Gaybutton Posted October 1, 2006 Posted October 1, 2006 INTERIM PRIME MINISTER: I'll Give Justice for All Surayud Vows to Heal a Divided Nation and Promises to Return Power after a Year A subdued ceremony and an uptight press conference. No dizzying promises and no smiling family photo session afterwards. With the international community frowning heavily upon him and local expectations becoming so strong they were almost palpable, retired Army commander Surayud Chulanont yesterday became Thailand's 24th prime minister, assuming the most delicate and daunting task a national chief executive has ever faced in modern history. In a manner that seemed to reflect a mix of his military background and brief spiritual soul-searching in the monkhood, Surayud vowed to rehabilitate a badly wounded nation, divided by unprecedented political conflicts and rocked by growing insurgency in the deep South. He pledged to bring about national happiness through HM the King's advocated sufficiency economy and political reform that hopefully could see a return to full democracy after one year. No boasting about mega projects or quick modernisation or "poverty will be no more". Yesterday's events were as "un-Thaksin" as they could be. Intentional or not, a clear message was sent that Surayud will be overseeing a transition from roller-coaster, eye-catching politics, marked by some industrial booms and marred by massive corruption, to something more practical and less divisive. The simplicity ends here. From now on, the likes of the question posed at the press conference yesterday by a foreign correspondent - "What makes you think you deserve the job more than Thaksin?" - will always threaten to hound Surayud's leadership. "I don't know," was his reply, in English. "It depends on the situation, and at this time I think that I receive the mandate from His Majesty the King, so I have to take the responsibility. Let me tell you, I didn't involve in anything at the moment. I just take charge of the administration just an hour ago." Arguably it could have been better. Many viewed this as coming from a man who was caught off guard, yet the absence of protests when the press conference was then cut short suggested Surayud would be accorded some sort of honeymoon with the Thai public. But hopes and expectations will soon turn into relentless pressure, not least because Surayud has replaced a maverick politician who has been immensely popular with the poor and has the international community on his side following the September 19 coup. At yesterday's press conference, it appeared Surayud refused to be drawn into a popularity contest and, for all his rigid posture, was admirably consistent with his proclaimed agenda. Surayud, who had to quit the Privy Council to take the interim government's helm, stated that the two key issues facing him are the resolution of political conflict and the unrest in the southernmost provinces. "Both problems have their roots in injustice in the society," he said in a relatively polite swipe at Thaksin Shinawatra. But if corruption, abuse of power and mishandling of situations in the deep South were Thaksin's weak spots, Surayud has a different image problem already. The coup-makers, who called themselves Council for Democratic Reform and will become the National Security Council for the interim government from now, are his international liability. But international image should be the least cause for concern, and Surayud must know full well that he should be focused on the "local spirit of democracy" that seems to have distinguished itself from the Western norm. He will have to walk a tightrope - with what Thailand's poor want on one hand and the clamouring for non-corrupt and accountable leadership among the middle class on the other. The upcoming political reform process will need to take those two aspects into account, with the 63-year-old retired commander respected for professional achievement, modesty and integrity getting the unenviable job of guiding the nation to find the right balance. "I will do my best within the timeframe fixed by the interim charter, which is about one year. After that, it will be the duty of my compatriots to go to the poll and select a suitable democratic administration as they have longed for," he said. Surayud will need about a week to name his cabinet, which he said would focus its energy on the nation's happiness rather than its GDP. "I will take about one week to select the people to be cabinet ministers, and after that I will explain the government's policies. After that I will explain the government policies to create more confidence for investors. What I'm looking for in my ministers are people who are politically neutral, knowledgeable, competent, and willing to work," he said. "I will not focus on GDP, but I will adhere to the sufficiency economy advocated by the King." As much will depend on the military council as on Surayud, although his appointment gave some sort of guarantee that the interim government will have considerable clout to flex against the former if need be. It appears that the two will have separate responsibilities, with the military council overlooking national security and Surayud fully in charge of other administrative affairs. "I urged him twice to accept the post," said