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Pheu Thai party going forward or sliding back?


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http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/09/14/politics/Pheu-Thai-party-going-forward-or-sliding-back-30137910.html

 

ANALYSIS

 

Pheu Thai party going forward or sliding back?

 

By Tulsathit Taptim

The nation

Published on September 14, 2010

 

Opposition seems in disarray amid talk of Yongyuth returning as leader

 

Thaksin Shinawatra remains very healthy, according to a group of MPs who said they met him in Russia over the weekend. He has been playing golf and riding horses, all the while purportedly having only one thing in mind: How to make Thailand peaceful again.

 

However, undeniably sick is the party he founded. And Thailand's peace may have to be Thaksin's second priority at the moment. Until disunited and rudderless Pheu Thai finds a new leader to replace Yongyuth Wichaidit, who emotionally quit his job last week, national "reconciliation" will have to wait.

 

The party is scheduled to elect Yongyuth's successor today, and the possibility of Yongyuth succeeding "himself" underlines the messy state the opposition camp is in. Former police chief Kowit Watana, who emerged as a strong candidate last week, failed to show up at party headquarters yesterday for a crucial formality, fuelling gossip about widespread objections to his potential appointment. Is Pheu Thai "in transition" as claimed, or is it simply in renewed turmoil?

 

Only Yongyuth knows for sure why he resigned in the first place. Certain sources in the divided party claim Thaksin wants him to step down, in order to facilitate a certain agenda. Other party members claim he was simply fed up, having served as a nominal leader without real power and suffering disrespect and unfair criticism for too long. Either way, if he returns to the party's helm today, the development will be anything but a step forward for Pheu Thai.

 

One lame excuse Pheu Thai can use in the event of Yongyuth's re-instatement is that his resignation was only ceremonial and designed to allow a re-organisation of the party. That, however, will not explain why Yongyuth's press conference last week featured teary eyes and choked voices. He looked more like a man feeling sorry for himself than someone "pretending" to quit so he could come back stronger than ever.

 

It could still be Kowit who gets elected today, but that would mean he's a very brave man. Opposition to his arrival was no longer limited to media gossip quoting unnamed sources. The MPs who had been to Russia were outspoken in their criticism of his character yesterday. This is definitely not someone, one of them said, whom the party can present as Abhisit Vejjajiva's challenger.

 

Kowit was supposed to register his membership with Pheu Thai yesterday so he could be nominated for today's election. After his no-show, rumours about Yongyuth's return buzzed. "Don't ask me what-if questions," Yongyuth, in a different mood from last week, said of the possibility of his resurgence. "I'm not commenting on things that have not happened yet."

 

If it wasn't going to happen for Yongyuth, the credibility of the seven MPs who made the trip to Russia would surely be called into question. Suchart Lai-namngern and Pracha Prasopdee have come back as Yongyuth's cheerleaders, giving the impression that their support for him has been endorsed by the one man who really matters.

 

"He [Thaksin] insisted he could only advise the party and not make decisions on its behalf," Pracha said. "But when it comes to Yongyuth, he agreed that he [Yongyuth] should continue to serve as party leader at least until the election comes."

 

Suchart told reporters it would "definitely" be Yongyuth today. He and Pracha suggested that Thaksin had been fed with wrong information about Kowit, who both MPs claimed could not carry the party's banner in the next election.

 

Yongyuth's possible return, however, would not solve long-standing Pheu Thai problems of badly organised structure, disharmony and intense power plays. The party now has an executive board through which MPs can exert little power, and a "coordinating committee" that brings together banned politicians and key Thaksin relatives and seems to wield more authority than the MPs. That is in addition to having political veterans Chavalit Yongchaiyudh and Chalerm Yoobamrung as advisory chairman and MPs' chairman respectively.

 

"I've taken some aspirin," said Plodprasop Suraswadi, deputy party leader, whose announcement of the party's "reconciliation plan" two weeks ago was criticised by MPs who were in the dark about it, but seemed to set the ball rolling for leadership change.

 

"As far as I know, Pol Gen Kowit hasn't come to register as a party member today and the reason given was he wasn't a politician and did not know much about the party's affairs."

 

One little comfort for Kowit, especially if he does become the new party leader, is that most Pheu Thai MPs are not much better off in that respect.

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Thaksin found Thai Rak Thai with the sole aim of making himself the PM. Others went along with him to get what they could. Puea Thaksin is the same ... riding on Takky's coat tails. Problem is Takky's coat tails are very frayed these days. Also, a lot of red shirt supporters seem to be deciding they can very well do without Thaksin. Be interesting if a new opposition party takes shape that genuinely represents the proles, not just a few wealthy Chinese-Thai leaders pretend they are populists.

 

 

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Bangkok Post

14 Sep 2010

 

Puea Thai party's leadership flip-flop

 

Opinion by Veera Prateepchaikul

 

 

Whoever is elected Puea Thai leader - whether it is Yongyuth Wichaidit or anybody else - the fact remains that the man who has the final say in the party is none other than Thaksin Shinawatra.

 

Now that former police chief Gen Kowit Wattana has declined the Puea Thai leadership, the focus has shifted back to Yongyuth Wichaidit, the former lameduck party leader who abruptly stepped down last week.

