Suthep asked to resolve conflicts

After finishing a minor Cabinet reshuffle to replace Chartchai Pukkayaporn, who resigned as deputy agriculture minister on Tuesday, the coalition government now faces a new conflict.

Abhisit tried to smooth the undercurrent and negotiate a deal with his Democrat Party and coalition partners after the reshuffle. However, he ruled out the possibility of changing the Cabinet line-up apart from having someone take over from Chartchai. In other words, there are no changes planned for the near future.

The only factor that could affect the government's stability is the passing of the 2010 budget bill. The bill, scheduled for consideration at an extraordinary House session from June 15-23, is unlikely to be shot down by the coalition partners because they need money to gain more votes.

On the surface, the ruling out of a Cabinet reshuffle looks like the government can bring "order" and "stability" to the coalition. But a closer look at the situation revealed several cracks in the partnership.

Many projects proposed by coalition parties, other than the ruling Democrats, have often had problems. Some were delayed, some rejected or sent back for review, while some were withdrawn such as the plan to lease 4,000 NGV buses for Bt67 billion proposed by the Transportation Ministry, the selling rice and corn via a bidding project proposed by the Commerce Ministry and the 3G mobile network.

The latest conflict came up when Abhisit decided to put the controversial multibillion-baht government rice sale on ice after a feud broke out between Deputy PM Korbsak Sabhavasu, a Democrat, and Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai from Bhum Jai Thai Party. The PM had Deputy Premier Suthep Thaugsuban, also a Democrat, to calm things down.

Suthep may not be keen on matters concerning rice, but choosing him shows that Abhisit employed "political tactics" to solve the conflict. The premier obviously expected things to get out of control and affect the government's stability so he had no choice but to have Suthep - the government's manger - to step in and mend fences.

This obviously annoyed, Korbsak, who leads the government's economics team, was put in charge of screening doubtful projects. However, the premier wanted to end the conflicts with a compromise. Korbsak, with his rigid stance, is faces opposition from other ministers, while Suthep is widely known as being a close confidante of Newin Chidchob, the de facto leader of Bhum Jai Thai Party.

In the world of politics, nobody wants to make any hasty moves, and all coalition partners want a win-win situation so their interests remain safe.