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Thailand's new Cabinet elicits mixed reactions

Thailand won praise overseas for its return to civilian rule, but its Cabinet full of newcomers yesterday faced immediate doubts at home over its competence and plans for ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The EU hailed the kingdom's return to democracy, while the US announced a resumption of military aid suspended after the coup in September 2006.

But at home Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's government faced widespread criticism over a Cabinet that even he described as "ugly" because so many relatively inexperienced figures dominated top positions.

Samak, who led the People Power Party to victory in December elections by openly campaigning as Thaksin's proxy, is also trying to temper expectations that he would quickly grant the exiled billionaire an amnesty to allow his speedy return home.

After the coup, a military installed tribunal banned Thaksin and 110 of his top aides from politics for five years.

Thaksin faces separate corruption charges filed by military backed investigators, which could land him and his wife in prison.

His wife has told a Thai court that he would return home in May to defend himself, but Thaksin has given no firm plans for ending his self-imposed exile in Britain, where he has bought the English Premier League soccer club Manchester City.

Samak said late on Wednesday that he would only consider an amnesty for Thaksin in two years, which he said would allow time for political tensions to ease.

The leaders of anti-Thaksin street protests that precipitated the coup have already threatened to stage fresh demonstrations if the new government interferes with the court cases against Thaksin.

Samak's efforts to put off discussion of an amnesty may help appease those critics, said political analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Chulalongkorn University.

"Samak needs breathing space to actually govern the country. This is a maneuver to keep the pressure away and then to create a working space and time to prove his worth," Thitinan said.

So far the military has indicated that it plans to stay out of politics.

"There should not be any more coups because that would affect our country's credibility," air force chief Chalit Pukbhasuk said yesterday as he announced that the junta has officially dissolved.

"We must have confidence in democratic rule," he told reporters.

Analysts worry that the new Cabinet lacks the political gravitas needed to revive the economy while steering through the minefield of competing interests within Samak's six-party coalition.

Close Thaksin aides were given choice posts -- leading the finance and foreign ministries -- while his brother-in-law was named a deputy prime minister.

Most of them were unknowns before the coup, and Samak has publicly complained about how little say Thaksin's allies allowed him in the naming of the Cabinet.

"It shows that he does not even have the power to select his own Cabinet," said political analyst Prayad Hongthongkam, who lectures at several universities in Bangkok. "Several ministers have no qualifications for their jobs. They got their jobs as political payback."
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