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Published on October 5, 2007

Thanong is not in Thailand right now. He's spending most of his time in Japan on a special assignment from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

At first, it seems the ADB got the right man. Given that the project is to sum up the lessons that Asian countries have learned from the 1997 financial crisis, who else should know the situation in Thailand better than Thanong?

As finance minister in the Chavalit Yongchaiyudh government, which was heavily criticised for its decision to float the baht in 1997, Thanong has more insights than anyone else.

He knew the hardships in seeking financial support from the international community. He met US treasury secretary Robert Rubin in Hong Kong and then Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan. In those days, there was no Asian monetary fund, so he could not turn to Asian counterparts.

Desperate for foreign money, he signed up for the US$17.2-billion bail-out package sponsored by the Inter-national Monetary Fund (IMF).

Thanong also signed an order shutting down 58 financially troubled finance companies and put them under the supervision of the Financial Sector Restructu-ring Authority (FRA).

Thanong then faced a mountain of complaints from private companies that saw their foreign debts double immediately after the baht devaluation.

But it remains questionable whether he is the best man to be in charge of summing up the lessons of the 1997 crisis.

Thanong was in office when the crisis exploded. He also suffered from negative reactions by coalition parties when he planned to raise taxes on some products, which forced him to resign. Moreover, after devaluating the baht, the Chavalit government left office, paving way for the Chuan Leekpai administration.

As such, Thanong was not the one who had to implement the austerity measures imposed by the IMF, nor was he the one to suffer complaints from all of the Thais who fell victim to the crisis.

Unlike Tarrin Nimmanahaeminda, who took over the finance post, Thanong was not there to witness the lengthy and painful process of the disposal of distressed assets by the FRA.

As such, to compile the lessons of the 1997 crisis, he should spend some time conducting research. That means he could spend a long time in Japan.

To shorten his stay abroad, Thanong could seek assistance from Tarrin, who should be more than ready to speak out about the lessons he learned from the crisis.

achara_d@nationgroup.com