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Thai PM defends cabinet as ministers await royal approval
Agence France Presse - December 20, 2008
New Thai premier Abhisit Vejjajiva has defended his cabinet against accusations that top jobs were going to unseasoned politicians, as the nation awaits royal approval of the ministerial line-up.
Abhisit has vowed to bring reconciliation to Thailand and boost an economy battered by six months of protests against the last government, which ended on December 3 after a court dissolved the ruling People Power Party (PPP).
Oxford-educated Abhisit was voted in by parliament on December 15 with the help of defecting MPs, but the Democrat Party leader's cabinet has already hit a snag with business leaders criticising some ministers as inexperienced.
Local media reported that the outcry prompted a last-minute change of industry minister, before the list went to the revered king for royal approval late Friday ahead of the official announcement of the line-up.
Speaking at a Democrat Party retreat on the southern island of Samui, British-born Abhisit urged members not to engage in infighting.
A number of key posts have gone to non-Democrat MPs to appease Abhisit's hastily-formed coalition, angering some party veterans.
"It is normal that there are disappointed people in the party, but this is coalition government," Abhisit said.
"If I pick ministers who business people want then my government's stability would be in jeopardy... The top priority of this government is to revive the economy and create reconciliation."
Since May, Thailand has been beset by increasingly disruptive protests by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD).
The PAD accused the now-defunct PPP of being disloyal to the monarchy and of running Thailand on behalf of Thaksin Shinawatra, the premier ousted in a 2006 coup who lives in exile abroad to escape corruption charges.
PAD protests reached their peak at the end of November when thousands of its supporters occupied Bangkok's two main airports for about a week, stranding up to 350,000 passengers and causing massive economic damage.
The group only ended its siege after the PPP was dissolved over vote fraud charges related to elections it won one year ago, allowing the Democrats to win over former PPP lawmakers and small parties to form the government.
Abhisit has said he wants to bring stability back to the kingdom after the protests and has tried to reach out to Thaksin's supporters, but some of his reported choices for cabinet posts have cast doubt on those promises.
Kasit Piromya, slated as the new foreign minister, was a vocal supporter of the PAD and took to the stage repeatedly during its six-month protest campaign to criticise the government.
The Democrat Party has already been accused of tacitly backing the PAD, while opponents have accused the courts and the army of staging a "silent coup" to get the establishment-friendly Democrats into power.
Supporters of Thaksin and the PPP, which won post-coup elections a year ago, feel they have been robbed of their democratic rights and have vowed to hold a massive rally on December 28 ahead of Abhisit's policy address to parliament.
"This government has no right to rule – you can see minister positions have been awarded to capitalists, the PAD and the military, who helped the Democrats into power," said pro-Thaksin leader Jatuporn Prompan.
"We will move to parliament to demonstrate there, but we will not seal off and block lawmakers from entering," he added.
Thaksin infuriated elements of the old elite in the palace, military and bureaucracy – the PAD's core support base – who saw his popularity as a drain on their power.
But the urbane Abhisit, who is known to friends by the western name Mark, has repeatedly failed to connect to Thaksin's support base among the poor, and came a distant second to the PPP in the 2007 elections.
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