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Thai government defends major Cabinet reshuffle

Thailand’s government defended its major Cabinet shake-up yesterday, saying it had a popular public mandate to tackle slowing economic growth and unify the fractured country.

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej reshuffled his Cabinet on Saturday in what many observers saw as an effort to mollify critics of his six-month old government, which came to power in elections to restore democracy following a military coup.

The moves came after months of protests by thousands of opponents who have called for Samak’s resignation, accusing him of attempting to block corruption charges against ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and trying to amend the Constitution to cling to power.

Thaksin and his family face a number of corruption cases, the first of which was decided on Thursday when a court found Thaksin’s wife guilty of evading millions of dollars in taxes and sentenced her to three years in prison.

Four other corruption cases have been filed in the courts against Thaksin, two others against his wife, and three against two of his children. Many others are under investigation.

Critics of Samak, a former governor of Bangkok, also said he has failed to move on promises to expand programs first started by Thaksin to forgive loans to farmers and expand cheap health care to the poor.

Samak’s government also faces economic pressures, with inflation at a 10-year high of 9.2 percent due to rising food and fuel costs.

He came to power promising to restore investor confidence that was damaged following the 2006 coup that ousted Thaksin.

“The majority of Thais are pleased with the reshuffle because they are confident that the government is able to solve many problems facing the country, especially slow economic growth,” government spokesman Wichainchote Sukchoterat said. “Every minister appointed is well-known, experienced and respectable.”

But critics say the new ministers are poorly qualified and too close to Thaksin, who is fighting a slew of court cases on corruption and abuse of power charges. Samak has been accused of being little more than a proxy for Thaksin.

“It is very disappointing to see the new Cabinet list,” said Abhisit Vejjajiva, who heads the opposition Democrat Party. “The new Cabinet cannot give Thais any hope in dealing with the economic situation.”
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