Credibility doubts : PM says one thing and does another

Yes, the words sounded rather "grand" indeed, but what about the actions? 

 Somehow Abhisit is building a reputation for saying one thing while doing another as the Cabinet takes on board more People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) leaders. Aside from PAD fanatics like Kasit Piromya, who was named foreign minister and caused quite a stir in the red shirt pro-Thaksin Shinawatra camp, last week's appointment of PAD-spokesman and ASTV talking head Prapan Koonmee as secretary to pro-PAD Science and Technology Minister Kalaya Sophonpanich, enraged the red camp even further.

So the question is whether the PM is suffering from some mild form of schizophrenia.

 Of course, going up on a PAD stage to lambast Thaksin is not a crime unless the stage happened to be blocking an international airport, but why and why would Abhisit allow to be appointed these people who would only make any "grand reconciliation" less realistic or even impossible?

 An Asian diplomat told this writer recently that he couldn't figure out why.

While this writer can only guess as to why too, this writer is convinced however that such decisions are bad political decisions, insensitive, insincere and counter productive.

While Kasit blatantly denied he had ever said it was fun and the food and music was good at the PAD mob during the Bangkok airports seizure, Prapan didn't even bother to stop wearing the other hat and went on to cause more outrage over the weekend.

He was reported by no less than PAD-mouthpiece ASTV Manager Daily newspapers on Monday to have been attending a PAD rally-cum-reunion in Khon Kaen province during the weekend.

The paper even ran a photo of Prapan shedding his tears of joy as he was reunited with fellow PAD members in Khon Kaen, his home province, and saying something contrary to what the PAD has always been famous for.

 Prapan said northeasterners are "no fools, they were just betrayed by politicians" whom they voted for!

This statement came after two years of various PAD leaders repeating remarks in public that northeasterners are a gullible bunch who sell votes to the highest bidder.

Back to Abhisit, the military-supported PM had to defend the appointment of Prapan last week by saying he's a Democrat Party man. Abhisit didn't need to do that if Prapan was indeed better known as a Democrat. But the fact is, Prapan is best known as the face of ASTV satellite television and as a fiery speaker on the PAD stage and most people recognise him as such.

Perhaps if the PM is sincere about "grand reconciliation", he could for a start appoint someone from the red camp to his cabinet. This is something that is done in countries like the US.

And again, Abhisit defended Kasit and Prapan as qualified for their jobs against the weight of political opposition. One must ask if the Democrats really have no other "qualified" people or outsiders left to be appointed who will not enrage the red camp.

In the end, the sad reality is that the red camp does not see this current administration as being above the political conflict but as a partisan part of the feuding parties, so any talk of dispensing justice to all sounds rather hollow, and is made especially more so with these appointments.