Army Commander Sonthi Boonyaratglin. "We have gone through a list of many candidates. Some are good and some are bad and some even volunteered to serve. We chose him simply because it's hard to find good men like him." For Surayud to succeed, it requires more than his decent qualities and it's here that the military council has a big and complex role to play, against a backdrop of international scepticism and concern among local democracy advocates. Surayud will be judged when his government hands the country back to the Thai electorate. Only then can he and the military council proclaim to have redefined "democracy", or else the international community can cast Thailand a pitying look and say "we told you so". Tulsathit Taptim The Nation ____________________ Who Is Surayud Chulanont? The following appears in THE NATION: _____ Surayud's Colorful Life The life of General Surayud Chulanont is filled with paradoxes, one of which is that he is poised to become the interim prime minister, relying on the military as his power base, after making it his mission in 1998 to put soldiers back in their barracks. He managed to distinguish himself as a leader in combat, a government strategist overhauling the country's rice policy, a top military commander and a privy councillor after rising from humble beginnings as the son of a communist leader. Surayud, 63, grew up in turbulent times when his father, Payom Chulanont, was forced to take refuge with the Communist Party of Thailand following a purge of the armed forces led by military strongman Field Marshal Prapas Charusathien. Determined to salvage his family's name, Surayud opted for a military career and graduated from the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy's class 11 in 1965. Class 11 officers entered military service at the height of the secret battle to gain dominance over Laos during the Vietnam War. Surayud served on the front line in Laos and later fought the communist insurgency in Thailand's Northeast. He was credited with prowess in battle as well as his strategy in pacifying the insurgents and their sympathisers. While he was climbing the ladder through special warfare operations, Thailand was plunged into turmoil by uprisings in 1973 and 1976. To overcome the country's political problems, politicians and the ruling elite - notably MR Kukrit Pramoj - pushed for the installation of Army chief, General Prem Tinsulanonda, as prime minister, tasked with ending fractious politics and ushering in democratic rule. Many saw Prem's rise to power in 1980 as half-baked democracy. For eight years, he steered the country through political turbulence and mobilised the armed forces to shore up his mandate. Surayud, at the time a lieutenant colonel, was one of Prem's close aides. Impressed by Surayud's track record against insurgency, Prem handpicked him to work as a strategist to address political demands and rein in politicians. Surayud worked mostly behind the scenes, but stepped into the spotlight briefly when he brokered a deal to revamp a scheme shoring up the price of paddy. After Prem retired from politics to assume the position of Privy Council president, Surayud returned to military service in 1988, securing many key positions, such as commander of the Special Warfare Command and later of the Second Army Area. Shifting political winds saw him briefly sidelined to an inactive post as Army chief adviser before he staged a comeback as the dark horse to win the coveted post of Army commander-in-chief in 1998. Many billed him as a career soldier striving to promote professionalism and to modernise the military. He initiated the downsizing of the armed forces, revamped arms procurement to root out corruption and stopped the dispensing of military positions in exchange for political favours. After the election of the first Thaksin government he was promoted to Supreme Commander in 2003 before his retirement the following year. Surayud and Thaksin clashed on many issues, most notably, meddling to sway the military for political gains. His final mission before retirement was organising rescue operations for Thais stranded in Phnom Penh following the burning there of the Thai Embassy. After leaving military service, Surayud briefly ordained as a Buddhist monk at a monastery for meditation in Nong Khai. His Majesty the King later named him an adviser sitting on the Privy Council. Avudh Panananda The Nation -------------------------------- The 24th Prime Minister of Thailand General Surayud Chulanont Date of appointment: October 1, 2006 Date of birth: August 28, 1943 Education: Royal Thai Military Academy (BS) Infantry Centre School Joint Staff College, Thailand Joint Staff College, USA Resource Management Programme, Ministry of Defence, USA National Defence College (1993) Marital Status: Married to Khunying Chitravadee Chulanont Previous positions: Privy Councillor (from November 14, 2003) Member of the Executive Committee of the Anandamahidol Foundation (2003) Supreme Commander Commander in Chief, Royal Thai Army Commanding General, Second Army Area Commanding General, Special Warfare Command. ____________________ The followoing appears in the BANGKOK POST: _____ Profile Gen Surayud Enjoys Reputation for Effectiveness, Tact, Incorruptibility Thailand's new interim prime