Surayud:Khao Yai Thieng

ABOUT POLITICS; Heading back to nature
24 January 2008
Bangkok Post

As happy times are again set to return to the family of outgoing Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, his wife, Chitravadee Chulanont, wastes no time in outlining the future of the family and defends her house and husband. Thanpuying Chitravadee is eagerly looking forward to the day her husband steps down when the new government takes office with plans for leisure activities with her husband and sons.

"Normally, we do activities together on Sundays but after my husband accepted the premiership, he has not had enough time for the family and we have hardly had dinner together," she said. "I have waited for this day for more than a year," she said during a visit by the press to her house on Khao Yai Thieng mountain in Sikhiu district of Nakhon Ratchasima last weekend.

The controversial land acquisition and use is being investigated by the Forestry and Land Departments, amid claims that it might have been state land and as such, off-limits to private buyers. But Thanpuying Chitravadee, the landowner, reiterated the legality of land rights which she had obtained more than a decade ago. "I pay 80 baht in land tax every year," she said, explaining that she did not buy the land for business purposes. Instead, she wanted to develop it as a forest so that her family members, relatives and close friends would use it as a retreat. "We came here often before Gen Surayud took up the premiership. "He wanted us to live close to nature. That's why we built only a small house with two toilets and one living room. We always slept in tents outside the house," she said.

The prime minister spent his time reading books, jogging, watering trees and watching the sunset overlooking the Lam Takhong dam. Thanpuying Chitravadee defended her husband saying he had done his best to solve the problems plaguing the country since he came to power in October 2006. Thanpuying Chitravadee said her husband will never return to politics after stepping down from the premiership because he wants to spend the rest of his life as an ordinary person.

"I know that he is tired of this mission but I have never heard him complaining about it or being in a bad temper at home," she said. However, she is uncertain whether her husband will return to being a privy councillor, saying the decision depends on His Majesty the King. "People don't need to praise my husband highly after he retires from office. Just saying something fair about him is enough," she said.
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Just one drama after another Former United States ambassador to Thailand Ralph Boyce took early retirement from the US foreign service when his appointment ended last month, but will retain a highly visible, and probably very vocal, presence in the Southeast Asian political scene. Mr Boyce is now a senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew Institute in Singapore, where he was posted from 1992 to 1994. Like many of his predecessors, Mr Boyce, widely known as Skip, is expected to exploit his connections in the region for the benefit of American or regional policy formulation.

The diplomat, who speaks Thai, Persian and French, added colour to Thai politics during the final years of his diplomat career and his comments about the Thaksin government are seen as having helped justify the Sept 19, 2006 coup. Mr Boyce's replacement, Eric John, might not be as colourful or as outspoken, but the Indiana-born diplomat has his fingers well-attuned to Thailand's pulse. Mr John arrived in Thailand exactly a week after the Dec 23 general election and has been active ever since, despite having to wait for an audience with His Majesty the King to present his credentials, including copies of the Letter of Credence and Letter of Recall of His Predecessor.

He said at his first function last week that he looked forward to the commemoration of the 175th anniversary year of the Thai-US Amity Treaty later this year. After all, Thailand is the United States' oldest ally in Asia, longer than China and Japan, and there must be some landmark celebration for this bilateral event. Mr Boyce's three years in Thailand could be described as a dramatic time, given the fact that he was here to bear witness to several major events, including the 60th anniversary of His Majesty's accession to the throne and the 80th birthday celebration. He was also here to handle US-Thai affairs during the 2004 tsunami and the Sept 19 coup.

Mr John's years could be equally testing. As a former deputy assistant secretary of state for Southeast Asia, he has coordinated Washington's's Asian policy, including the relationship with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which Thailand chairs from the middle of this year.

He will play a key liaison role in US relations with Thailand, bilaterally and within Asean. Affairs related to Burma are also likely to arise. The 48-year-old diplomat is optimistic about Thailand's prospects in light of the coup, which he has described as only an interruption, albeit a significant one. Regarded as an expert in Korean and Vietnamese affairs, Mr John will now have to deal with the volatile political scene in Thailand and the region, while negotiating his way through changing times at home at the same time.
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In search of a security blanket
As the Council for National Security (CNS) prepares to step down, members of the Assets Scrutiny Committee (ASC), are nervously awaiting the return to Thai shores of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The CNS will, for all intents and purposes, disband after the new People Power party-led government is sworn in.
The PPP, a resurrection of the Thai Rak Thai party which the CNS toppled in the Sept 19, 2006 coup, has threatened to undo many of the changes which the CNS put in place, including creating the ASC.

The ASC has every reason to fear the return of Mr Thaksin, the founder of Thai Rak Thai. After all, the military-appointed body's primary task was to carry out investigations that would allow for corruption and abuse of authority charges to be brought against the Thaksin administration.

It recommended the indictment of Mr Thaksin himself in connection with alleged abuse of power in his wife's purchase of prime land in Ratchadapisek road.
The CNS and the ASC are in every sense of the word natural enemies of the PPP and Mr Thaksin.

The time to settle scores seems set to begin sooner rather than later.
Morale is also dipping to new lows after CNS strongman Sonthi Boonyaratkalin appears to have shrunk from the limelight following the PPP's election victory.
The frequent get-togethers between Gen Sonthi and the ASC at his residence over meals and karaoke seem to have been relegated to the history books.
He has embarked on an extended visit to the Middle East and North Africa as if he were trying to escape the hurt and pain of witnessing the PPP's, and essentially Mr Thaksin's, triumph at the polls on Dec 23, which was tantamount to a defeat for the CNS.

With Gen Sonthi, perceived by many as the tower of strength for the CNS and the military-installed agencies, fading into oblivion, the job of comforting nervous ASC members has befallen acting CNS chief Chalit Phukphasuk.

At a belated New Year party which ACM Chalit threw for the ASC at the Air Force headquarters on Monday, the celebratory mood was dampened by questions hanging over the ASC's future.

Among ASC heavyweights who turned up at the party were committee chairman Nam Yimyaem, Udom Fuengfung, Klanarong Chantik, Khunying Jaruvan Maintaka, Sak Korsaengruang and Kaewsan Atipho.

The ASC figures are worried that the changing of the guard at Government House could dim the chances of cases against Mr Thaksin being seen through to the end.
"Mr Thaksin still has might and influence. Once he is back, the cases against him could be dropped," a source said.

The ASC members, whose tenure expires on June 30, are regarded as political post-holders and as such are also liable to stand trial in the Supreme Court's section on crimes committed by politicians. A petition against them would have to be lodged through the National Counter Corruption Commission.

The ASC, however, functions under a legal provision which exempts it from criminal prosecution in ordinary courts.

The Monday night party was abuzz with questions as to who will protect the ASC after the CNS walks off into the sunset.

It was ACM Chalit who rose to the occasion. "I sympathise with the ASC for making the sacrifice and taking up the mission. They came to help because the CNS asked them to," he said.

ACM Chalit's assurances were meant to ease the ASC's worries that the new government may push for a law which would strip the committee of its immunity from criminal prosecution. An air force source said ACM Chalit may be able to offer protection to the ASC - that is, if he does not face retribution himself.