|
UNDER SIEGE: Police guarding Government House in Bangkok as Premier Samak was being grilled by the Upper House yesterday. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
|
|
|
BANGKOK - THAILAND'S Prime Minister yesterday distanced himself from ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra as the Upper House grilled him in a largely symbolic censure debate.
Hoping to ease pressure on his four-month-old government, Mr Samak Sundaravej refuted charges that he was Thaksin's puppet.
'We are different,' he said. 'The members of our political parties may come from the same groups, but it is normal in Thai politics for people to change parties.'
Mr Samak, 73, who was elected last December, delivered a wide- ranging defence of his government as thousands of street protesters blockaded his office for a fourth day, demanding the resignation of his government.
'I am not that insane to quit,' the tough-talking, right-wing firebrand said in a 30-minute rebuttal.
'In the past four months, I have worked every day. We have lots of work to do.
'Ministers attend Cabinet meetings every Tuesday.'
Mr Samak had openly campaigned as a proxy for Thaksin, but their ties have now sparked protests in the streets, and the Lower House is set to begin a no-confidence debate today that will lead to a vote on Thursday.
Critics have accused him of attempting to shelter Thaksin from a raft of corruption investigations that has already resulted in the freezing of US$2 billion (S$2.8 billion) of his assets.
Called before the Senate for a debate on his performance, Senator Sumon Sutaviriyawat began by accusing the Prime Minister of trying to amend Thailand's military-backed Constitution to curb the investigation into Thaksin, while ignoring the country's economic problems.
'The government has failed to solve our economic problems and focused on amending the Constitution, which clearly shows that its wants to help the former prime minister,' Ms Sumon said.
'The country is in a crisis caused by this government,' she added in the nationally televised proceedings.
'The country is not peaceful, and economic problems have not been solved.'
Neither the Senate debate nor today's opposition-sponsored no-confidence motion is likely to cause the coalition major problems, given its overwhelming majority.
Instead, Mr Samak appears to be using them to counter the street campaign by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), the motley group of businessmen, academics and royalists whose 2005 campaign against Thaksin led ultimately to his removal in a 2006 coup.
'They will use their victory against the no-confidence motion to say a majority of MPs still have confidence in the government and tell the street protesters to go home,' said Democrat Party spokesman Ong-Ard Klampaiboon.
The opposition Democrats won 164 seats in Parliament in last December's election, the first since the coup, compared with 316 for Mr Samak's People Power Party and its five coalition partners.
A government spokesman, Mr Nattawut Saikuar, said the debate would go ahead in the hope of easing political tensions.
'This movement is causing trouble, so to decrease the tense situation and avoid any unwanted incidents, the government decided to allow the censure debate,' he said.
Thaksin, a self-made billionaire, had antagonised Bangkok's elite with populist policies that endeared him to Thailand's populous heartland by providing universal health care, affordable loans and other social programmes.
Analysts say that even if Mr Samak were somehow forced out of office, tensions would remain between the traditional elite and Thaksin's populist allies, who would likely win any new election.
'If Samak resigns, then what? You have another election, the same people will win,' said Mr Giles Ji Ungpakorn, a politics professor at Chulalongkorn University.
Mr Samak and Thaksin 'are incredibly popular among the population', he said.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
|
