Thailand's new cabinet

[reader]

From Thai PBS World

Here is the new confirmed list of 34 ministers and deputy ministers in the Srettha administration:

Prime Minister
– Srettha Thavisin (Pheu Thai)

Deputy Prime Minister
– Phumtham Wechayachai (Pheu Thai)
– Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara (Pheu Thai)
– Somsak Thepsutin (Pheu Thai)
– Anutin Charnvirakul (Bhumjaithai)
– Gen Prawit’s brother, Pol Gen Patcharawat Wongsuwan (Palang Pracharath)
– Pirapan Salirathavibhaga (Ruam Thai Sang Chart)

PM Office Minister
– Puangphet Choonla-iad (Pheu Thai)

Interior Ministry
– Anutin Charnvirakul (Bhumjaithai) = Minister
– Chada Thaiseth (Bhumjaithai) = Deputy
– Songsak Thongsri (Bhumjaithai) = Deputy
– Kriang Kantinan (Pheu Thai) = Deputy

Defence Ministry
– Suthin Klangsaeng (Pheu Thai) = Minister

Foreign Ministry
– Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara (Pheu Thai) = Minister
– Jakkapong Sangmanee (Pheu Thai) = Deputy

Justice Ministry
– Pol Col Tawee Sodsong (Prachachart) = Minister

Health Ministry
– Chonlanan Srikaew (Pheu Thai) = Minister
– Santi Promphat (Palang Pracharath) = Deputy

Education Ministry
– Newin’s brother, Pol Gen Permpoon Chidchob (Bhumjaithai) = Minister
– Surasak Phancharoenworakun (Bhumjaithai) = Deputy

Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Ministry
– Supamat Issarapakdi (Bhumjaithai) = Minister

Social Development and Human Security Ministry
– Varawut Silpa-archa (Chart Thai Pattana) = Minister

Natural Resources and Environment Ministry
– Pol Gen Patcharawat Wongsuwan (Palang Pracharath) = Minister

Culture Ministry
– Sermsak Pongpanit (Pheu Thai) = Minister

Finance Ministry
– Srettha Thavisin (Pheu Thai) = Minister
– Julaphan Amornvivat (Pheu Thai) = Deputy
– Krisada Chinavicharana (outsider) = Deputy

Tourism and Sports Ministry
– Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol (Pheu Thai) = Minister

Energy Ministry
– Pirapan Salirathavibhaga (Ruam Thai Sang Chart)

Commerce Ministry
– Phumtham Wechayachai (Pheu Thai) = Minister
– Napintorn Srisunpang (Bhumjaithai) = Deputy

Labour Ministry
– Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn (Bhumjaithai) =Minister

Agriculture Ministry
– Capt Thammanat Prompao (Palang Pracharath) = Minister
– Anucha Nakasai (Ruam Thai Sang Chart) = Deputy
– Chaiya Phromma (Pheu Thai) = Deputy

Transport Ministry
– Suriya Juangroongruangkit (Pheu Thai) = Minister
– Surapong Piyachot (Pheu Thai) = Deputy
– Monporn Charoensri (Pheu Thai) = Deputy

Digital Economy and Society Ministry
– Prasert Chantararuangthong = Minister

Industry Ministry
– Pimpatra Wichaikul (Ruam Thai Sang Chart)

[vinapu]

some ministries seem to be party's turf with minister and deputies coming form the same party.

Prime minister being also finance minister shows where priorities are so we can count on rather stable baht and resulting stable off fees and tips.

[PeterRS]

So the Minister for Agriculture is another ex-army man. And not just "another"! He was deputy in the department in the previous government. Funny how this man served four years in jail of a six year sentence in the 1990s for conspiring to import 3.2 kg of heroin into Australia. Of course he now denies it but BBC reporters uncovered Australian court records showing he served four years before being deported back to Thailand. In a censure debate in 2020 he was accused of having lied to parliament about the case. He claimed he had imported flour! In the ensuing vote, he was rebuked by 17 members of his own small Party. In September 2021 he was sacked from that Party.

He was also a known "fixer" for the 2014 Prayut junta. Odd, isn't it, how whenever military high-ups were accused of building for their own use on government land, their cases were almost always thrown out? Then there was the mask fixing scandal during the early period of covid when one of his aides claimed to have a stockpile of millions of masks for sale privately at a time when hospitals were desperately short of them. When the aide was asked about the stockpile by the media, his answer was, "I know nothing." Thammanat dismissed the story as an attempt to discredit him. The Prime Minister then refused to comment and also did nothing, despite the fact that stockpiling or profiting from the sale of sanitary masks was at that time a crime punishable with up to seven years in prison. 

