 |
| Photo: Bangkok Post |
A pensive Yingluck Shinawatra. The prime
minister enjoyed a honeymoon period during the first few months of her
administration, but is now right in the thick of the realities of political
intrigue, dogfights, censure debates and damaging criticism of her policies.
The main reasons for the overwhelming
victory were attributed to 16 populist policies to benefit grassroots and middle-income
earners as well as the success of the red-shirt movement in discrediting the
opposition campaign in every way.
Thailand's 28th and first female prime
minister was warmly welcomed by fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra who
is waiting to benefit from the Pheu Thai government led by his younger sister.
Throughout the election and when she was
endorsed as prime minister and announced the government's policies, Ms Yingluck
repeatedly pledged to work for all Thais, not for any particular individual or
groups.
When the Yingluck administration governed
the country over the next few months, the country was at peace as people were
tired of constant politicking and divisiveness in society, and it was a
honeymoon period for the new government.
As time went by, the new government began
to show its real intentions when Pheu Thai MPs began to agitate in the House of
Representatives to initiate an amnesty bill or executive decree to pardon
political crimes.
A committee was appointed in the Justice
Ministry to find a way to petition for royal pardons.
A rumour flew about that a VIP prison was
to be specially prepared to welcome the Big Boss from Dubai as a pre-condition
for the royal clemency.
However, the Thai media were not totally
bought and intimidated by dark influences and came out to criticise the
government for its errant priority when the country was and still is facing
losses and hardship from last year's great floods and the global economic
slowdown.
So the government did not dare to issue an
executive decree to pardon political prisoners.
When it became clear the executive decree
was not an option, the government switched tack by adopting a two-pronged
attack, initiating a charter rewrite and supporting various versions of the
national reconciliation bill.
The constitution rewrite was touted as
making the country more democratic as the current charter was the product of
the coup-installed constitution drafting committee, even though it received
endorsement from the people through a national referendum.
Post Today believes the real reason for the
attempt to rewrite the current constitution is to revoke the legitimacy of the
2006 coup and the aftermath which included the appointment of the Assets
Scrutiny Committee that led to legal action against Thaksin, including the
Ratchadaphisek land deal in which Thaksin was found guilty and sentenced to two
years in jail.
Various versions of the national
reconciliation bill were aimed at giving amnesty for all political crimes since
2005, which would include Thaksin as well.
It is true the Yingluck government
immediately began to carry out its populist policies including the rice
pledging scheme, first car/first home buyers plan and various funds to support
low-income earners.
It is also true it rewarded its loyal
supporters by appointing a red-shirt leader charged with inciting unrest as a
deputy minister and several other second-tier leaders as secretaries and
members of various government enterprise boards.
Another achievement is to give up to 7.75
million baht to relatives of people killed during the red shirts' occupation
and burning of Bangkok.
Post Today did not quibble with the amount
of compensation but found fault with the government in its haste to bury the
ugly incident while the relatives of those killed still want to find out the
real truth.
Because the payout was huge, the government
was compelled to review previous payments to relatives of those killed in other
unrest, including in the deep South.
If the government did not do this, it would
be accused of double standards, giving a potent weapon to the Democrats.
It is true Prime Minister Yingluck never
overtly came out to push for all the agendas that would help her brother. This
was done by Thaksin loyalists.
Whenever asked, Ms Yingluck would reply:
"I don't know. It's a parliamentary affair."
Her performance deserves a golden acting
award, noted Post Today.
During the second half of its first year in
office, the government began to float the prices of LPG and CNG as well as
diesel, petrol and gasohol.
The government also bought all the paddy
output in the rice pledging scheme and stored it in rented silos throughout the
country, resulting in higher prices for bagged rice as supplies in the local
market dwindled.
All these raised the cost of living in
contrast with Ms Yingluck's comment at a huge election rally at Rajamangala
stadium that Pheu Thai would arrest rising prices.
Meanwhile, economists from the Thailand
Development Research Institute (TDRI) and other institutions questioned the
wisdom of the rice pledging scheme because of widespread corruption.
Even though polls indicate people want the
government to tackle economic problems before trying to rewrite the
constitution and some politicians in the coalition parties are criticising
certain Pheu Thai executives for trying to help one person and creating
political tension again, it seems Pheu Thai as a whole does not care very much.
Whatever the policies partly or
successfully carried out by the Pheu Thai government, they all pale in
comparison to the government's total commitment to bring Thaksin back to
Thailand as a real hero, concluded Post Today.
Mixed economic signals
It's a good thing that second-quarter GDP
grew 4.2%, better than expected, noted Nakarn Laohavilai, Post Today editor.
However, digging into the details, the
figure may portend a future crisis. According to the National Economic and
Social Development Board (NESDB), the three economic engines driving 2Q growth
were government spending, private sector investment and consumption.
The other strong engine, the export sector,
hardly registered any significant increase.
The 2Q growth was based mainly on the
domestic front, not the ability to earn higher revenue from exports, which
traditionally are the country's main growth engine.
The NESDB noted that various stimulus
measures including the first car and first home tax reductions were successful
in driving domestic consumption, which in turn helped expand private sector
investment, but at the expense of lowering tax revenue.
The NESDB's figures showed that tax
collections during April-June came to 620 billion baht, about 21 billion baht
below target.
The shortfall could be attributed to the
lower corporate tax collection - a Pheu Thai policy - while the excise tax on
automobiles was higher than target due to the first-car tariff reduction
campaign.
As long as tax revenue is lower than
government spending, it means a worsening fiscal position. The NESDB reported
that public debt in May was at 4.66 trillion baht, or 42.6% of the country's GDP
and the trend has been rising since Pheu Thai came to power.
Post Today warned that populist policies
with excessive spending while tax revenue cannot keep up will spell doom for
the country. Before long, the government may realise - too late - that its fiscal
position is untenable.
'No floods this year'
Plodprasop Suraswadi, chairman of the Water
Resources Management and Flood Control Committee, vowed on Wednesday to resign
as chair of the committee vetting 359 bid proposals to design and manage 350
billion baht allotted for flood management, reported Thai Rath.
Science and Technology Minister Plodprasop
revealed that the committee will invite all bidders to take a tour from Chiang
Mai down along the Chao Phraya River to Bangkok lasting two to three days. But
they must pay their own expenses.
The committee will distribute the terms of
reference and other information the government has gathered from overseas
experts for the past two years to counter criticism that the committee is not
giving equal access to the information and to refute the rumour that Mr
Plodprasop is locking the specifications in favour of Chinese consortiums.
Mr Plodprasop promised that after the bid
is finished and checks on the details and approving the allocated budget are
done, he will resign from the committee because he is tired of constant
criticism. No one could then accuse him of a conflict of interest in designing
the TOR specifications and then judging the various bid proposals.
The government will hold a press conference
on Aug 31 at the Convention Hall, Central Plaza Lat Phrao with a live telecast
to tell the people about the government's progress in carrying out flood
prevention. People will have a chance to pose questions directly to the
government.
Mr Plodprasop expressed confidence Thailand
will not face floods this year as a low pressure trough, which is usually
present in Thailand around this time, is still in Myanmar.
What worries him most are the strong
northerly winds blowing a low pressure trough to the South causing widespread
rain and floods in the West and South.
(bangkokpost.com)
