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HONG KONG: When Thailand's military-appointed government came to power in October it was hailed within the country as a dream team of experienced, Western-educated technocrats who had the rare quality of being above politics.
But after a series of botched policies and reversals in the very area where the government was supposed to excel — managing the economy — investors and political analysts are counting the days until democracy is restored and a fresh government can take its place.
The government, analysts say, has shown none of the heel-clicking, military efficiency that was expected from a cabinet handpicked by the generals who shredded the Constitution and ousted Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister, on Sept. 19.
"It looks to me like technocratic incompetence," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. "We have seen very haphazard and ad hoc measures. You don't know what they're going to do tomorrow."
The most recent confusion came with the announcement that Thailand would tighten rules for foreign companies operating in the country.
According to The Associated Press, Pridiyathorn Devakula, the finance minister and deputy prime minister, told foreign investors on Wednesday in Bangkok that the new, more restrictive rules would not apply to telecommunications companies, a reversal of the initial announcement Tuesday.
Yet by exempting telecommunications companies, the government seemed to be undercutting the ostensible impetus for the change in rules: forcing Temasek, the Singapore-controlled company, to reduce its stake in the Thailand's largest mobile phone operator.
Thais who were more willing a few months ago to overlook the government's lack of democratic credentials are now urging a quick resumption of elections, even before a new constitution is drawn up.
"The main role of this government should have been interim, to change some of the rules and to make sure that law and order are established," said Jon Ungpakorn, a former member of the now defunct Thai Senate. "I don't think they have a political sense of what is really needed — a quick move toward elections.
"The promise of the coup leaders to return to democracy within one year does not look realistic."
The bombings in Bangkok on New Year's Eve that killed three people have also dispelled the notion that Thailand under a military-appointed government was any more secure.
Meanwhile, Thaksin, the former prime minister, is abandoning any attempt to return to power, according to his lawyer.
"He no longer wants to be involved in politics," the lawyer, Noppadon Patama, said in Bangkok, according to news agencies. "He will not run for the next general election because he does not have any more political ambition to be the prime minister again."
Yet the lawyer's words are unlikely to be heard by many Thais. On Wednesday the coup leaders ordered radio and television stations not to broadcast any statements from Thaksin.
"I want to ask every television channel and every radio station not to broadcast messages or statements of the former prime minister and leaders of the past ruling party," General Winai Phattiyakul, one of the leaders of the junta, told a gathering of 100 media representatives, according to Reuters.
The Nation newspaper reported Wednesday that the military government had revoked the diplomatic passports of Thaksin and his wife, Khunying Pojaman, a symbolic move since the government has consistently said that Thaksin remains a Thai citizen and thus is entitled to a standard passport.
From its earliest days, the government has appeared indecisive. Last year, the cabinet proposed, then abandoned, an increase in the drinking age; a proposal to ban alcohol advertising also hit snags. Many Thais expressed surprise that these were among the first issues the government sought to tackle instead of the presumably more pressing return to democracy. A major initiative to bring peace to the restive Muslim provinces of southern Thailand has not put a dent in the almost daily killings there. On Wednesday, an attack killed one elementary-school teacher.
The government's first major reversal came last month when the central bank's governor, Tarisa Watanagase, announced what was effectively a tax on foreign money invested in the stock market and bonds. But after the main stock index fell by 15 percent, Pridiyathorn, the finance minister, revised the measure to exclude stocks.
Source : International Herald Tribune, 10 Jan 2007
But after a series of botched policies and reversals in the very area where the government was supposed to excel — managing the economy — investors and political analysts are counting the days until democracy is restored and a fresh government can take its place.
The government, analysts say, has shown none of the heel-clicking, military efficiency that was expected from a cabinet handpicked by the generals who shredded the Constitution and ousted Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister, on Sept. 19.
"It looks to me like technocratic incompetence," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. "We have seen very haphazard and ad hoc measures. You don't know what they're going to do tomorrow."
The most recent confusion came with the announcement that Thailand would tighten rules for foreign companies operating in the country.
According to The Associated Press, Pridiyathorn Devakula, the finance minister and deputy prime minister, told foreign investors on Wednesday in Bangkok that the new, more restrictive rules would not apply to telecommunications companies, a reversal of the initial announcement Tuesday.
Yet by exempting telecommunications companies, the government seemed to be undercutting the ostensible impetus for the change in rules: forcing Temasek, the Singapore-controlled company, to reduce its stake in the Thailand's largest mobile phone operator.
Thais who were more willing a few months ago to overlook the government's lack of democratic credentials are now urging a quick resumption of elections, even before a new constitution is drawn up.
"The main role of this government should have been interim, to change some of the rules and to make sure that law and order are established," said Jon Ungpakorn, a former member of the now defunct Thai Senate. "I don't think they have a political sense of what is really needed — a quick move toward elections.
"The promise of the coup leaders to return to democracy within one year does not look realistic."
The bombings in Bangkok on New Year's Eve that killed three people have also dispelled the notion that Thailand under a military-appointed government was any more secure.
Meanwhile, Thaksin, the former prime minister, is abandoning any attempt to return to power, according to his lawyer.
"He no longer wants to be involved in politics," the lawyer, Noppadon Patama, said in Bangkok, according to news agencies. "He will not run for the next general election because he does not have any more political ambition to be the prime minister again."
Yet the lawyer's words are unlikely to be heard by many Thais. On Wednesday the coup leaders ordered radio and television stations not to broadcast any statements from Thaksin.
"I want to ask every television channel and every radio station not to broadcast messages or statements of the former prime minister and leaders of the past ruling party," General Winai Phattiyakul, one of the leaders of the junta, told a gathering of 100 media representatives, according to Reuters.
The Nation newspaper reported Wednesday that the military government had revoked the diplomatic passports of Thaksin and his wife, Khunying Pojaman, a symbolic move since the government has consistently said that Thaksin remains a Thai citizen and thus is entitled to a standard passport.
From its earliest days, the government has appeared indecisive. Last year, the cabinet proposed, then abandoned, an increase in the drinking age; a proposal to ban alcohol advertising also hit snags. Many Thais expressed surprise that these were among the first issues the government sought to tackle instead of the presumably more pressing return to democracy. A major initiative to bring peace to the restive Muslim provinces of southern Thailand has not put a dent in the almost daily killings there. On Wednesday, an attack killed one elementary-school teacher.
The government's first major reversal came last month when the central bank's governor, Tarisa Watanagase, announced what was effectively a tax on foreign money invested in the stock market and bonds. But after the main stock index fell by 15 percent, Pridiyathorn, the finance minister, revised the measure to exclude stocks.
Source : International Herald Tribune, 10 Jan 2007