In his declaration of assets for the 2019 general election he listed a Bentley, a Rolls Royce, a Tesla and Mercedes along with 12 Hermes and 13 Chanel handbags plus a stash of luxury watches. Not unlike a lot of the others in the list, I presume 😵

[Keithambrose]

Pretty depressing, really!

[Keithambrose]

Doesn't really seem to be much change. Anutin still ther: the drug runner, and General Watches' brother!

[vinapu]

2 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

Doesn't really seem to be much change. Anutin still ther: the drug runner, and General Watches' brother!

price for rotten compromise I guess, rotten to the bone

[PeterRS]

Anutin is a real snake in the grass. He made no secret that he wanted to succeed Prayut. No doubt he is merely biding his time.

[vinapu]

3 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Anutin is a real snake in the grass. He made no secret that he wanted to succeed Prayut. No doubt he is merely biding his time.

invaded successfully important interior ministry with  2 out of 3 deputies from his own party

[Keithambrose]

My spies in Bangkok, for what they are worth, thing he has lost out slightly, but I don't think Anutin should be underestimated. Corrupt to the core, and clever.

[reader]

From Thai PBS World

New Cabinet shines light on the dark side of Thai politics

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s Cabinet is poised to take up its duties after being sworn in before His Majesty the King on Tuesday. The new government is due to deliver its policy statement in Parliament on Monday (August 11). However, controversy has erupted over the appointment of certain ministers, given their questionable backgrounds and tainted records.

Wanwichit Boonprong, a political science lecturer at Rangsit University, said Srettha’s Cabinet lineup looks like the result of a “sharing of benefits” among coalition partners.

He went as far as to describe some appointees with the euphemism “influential figures”. “I don’t want to call it a ‘mafia Cabinet’, but these people are considered influential figures with political connections. The legitimacy of their appointments is being questioned,” the academic said.

Names drawing the most scrutiny are Thamanat Prompow, newly appointed Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister; Chada Thaised, Deputy Interior Minister; and Police General Patcharawat Wongsuwan, Deputy Premier and Natural Resource and Environment Minister. Pol-Gen Patcharawat also happens to be the younger brother of Palang Pracharath Party leader General Prawit Wongsuwan.

Avoiding the spotlight is Phichit Chuenban, a controversial former lawyer for the Shinawatra family who had been tipped to become Prime Minister’s Office minister. However, his name was dropped from the lineup at the last minute when he announced his decision not to take the seat.

Australian newspapers report that Thamanat was arrested in Sydney and convicted of smuggling heroin into the country as a junior Army officer in 1993. He served time in jail, before returning to Thailand, only to be arrested again and jailed for three years over the murder of a gay academic.

After being appointed deputy agriculture minister in 2019, Thamanat dismissed the Australian drug case as a “misunderstanding”, claiming he was just an innocent bystander.

He said Australian police had merely charged him with failing to report knowledge of drug dealing. However, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Thamanat had pleaded guilty and accepted a four-year minimum jail term before eventually being deported back to Thailand.

As for the murder case back home, Thamanat said the Criminal Court acquitted him after finding two other men guilty. He said he was accused in the case because the murder had taken place in a building that he owns.

Chada, who lost both of his parents to murder when he was still young, was arrested on suspicion of masterminding the 2003 killing of a Thai Rak Thai MP’s secretary. He insisted on his innocence and was eventually acquitted in court in 2005.

He is now a key figure in the Bhumjaithai Party, the second-largest partner in the government coalition after Pheu Thai.

Former National Police chief Patcharawat was found guilty of malfeasance by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) in September 2009 for overseeing a deadly crackdown on yellow-shirt protesters outside Parliament. The October 2008 crackdown led to several deaths and many injuries.

Then-prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva signed an order in October 2009 firing Patcharawat from his post as National Police chief.

But the Police Commission later ruled that Patcharawat was innocent of severe disciplinary wrongdoing and proposed that he be reinstated.

In February 2014, the Administrative Court ruled that Patcharawat be restored to his post as police chief.

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/new-cabinet-shines-light-on-the-dark-side-of-thai-politics/

 

[PeterRS]

So what has changed? Absolutely nothing!

[Keithambrose]

Surprised?