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Thai junta losing popularity over series of blunders

A series of policy blunders by Thailand's junta has sapped its earlier popularity and raised doubts about its ability to govern just a few months after it grabbed power, analysts say.

The military ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a bloodless coup on Sept. 19, saying the overthrow was justified because Thaksin was corrupt and that it would probe alleged graft during his five years in office.

But the army-backed government has yet to produce evidence against Thaksin and many think it has fumbled the management of Thailand's economy, Bangkok's new airport and its reaction to deadly New Year's Eve bombings in the capital.

The Thai public, weary after months of street protests against Thaksin, initially backed the putsch and were hopeful that calm would return to a divided country.

But public patience has begun to wear thin in the absence of tangible policy results by the military government.

The latest survey showed army-installed Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont's approval rating had plunged to 48 percent from 71 percent in November.

"This government seems so invisible to the public. People are now questioning whether the government is doing anything at all," said political scientist Michael Nelson from Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.

The police have yet to arrest any suspects in connection with the New Year's Eve bomb blasts in central Bangkok, which killed three people and injured dozens, including foreign tourists.

The government said the attacks were the work of factions in the military or police linked to Thaksin, in a snap reaction after the bombings.

Bob Broadfoot, the managing director of the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy in Hong Kong, said that response exposed just how much the junta's leaders were obsessed with the deposed leader.

"They are so focused on the narrow political agenda, which is to keep Thaksin out of the political equation and get rid of his political and economic legacies," Broadfoot said.

Sonthi Boonyaratglinm, the junta leader, has voiced confidence that public support will return, saying that the junta cannot work at the same pace as the "dictatorial" Thaksin.

But foreign investors have grown jittery since the fall of Thaksin, a self-made billionaire under whose rule Thailand's economy grew 45 percent from 2001 to 2005, led by exports.

Foreign traders panicked when the Bank of Thailand in December introduced stringent currency controls in a bid to curb the Thai baht's rise against the US dollar.

The Thai stock market nosedived a record 15 percent when the capital controls took effect. The collapse forced the government to revoke some of the measures in an embarrassing and quickfire policy turnaround.

"Foreign investors cannot figure out the direction of this government because of occasional policy changes," said Song Seng Wun, a regional economist at investment bank CIMB-GK in Singapore.

The junta also proposed limiting foreigners to a 49 percent stake in the shares and voting rights of Thai companies, by closing a widely exploited legal loophole.
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