Southern turmoil may bite the Democrats hard

Even though the Cabinet last week approved a Bt54-billion three-year budget for development in the five southern provinces, dumping money in their direction may not be the answer.

This is because conflicts within the ruling Democrat Party have been obstructing the government's ability to solve problems. Democrat MPs in the South want the government to take the unrest seriously and listen to their opinions.

They say they are upset with the working style of Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban and Deputy Interior Minister Thaworn Senneam, who are in charge of the southern crisis. The MPs say the two ministers seem to be running a one-man show.

This is when the troubled chief adviser of the Democrats, Chuan Leekpai, had to step in and hold a meeting with the 20 MPs from the South. He gave them the job of visiting areas of conflict, set up a war room to discuss the situation and send the government weekly reports.

Chuan's role in this seems to be untraditional, something rarely seen among the Democrats - the oldest surviving party in Thailand. The Democrat Party is known to strongly cling to its principles and keep all its conflicts within the party.

So, why did Chuan have to step in?

There could be one possible reason: the relationship between the former premier Chuan and current Deputy PM Suthep seems to have turned sour. In fact, the two, who once were very close, now seem to pay less and less attention to each other. Suthep, who is busy playing his big roles of party secretary-general and government manager, rarely pays heed to what Chuan has to say.

Cracks started appearing when this government was first formed and Suthep rejected Chuan's ministerial nominations. Chuan had chosen Jurin Laksanawisit, Nipon Boonyamanee and Pichet Panwichartkul as ministers, but Suthep agreed to give only Jurin the education portfolio.

So, it really depends on what Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his right-hand man Suthep choose to do first - either solve the problems in the South or bring the conflicts within the party to an end. If they can't come to a decision on these two subjects very soon, problems might start expanding to other parts of the government and maybe even affect the PM's leadership.

piyanart@nationgroup.com