Big boss may override reshuffle

It is true that money and the bargaining power of political factions always influence the allocation of ministerial posts.

This is also bound to apply to the upcoming reshuffle of the Sundaravej government.

Prime
Minister Samak said he would reshuffle his Cabinet at the end of the
month after the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Political Office
Holders rules on whether to accept the case concerning irregularities
in the two- and three-digit lotteries scheme, submitted by the Assets
Examination Committee on July 28.

If the case is accepted,
three ministers - Surapong Suebwonglee, Uraiwan Thienthong and Anurak
Jureemas - may have to be suspended. However, should this be the case,
the ministers plan to seek a Constitution Court ruling on whether they
have to be suspended.

The reshuffle could create some
chaos. No one wants to be ousted or shifted from their posts,
especially those ministers who are also leaders of factions.

Interior
Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung, who may move to the Justice or Public
Health posts, has tried to forge an alliance with Northeast MPs,
excluding Newin Chidchob's faction. Bangkok MP Sudarat Keyuraphan's
faction is another Chalerm target.

Chalerm has
reportedly told Samak that if he is removed from the Interior
portfolio, he will only accept the post of justice minister.

Newin
reportedly did not want to lose any of his four ministerial seats,
filled by Deputy Education Minister Pongsakorn Annopporn, Deputy
Agriculture Minister Theerachai Saenkaew, Deputy Transport Minister
Songsak Thongsri and Deputy Interior Minister Supon Fongngam.

All
eyes are on Samak, as he vowed he would reshuffle his Cabinet a second
time to improve the government's image. He said he would appoint
outsiders to some posts, regardless of faction quotas.

Does Samak have the power to do that?

In
fact, since Samak became prime minister the real power of the People
Power Party (PPP) and the government appears to be in the hands of "the
big boss", the real owner of the party.

Also, as long as
money still feeds party members, financiers and leaders of the factions
will continue to play a vital role in appointing Cabinet members.

"If
Samak really cuts the quota from the financiers and the factions, who
will take care of party MPs?" a source from the PPP said.

He
said the parties had asked their ministers to allocate the
responsibility of overseeing party MPs in order to avoid a
concentration of MPs under any particular party.

The source said the big boss would be the one who has the final say in this reshuffle.

"At most, Samak can only float his idea through the media. Every decision will depend on the big boss," he said.

For these reasons, perhaps Samak will have to eat his words again.

Source: http://nationmultimedia.com/2008/07/23/politics/politics_30078751.php

Cabinet reshuffle on tract: Samak

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on
Wednesday confirmed that the Cabinet line-up would be submitted for
royal endorsement regardless of the departure of Puea Pandin Party
leader Suwit Khunkitti.

Samak did not go into the details of the new line-up. He earlier
said the list of the Cabinet appointments would be forwarded to the
Royal Palace this morning and the announcement would be made in a few
days.

Earlier the day, Samak appeared at a loss for word by
saying he could not comment at this juncture on why Puea Pandin Party
leader Suwit Khunkitti abruptly withdrew from the coalition alliance on
Tuesday's evening.

Samak refused to confirm or deny that he was about to remove Suwit
from the Cabinet line-up and that he allocated only one ministerial
seat under the Puea Pandin quota.

Source: http://nationmultimedia.com/2008/07/30/politics/politics_30079358.php

PREAH VIHEAR CONTROVERSY

PREAH VIHEAR CONTROVERSY

Any Govt would have done it: Samak

Prime
Minister Samak Sundaravej said Sunday that any government would have
had done the same thing with what his administration has done in
endorsing Cambodia's registration of Preah Vihear a world heritage site.

He
said had the post-coup interim government remained in office, it would
have done the same thing with what his government had done regarding
the Preah Vihear listing.

Speaking during his live talk programme, Samak said had the Democrat won the election, it would have also done the same thing.

He
said Cambodia would seek to register Preah Vihear with our without Thai
endorsement and it could have caused more damages had the World
Heritage Committee approved the registration of the disputed
overlapping land as part of the world heritage site.

The
prime minster said his government endorsed the registration after
Cambodia agreed to register only the temple not the surrounding
landscape.

He said his government was not the one to
initiate the preparations for the endorsement of the joint communiqu้
of the two countries in support of the Preah Vihear listing.

He said the Foreign Ministry handled the issue with backing from the military and National Security Council.

Samak
said the Foreign Ministry's Treaties and Legal Affairs Department had
studied the issue and became certain that Thailand would not lose any
part of its territory because of the joint statement.

He
said the Supreme Command's Royal Thai Survey and the NSC also backed up
the opinion of the Treaties and Legal Affairs Department.

Samak
added his government was facing all the trouble regarding to the Preah
Vihear issue because of the Constitution which was written with a
motive get rid of politicians of the People Power Party's side.

During
his Talk Samak Style programme, Samak particularly cited Article 190's
section paragraph, which the government's opponents cited to seek a
Constitution Court's ruling against the Cabinet's resolution to endorse
Cambodia's registration of Preah Vihear as a world heritage site.

He said the second paragraph should not have been included.

The government's opponents later cited the court ruling to seek an impeachment against his Cabinet.

The
second paragraph of Article 190 says: "A treaty which provides for a
change in the Thai territories or extraterrotorial areas over which
Thailand has sovereign rights or has jurisdiction in accordance
therewith or in accordance with international law or requires the
enactment of an Act for the implementation thereof or has extensive
impacts on national economic or social security or generates material
commitments in trade, investment or budgets of the country, must be
approved by the National Assembly. For this purpose, the National
Assembly shall complete its consideration within sixty days as from the
receipt of such matter."

http://nationmultimedia.com/2008/07/13/headlines/headlines_30077955.php

Samak denies irregularities in BMA flood-easing tunnel project

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej Sunday denied that there were
irregularities in a flood-easing tunnel project commenced when he was
governor of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

He
was reacting to reports that an executive of a Japanese construction
firm had admitted to Japanese prosecutor that he had paid a bribe to
Thai officials in return for favours connected to the tunnel project.

Samak
said he did not explain the issue during the week because he did not
trust the Thai media so he waited to give the explanation during his
live talk programme.

He said the project had been ruled by the
Administrative Court as being transparent after a Thai construction
firm sued the BMA and Japanese firm as violating the law against
collusion to win government's projects.

Samak said the BMA also managed to negotiate for reduction of the construction cost so there were no bribery in the project.

http://nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30077952