Three major names likely to face sack

Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama, Commerce Minister Mingkwan Sangsuwan and Transport Minister Santi Prompat are some of the big names who are likely to lose out in a Cabinet reshuffle to salvage the government's popularity, political sources said yesterday.

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej is set to shake up his Cabinet in a big way to bolster the image of the government in the aftermath of the censure debate. The government sailed through the no-confidence motion by a 280-162 vote yesterday.

Outsiders who might join the new Samak Cabinet include Olarn Chaipravat, an economic guru, Thanong Bidaya, an ex-finance minister, and Panpree Phahit-hanukorn, now an adviser to the finance minister, political sources said.

Olarn might succeed Mingkwan at the Commerce Ministry, while Thanong could take charge of transport. Panpree might land one of the other portfolios.

Surapong Suebwonglee, a deputy PM and the finance minister, will continue to serve as head of the economic team.

The big move to revamp the Cabinet came during a meeting on Thursday evening when Samak summoned the leaders of coalition partners to consult on their decisions to cast votes in the no-confidence debate and also the budget debate.

Political sources said Samak asked that all coalition partners cast votes in support of all the Cabinet members, including himself, who were grilled by the opposition Democrats. In return, he promised a sweeping overhaul of the Cabinet to rebuild government popularity.

Samak told the partners that their Cabinet quotas would remain intact but he would realign his People Power Party's quota. However, it was possible for the partners to consider exchanging key Cabinet seats.

A Matchima Thipa-taya source said the party had intended to withdraw support for Mingkwan during the vote as he had failed to clarify his handling of agricultural policy.

But after the meeting with Samak, the party agreed to support Mingkwan after it learned that Samak intended to remove him from Commerce and confine his role to serving as just a deputy PM.

A People Power source said Noppadon would likely be jettisoned because of his controversial handling of the Preah Vihear Temple issue.

Banharn Silapa-archa, the leader of the Chat Thai Party, also requested that Samak withdraw Thailand's support for Cambodia to register the Preah Vihear Temple as a Unesco World Heritage site. He feelsNoppadon's endorsement for the World Heritage listing might have violated the charter, as it failed to go through Parliament.

Mingkwan would be dumped because of his inefficiency in tackling farm policy, the source said, adding that Santi would  lose his job because of the problem with his college credentials.

Chaiya Sasomsap of the Public Health Ministry might also be removed, while Wiroon Techapaiboon, deputy commerce minister, will also be on the way out, the source said.