APSN | Thai PM wary on cabinet choices

Home > South-East Asia >> Thailand

Thai PM wary on cabinet choices

Sydney Morning Herald - July 6, 2011

Thailand's first female PM no victory for feminism - Agence France Presse. July 5, 2011
Up to one million Thais deprived of vote: Watchdog - Agence France Presse. July 5, 2011
Thaksin's sister wins in Thai landslide - Sydney Morning Herald. July 4, 2011
Thai military 'accepts' opposition landslide - Agence France Presse. July 4, 2011
Thai Election: A slap in the face for the Military, the Democrat Party and the royalist elites - Red Thai Socialist. July 4, 2011

Lindsay Murdoch, Bangkok - The victorious Puea Thai party will not appoint red shirt leaders as cabinet ministers as prime minister-elect Yingluck Shinawatra negotiates the make-up of Thailand's new coalition government, party sources say.

The party backed by mass red shirts support is treading warily so as not to upset Thailand's powerful military or Bangkok's government and business elite, who are reeling from Puea Thai's landslide win in Sunday's election.

The red shirts, a movement of mostly rural and urban poor, have been at the centre of Thailand's six-year political crisis. Dozens of their leaders were jailed after a brutal crackdown on protests in April last year that left 91 people dead.

The military has vowed not to meddle in the election result but in the past has used its influence to keep exiled billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra from office.

Thaksin, a divisive figure loathed by many of Bangkok's old-money elite, is the brother of Ms Yingluck, 44, who is set to become Thailand's first female prime minister.

Puea Thai (For Thais) is set to consolidate its power by joining with four other parties to have 299 seats in Thailand's 500-seat parliament.

One of the first moves of the new government will be to pass legislation to grant an amnesty to Thaksin over a 2008 conviction for corruption for which he was sentenced to two years' jail, according to Thai media reports.

However, in media interviews from his base in Dubai, Thaksin has repeatedly said he will not return to Thailand if it might stoke new violence.

The Bangkok Post quoted a Puea Thai source as saying the party will have to wait for the right timing to pass the amnesty. The party would not rush to bring Thaksin back, the source was quoted as saying.

Ms Yingluck, a political novice who electrified slick campaign rallies, has promised to foster reconciliation in the bitterly divided country. She declared her first urgent mission is to establish a new truth and reconciliation commission.

Her second priority, she declared, was to honour King Bhumibol on his 84th birthday. But before she makes any overtures to the many enemies of the Thaksin camp, she needs to oversee negotiations for key ministries in the government.