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Published on October 3, 2007

A year after assuming power as a national hero, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont has found his interim government falling into a crisis of faith.

Fierce enemies of deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra are getting tough in their campaign to oust Surayud.

The National Counter Cor-ruption Commission (NCCC) is probing the assets of Cabinet members, and members of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) have launched a signature campaign to censure Surayud over his possession of land at a national park in Nakhon Ratchasima.

The allegation is that Surayud and his ministers have lost control as they have become involved with scandals and conflicts of interest, while turning a blind eye to the charges against Thaksin.

But since Surayud has only been in power for a year and has only a few months left, the recent attacks on his government seem to go beyond ethical issues. Rather, it is a plot to postpone the general election scheduled for December 23.

Although the coup leaders claimed a victory of legitimacy in the August 19 referendum on the new Constitution, the 10 million voters who rejected the junta-sponsored charter reflected Thaksin's popularity, particularly in the northern and northeastern provinces.

With the rise of Thaksin ally Samak Sundaravej, who has taken the helm of the People Power Party (PPP) - the new haven for members of the disbanded Thai Rak Thai party - it is clear that the next election will usher in a fresh round in the ongoing conflict between Thaksin and his enemies.

Estimates that the PPP, under Thaksin's shadow, could win 200 of the 400 constituency House seats up for grabs, presents a daunting prospect for Thaksin's opponents.

If so, PPP will form the next government and render the coup of September 19, 2006, a complete failure.

As the election fast approa-ches, the Surayud government has become the target of Thak-sin's opponents in their struggle to stop PPP's expected victory.

Just two weeks ago, the NCCC found that three ministers held stakes in companies in excess of the five per cent allowed under the graft law of 2000. The anti-graft agency took almost a year to find the flaws.

NCCC member Klanarong Chantik, one of Thaksin's enemies, claimed that because of a technicality - the suspension of the 1997 Constitution - none of the three could be charged.

However, he pointed out that since there was no law to mete out punishment, the NCCC reported what it deemed as misconduct to the prime minister for further action.

So, why did the shareholdings matter to NCCC members, who were willing to waste their time on the scrutiny, when the ministers did not violate the law?

Less than a week later, the NCCC raised doubts about the conflict of interest of the education minister who was found to have held a position at a private university. A few days later, four more ministers were found to have held stakes in companies in excess of five per cent.

Five of the eight ministers decided to quit after facing growing pressure.

The NCCC move was coincidentally followed by an attempt by almost 30 NLA members, led by Thaksin's enemy Prasong Soonsiri, to censure Surayud over the land scandal.

A few months after the September coup, anti-coup activists asked the NCCC to examine Surayud's land ownership. Ironically, the NCCC members and some NLA members, including Prasong, refused to look into the complaint.

Instead, they condemned the activists for attempting to undermine the new rulers and play into Thaksin's hands.

Meanwhile, junta chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin retired as the Army chief and quit as chairman of the Council for National Security to take up a deputy PM's post.

In a television programme on Monday, Sonthi said he was not pleased with the performance of junta-sponsored agencies. He said it would have been much better if he had led the agencies himself. He also said he was not satisfied with the prime minister's performance.

There is growing concern that the ball will be in Sonthi's court if Surayud decides to quit, which would also mean that all the Cabinet members would be disqualified. In the absence of a working government, the power vacuum would pave the way for Sonthi to become the new premier.

If that happens, the Decem-ber 23 election would be cancelled as Thaksin's enemies gain momentum and block elections until they are sure that Thaksin cannot return.

Weerayut Chokchaimadon

 The Nation