 

[color:red]The retired police chief was supposed to apply for membership of the Puea Thai Party on Monday and to eventually be elected the new party leader, succeeding Mr Yongyuth. On Sunday, however, he reportedly called former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the de facto party leader, to advise him of his decision to reject the post. He was also said to have asked Thaksin to “clean up the house firstâ€Â.[/color]

 

Pol Gen Kowit’s about-face came after a group of Puea Thai MPs flew overseas, reportedly to Russia, to meet with Thaksin and to convey to him their opposition to Kowit’s nomination as the new party leader. It was reported that the ex-premier agreed with their reservations about the former police chief.

 

Asked whether he had anything to do with Mr Yongyuth’s abrupt resignation in an interview with Matichon newspaper last week, Thaksin was evasive, saying that leadership change in the Puea Thai Party was a normal process. When asked about Pol Gen Kowit, he said that the change was normal and coincides with the call for reconciliation.

 

But no one in their right mind would believe that Thaksin had nothing to do with the leadership change in the opposition party, either involving Mr Yongyuth or Pol Gen Kowit, as he is still the only one who wields the real power in the party.

 

The leadership flip-flop clearly shows Thaksin’s indecisiveness, depending on which party faction has access to him first. It also makes the party look like a clown in the eyes of the public.

 

And if Mr Yongyuth finally gets back his old post, the chance is that the Puea Thai Party will get the same lameduck leader who will not only fail to consolidate the party but will also discourage party members.

 

Mr Yongyuth’s political comeback would only send a misguided signal - that the Puea Thai Party has abandoned the attempt to project a pro-monarchy image that was part of the move to put Pol Gen Kowit at the helm.

 

More importantly, the fate of the five-point reconciliation plan first announced by Plodprasob Suraswadi, a deputy leader, and later endorsed by the party remains up in the air.

 

The party must make it clear if is still serious about it and, if so, how it will proceed with it. Or was all the talk of a reconciliation plan just a political ploy from the very outset, as suspected by many critics?

 

 

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PHEU THAI PARTY

 

Yongyuth returns as party leader amid turmoil

 

By The Nation

Published on September 15, 2010

 

 

No opposition from Thaksin as Yongyuth is re-elected Pheu Thai leader

 

Yongyuth Wichaidit was yesterday re-elected leader of the opposition Pheu Thai Party, with overwhelming support from party MPs just days after his resignation.

 

The party's general meeting held at its headquarters voted 267 to 6, with four abstentions, in support of Yongyuth as its new leader. The decision came after a heated debate between a small group of northeastern MPs and the rest of the party, particularly those from the North and Central region.

 

The Isaan MPs led by Paijit Sriworakhan from Nakhon Phanom called for a complete change of the executive board in order to strengthen the party's structure in preparation for the next general election.

 

"We will have to go at full steam with structural changes or we will not be able to fight against our opponents," Paijit said.

 

Other northeastern MPs also expressed their opposition to Yongyuth's comeback as the party leader. However, their colleagues from the North and Central region argued that the party needed to elect a leader yesterday or it would be "headless". They added that although the party leader would remain unchanged, deputy leaders and other members of the executive board would be new ones.

 

They also said that fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who is Pheu Thai's patriarch, did not oppose Yongyuth returning as the party leader.

Last Thursday, Yongyuth announced his resignation as the party leader, saying it was intended to pave the way for a structural adjustment in preparation for the next general election.

 

Earlier yesterday, northeastern MPs convened a meeting and most of them agreed that yesterday's general meeting of the party should be postponed for another week or two to allow more time for selecting candidates to be the new party leader. They agreed that the general meeting had been called too early and in too short a time after Yongyuth's resignation.

 

Pheu Thai's general meeting yesterday also elected former deputy interior minister Supol Fong-ngarm as the party's secretary general. Supol was earlier reportedly approached by the coalition Bhum Jai Thai Party and the party seat was described by a Pheu Thai source as an attempt to keep him with the party. Prompong Nopparit managed to retain his current post of the party spokesman.

 

As many as 14 deputy leaders were elected, including Plodprasop Suraswadi, Chat Kuladilok, Surapong Tovichakchaikul, Prayuth Siripanit, Vicharn Meenchainant, Witthaya Buranasiri, and Somsak Kiatsuranond. They are MPs from all regions as well as party-list MPs.

 

A party source said it was the idea of Thaksin and key Pheu Thai figures to have deputy leaders who represent different groups of party MPs. However, the current structure of the executive board would be changed and there would be a new party leader ahead of the next general election.

 

Payap Shinawatra, Thaksin's younger brother and chief coordinator of the party's northeastern MPs, said yesterday before the general meeting that he expected the party leader to be Yongyuth, whom he described as "the most suitable for the job".

 

Meanwhile, a red-shirt leader in Phayao, Siriwat Jupamadtha said yesterday that in order to match the government's "foxiness and mastery of political games", only veteran politician Chalerm Yoobamrung deserved to be Pheu Thai's party leader. "If the seat goes to someone else, I think Pheu Thai is handing the government an easy prey," he said.

 

Former premier and Pheu Thai chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, in his lecture at yesterday's general meeting, told party colleagues to "try every democratic means" to wrestle back political power and form a one-party government. "If we can't form a one-party government, don't expect us to survive," he said.

 

He suggested that the party work harder in order to win more support from poorer people, such as farmers, many of whom are being wooed by government handout policies.

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