"It is perhaps not a 100 percent solution for Chuan, but
Pattana is his best choice. It is a well disciplined party with a
reputation for sound business policy," Schiefelbein said.

As prime minister Chatichai won the hearts of businessmen by
fostering exceptionally strong economic growth. He was also
credited with initiating the Thai foreign trade policy of
converting Indochina's "battlefields into marketplaces."

But in Thai politics Chatichai's critics call him a "slippery
eel" for past policy U-turns. He also aroused the ire of the
opposition Chart Thai party for abandoning a pact not to join
Chuan which he himself proposed.

In 1991 the army-backed National Peacekeeping Council (NPKC)
which overthrew Chatichai accused him and some of his ministers
of having grown "unusually rich" while in office. A Thai court
later threw out corruption charges against the group on
constitutional grounds.

Some Democrats suggested it was the specter of NPKC-appointed
senators combining with the parliamentary opposition in last
Thursday's voting which had prompted Chuan to swallow his pride
and talk to Chart Pattana.

"There is bound to be some public dissatisfaction at the way
politicians change their minds," one diplomat said, adding that
Chuan had risked the charge of abandoning his principles in order
to safeguard continuous government.