Thai foreign minister resigns
Updated
Thailand's foreign minister, Noppadon Pattama, was forced to quit after an adverse court ruling on the constitutionality of a deal with neighbouring Cambodia. He's the third senior official to quit this week, prompting speculation about the governmetn's future.
Presenter: Tom Fayle
Speakers: Dr Andrew Walker, Thai affairs specialist, Australian National University.
WALKER: Well, a little bit of background. It's all about an ancient Hindu temple on the Thai-Cambodian border. This has been in dispute between Thailand and Cambodia since French colonial times, but in 1962 it was ruled by the International Court of Justice that that temple was owned by Cambodia. Now what's happened to the foreign minister is he agreed to back a Cambodian bid for World Heritage listing for that temple and his backing of that bid has been used by opposition forces in Thailand to whip up an ultra nationalist controversy, accusing him of being a traitor and of selling out Thai sovereignty. So given the heightened political climate in Thailand at the moment, what is in many respects a pretty trivial and rather technical legal issue has been whipped up and has claimed a ministerial scalp.
FAYLE: Now the courts have played such a prominent this week. There are some commentators in Bangkok who are talking about a judicial revolution and they may not even be done yet. What are the chances that Prime Minister Samak will dissolve parliament and call a snap election?
WALKER: Well, Samak is certainly under siege from the court, as you say, but also within parliament, on the streets, and in the media.
The ace up his sleeve is the chance to dissolve parliament and call an election and there are certainly rumours that he might do this. But the Opposition forces frankly don't want that and they run very quickly away from any talk of a new election. Why do that do this? Because they know they will lose an election. They know if Samak calls a new election, then he will win a new election. And the Opposition forces don't want this. They want to bring the government down. They want to change the government, but they don't want to do this via a new election.
FAYLE: So, may he reshuffle the cabinet then to jettison some of the more problematic ministers to take the heat off?
WALKER: I think the more likely scenario is that he'll try to tough this out. As you say, he's taken some pretty heavy blows in cabinet and one way he'll address that is a major reshuffle of cabinet and then try to move gradually into more business as usual. We've got a budget coming up in a month or so and that might give the government a chance to demonstrate that it is getting on with administering the country as it should.
We need to remember that this government is less than six months old, it's in its very early days.
FAYLE: Perhaps not surprisingly, the prime minister is blaming the Constitution drafted after the 2006 coup for many of his political woes. Does he have the strength to force through significant change on this score?
WALKER: Well, he certainly announced his intentions early on to amend the Constitution and I think many observers think that there are some key weaknesses with the Constitution. But I think he made a mistake in trying to rush those amendments through, which was seen as an attempt to cement and consolidate his power. He's now backed down on that, and referred constitutional amendment issues to a parliamentary committee. So I think he's going to move much slower on trying to amend the Constitution itself, because it is such a hot political issue right now.
FAYLE: As you've already indicated, the ruling coalition is facing persistent hostility on the streets with weeks of demonstrations by the royalist People's Alliance for Democracy. Some commentators are seeing the PAD as an increasingly reactionary, anti-democratic force aligned to the military. What's your view?
WALKER: Well I agree with them. I think the People's Alliance for Democracy is a misnomer. The key agenda of this group is to reduce the influence of electoral politics. They don't like elections, because they know that pro-Thaksin forces will keep winning the elections and they are the arch enemies of Thaksin. So their plan is to have a scheme whereby 70 per cent of members of parliament are appointed, rather than elected. The People's Alliance for Democracy don't trust the electorate. They think the electorate is naive and gullible and so they don't want the electorate to be able to determine who forms a government. It's not a very democratic agenda.
FAYLE: And briefly Dr. Walker, Thailand's of course no stranger to coup rumours, and there's been mixed messages from the generals recently. Are the conditions ripe for a fresh military intervention?
WALKER: On the face of it, the conditions might seem be ripe, but the indications are that a coup is unlikely. Never say never with a coup in Thai politics, but the indications are that the Prime Minister Samak has good relations with the top military brass and they've moved very quickly to scotch the coup rumours that constantly swirl around Bangkok.
