Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra combs his hair before watching local traditional dancing at Sutraram Temple in Khon Kaen.

Nearly seven months after Thaksin Shinawatra visited At Samat as part of his reality TV show, the caretaker premier is still hugely popular here, despite some yet-to-be-delivered promises.

 Vichai Chaiwong, village headman of Baan None Somboon, where Thaksin spent his first night in January as part of a show aimed at publicising his efforts to tackle rural poverty, said he and his fellow villagers were still waiting for the two-kilometre asphalt road that Thaksin's mobile Cabinet promised.

"There hasn't been any substantial assistance," Vichai said as he spent the morning mowing grass at the village temple yesterday.

"The problem is the lack of government stability. We hope to name the road Thaksin Memorial Road, but alas …"

When the anti-Thaksin protests erupted soon after the sale of Shin Corp to Temasek Holdings at the end of January, the administration started to become fragile, Vichai said.

Officials who came to villages to build basic infrastructure have since removed their heavy machinery. The proposed Thaksin Memorial Road is still a one-lane dirt road that becomes almost unusable when it rains.

"They said they no longer have the funding," said Vichai. "I would like to remind [Thaksin] about the promise made through the mass media. We suffer every rainy season."

Vichai said he would try to present a letter to Thaksin through the premier's coterie today, asking about the promised upgrading of the village's only route to the outside world.

The headman was disappointed back in January, when Thaksin was camping at the village for a night, that he did not even manage to meet and greet the prime minister. Everything, he said, had been set up by ministers and senior officials, including whom Thaksin should or should not meet. "I couldn't get through them," said Vichai.

Nevertheless, villagers at Baan None Somboon received some assistance in the form of free catfish, frogs and chickens, along with feed. The budget came from the tambon administrative organisation and the feed was purchased from agricultural business giant CP Group, which is a major supporter of the Thai Rak Thai government.

Most villagers are grateful, said Vichai, and most villagers will most definitely vote for Thai Rak Thai again. "No matter how [Bangkok] people criticise Thaksin, we At Samat people still support him.

"They think the issues [of alleged corruption and abuse of power] are far removed from them. The fact is the premier came to visit them and no prime minister had done that before. That's how they think."

Supaporn Sirisakha, who received training in tailoring at Baan None Somboon, added: "I would like to thank the prime minister."

One villager, who asked not to be named, admitted that perhaps Thaksin's motives were not totally altruistic. "It's a win-win situation. He's partly sincere and partly looking to boost his own popularity."

An official from Bangkok, who was setting up the facilities for Thaksin's inauguration of groundwater supplies for 100 households today, said it was just an image-making exercise. The official, who works for the Groundwater Resources Department but asked to remain anonymous, said it was not right to put Thaksin's name in front of the new water tank because the department had initiated the project before Thaksin's high-profile visit in January.

And there are more reasons why he dislikes Thaksin. "Corruption is really rampant. Whenever bidding takes place, senior officials at the department will be instructed [by politicians] on which company they should select," said the official, who claimed that nepotism within the department had reached an unprecedented level.

Elsewhere, people are still happy. Ploenpith Sribalchaem, a second-grade teacher at At Samat District School, said she was grateful to Thaksin. "I think the situation is getting better. If parents are better off, their children will also be better off and won't miss class."

She said the school had received 60 new computers from the Education Ministry in a timely manner due to Thaksin's visit in January. Thaksin also gave Bt20,000 of his own money to buy five lunches for all 700 students, of whom 300 are considered poor.

Outside the classroom, it was noon, and young primary pupils were running around hunting the signatures of any adult strangers whom they believed to be part of Thaksin's large entourage. They will surely try to collect more signatures, particularly Thaksin's, when he visits the school again later today.

"We want to collect them," said one student in an indication of the personality cult that surrounds Thaksin. Some intend to have the signatures laminated.

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation

At Samat, Roi Et