Encroaching political influence worries Sasin alumni

Some alumni are of the opinion that Kittiratt Na Ranong, the deputy director of Sasin in charge of academic affairs, is using the institute as a launch pad for his political career.

Does it matter?

In February of this year, Kittiratt, a former president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, organised a high profile seminar at Sasin on the future of Thai politics.

Dr Suvit Maesincee, now a lecturer at Sasin, also played a key role in making this seminar happen. Both of them are known to be close aides of Dr Somkid Jatusripitak.

At one point during his term as finance minister Somkid would have liked to have Kittiratt leave the stock exchange to serve as his deputy.

Speakers at the February seminar included Somkid, Suvit, Dr Chai-anan Samudvanija, Dr Anek Laothammatas, Kittiratt, and Dr Supavud Saicheua, the managing director of Phatra Securities. As it turned out, the seminar became a venue for Somkid to take a new direction in politics, one that seemingly veered away from Thaksinomics.

Somkid's subject for the presentation was the importance of the sufficiency economy theory for Thailand's future. Somkid wanted to send out a clear message that he was escaping from the long, dark shadow of his former boss Thaksin Shinawatra.

All of a sudden, in the middle of the seminar, a letter was faxed from Government House to inform reporters that Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont had just appointed Somkid as the government's adviser to propagate the sufficiency economic theory to the international community.

Alumni of Sasin were then raising their eyebrows. What was going on?

They were rather uncomfortable with Sasin being used as a venue for a political declaration. Still, the matter was kept quiet with the Sasin community.

Last week history repeated itself, though on a grander scale. Kittiratt and Suvit joined Anek and Pradit Pattaraprasit to announce the launch of the Ruam Jai Thai Party at the Intercontinental Hotel. They were largely the same faces that showed up at the seminar at Sasin in February.

The family of Pimol Srivikorn, also a close associate of Somkid and a founding member of Ruam Jai Thai, owns the Intercontinental Hotel. Although Somkid, barred from politics for five years as a result of the Constitution Tribunal's ruling against Thai Rak Thai, did not show up at this party, he was the key driver behind the formation of Ruam Jai Thai.

Some members of Ruam Jai Thai identified Kittiratt as a potential leader of the new party.

The question is whether it is appropriate for Kittiratt to aspire to a political career while he is still serving as the deputy director of Sasin in charge of academic affairs.

One Sasin alumnus sent me an email, written by Att Asavanund, MBA 1997, which was widely distributed among alumni members. The issue was about the extent to which Sasin has been subjected to politicisation.

Att wrote: "As a fellow Sasin alumnus, I feel that this is an internal issue that does not need to be scrutinised, examined, commented [on], and resolved publicly. We should try and contain this matter and resolve this amicably.

"However, the concern is warranted as I too have personally experienced the use of Sasin as a platform for political aspirations. During the 2001 elections, I received political propaganda from the Democrat Party soliciting my vote. Then in [the] 2006 elections, I received political propaganda soliciting my vote from the Thai Rak Thai Party. Both letters were addressed from the Sasin alumni database. In this regard, I believe that the Sasin alumni database was abused and [this] should not have happened. We are a business school and should maintain our neutrality with regards to politics".

Earlier, The Nation also received an email written by another alumni by the name of Philip Cook. He wrote the mail to Toemsakdi Krishnamra, the chief at Sasin, asking him to halt Kittiratt's political activities.

"Sasin is an institution of higher learning, not the place for people to launch political parties," he wrote.

Like most other organisations, Sasin has been hurt by the polarising effects of the Thaksin era. Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan is now the foremost alumnus of Sasin. Kittiratt also earned his degree from Sasin. Somjet Moosirilert, who heads the Thailand Asset Management Corporation, also belongs to this network of powerful Sasin alumni.

Kittiratt helped Sudarat with her political campaign when she ran against Samak Sundaravej for the position of Bangkok governor. Sudarat lost to Samak though.

Sasin alumni under the Sudarat wing succeeded in bringing Harvard University business guru Michael Porter to Bangkok to speak on competitiveness. She got the credit for this financially successful endeavour.

When Kittiratt left the Stock Exchange of Thailand to join Sasin, most people looked upon him as a candidate to eventually succeed the ageing Toemsakdi. Khunying Suchada Kiranandana, the rector of Chulalongkorn University, which Sasin is a part of, would like a smooth transition at the institute.

Now, it is not clear how Sasin will deal with this political problem simmering within its midst. But, does it matter?

Thanong Khanthong

The Nation