minister, Surayud Chulanont, made his mark as a highly professional army commander. For the past two years he has served His Majesty the King as a member of the Privy Council. In 1998, Gen Surayud caused controversy when he became the first commander of the Special Forces ever to attain the rank of army commander-in-chief. He was promoted over the heads of many older generals. One of the reasons then prime minister Chuan Leekpai picked Gen Surayud was the general's outspoken opinion after the 1991 military coup and 1992 Black May democracy uprising that the army should never again get involved in government. Like other respected figures in the past _ most recently Anand Panyarachun, who served the 1991 coup council as premier _ Gen Surayud has taken on the job of prime minister as a patriotic duty rather than through any personal ambition. In a 1993 interview, he famously said: ''It convinced me that the army should never be involved in politics.'' Now he finds himself directly involved as the ''civilian'' front man for the military coup's Council for National Security (CNS), headed by another Special Forces veteran and current army commander Sonthi Boonyaratkalin. He has his work cut out for him. He faces a diplomatic corps almost entirely opposed to the coup, and the CNS, the successor of the Council for Democratic Reform, which has power under the constitution to fire him if it doesn't like his actions. Born in Phetchaburi 63 years ago, he was raised in the capital and attended elite schools including Suan Kularb College. He was in the first class of the Armed Forces Preparatory Academy, and then graduated from Class 12 of Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy. He officially began his military service as a junior lieutenant in 1965. His father, Lt-Col Phayom, left the army when Gen Surayud was a boy, joined the now defunct Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) and was known as Comrade Tan. As a young officer, Gen Surayud led army forces against his father's CPT cells in northern Thailand. He told interviewers from Time magazine in 2003 that, to him, his father was a hero. ''He taught me how to be a good officer. He taught me how to be a good citizen of this country,'' he said. Gen Surayud gained wide experience during his early service, in infantry, artillery and counter-insurgency units. He found his niche in the Special Forces, the unit modelled largely after the Green Berets of the US army. As the Vietnam War wound down, he became an instructor at the Special Warfare School in Lop Buri. Then he won an assignment as an aide to Prem Tinsulanonda when Gen Prem became army commander and then prime minister in the wake of the 1976 massacre at Thammasat University and several detested governments. In 1991, Gen Surayud became commander of the Special Warfare Command, where one of his officers was Gen Sonthi, the head of the CDR. On May 17, their men took part in efforts to quell pro-democracy demonstrations, including in the notorious violence at the Royal Hotel. He said he deplored the loss of life, and that he had never given orders to shoot. It is a measure of the respect held for Gen Surayud that everyone believed his account of the violence. But after Black May, he appeared to be in a dead-end, mostly paperwork job. He was plucked from that obscurity by then premier Mr Chuan, and immediately began a campaign against the military mafia, criminals and corrupt men in uniform. Under his command, Thailand took part in its first major peacekeeping operations, and the East Timor mission won wide admiration. He began a campaign to professionalise the army and slim it down to respond to actual needs rather than keeping generals in jobs. That won him many enemies inside the army, but widened the respect he had earned throughout the country. Ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra neither liked nor admired Gen Surayud's professionalism, and sought a more compliant army commander so he could implement a business-friendly policy towards Burma. Gen Surayud felt and acted differently. He set up heavy defences against Wa drug smugglers supported by the Rangoon government, and fought incursions by Burmese troops. None of this was popular with Mr Thaksin, who refused Gen Surayud's request for pay rises for his army. Mr Thaksin effectively made Gen Surayud supreme commander and appointed his cousin, Gen Chaiyasit Shinawatra, as army commander in 2002, a disastrous move that many credit as the start of the resurgence of violence in the South, among other problems _ and providing apparent proof for critics who accused the Thaksin government of nepotism on a major scale. Gen Surayud served as supreme commander, and was soon eased out of even that token position. After retirement in 2003, he won further praise for various conservation and self-reliance projects. His main work, however, revolved around his appointment to the Privy Council the same year. He maintained a high profile in this prestigious position, clashing with Thaksin proxies when he felt the monarchy had been dragged into politics by the government. His 38-year career in the military earned Gen Surayud a reputation for effectiveness, tact and incorruptibility. He will need all of that and more to get through the next 12 months. Quote
