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.