Here comes Matubhum Party

Former ICT Minister Mun Patanothai, currently a Puea Pandin MP, said that after the People's Power Party was dissolved, MPs in the wadah group from the deep South - including Narathiwat MPs Areepen Uttarasin and Najmuddin Uma and Surin MP Farida Sulaiman - applied to join the Puea Pandin Party.

However, Puea Pandin had many factions and said it was not yet ready for more. The wadah group was advised to join up with the People Party.

Members decided to change the party name to Matubhum which means motherland, linking it to Puea Pandin ("for the land/ nation"). The Election Commission approved the name change on May 23.

The first concern for the Matubhum Party was the rifts in Puea Pandin. Once the House is dissolved, Mun and former Puea Pandin leader Pracha Promnok and six MPs will leave Puea Pandin for Matubhum.

Another worry was the possibility of Puea Pandin being dissolved. Roi Et MP Noppadol Polsue, deputy Puea Pandin secretary-general, has been banned for five years due to electoral fraud. The Constitution Court is considering whether to dissolve the party too.

The People Party was the party of fugitive Vatana Asavahame, whose right hand man was Mun. Vatana would now support this Matubhum party.

Mun conceded he was posted to be the new party leader.

"The MPs said they wanted me to be the leader. I said I would be so, but just temporarily. Maybe they chose me because I am a compromising person. I can talk to all groups of MPs and I have been both MP and minister," he said.

However, he said it was not so certain that General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, former deputy prime minister and coup leader, would be the Matubhum leader.

"He said he would rather focus on studying. He is pursuing a PhD at Ramkamhaeng University. It's up to him to what extent he would help the party. Now Matubhum consults him about problems in the restive South because he used to work on that before. It is unclear whether he would fully join the party," Mun said.

The party wants to start working on southern issues as its MPs are from the South, dealing with religious issues. However, it hoped also to be a party for all people, Mun said.

The party's selling point is on welfare and social security. It would strengthen support at all agency levels. If it can bring agricultural workers into the system, people will have Matubhum in their hearts, Mun said.

He said the party would field MP candidates in all parts of the country, although in small numbers, and hoped to get at least 10 MPs. Mun would be on the party-list while well-known candidates joining the party would attract more party-list MPs.

Mun said problems between factions could be a future issue for the party, but everybody wanted the party to grow.

"We have experience in forming a political party and party administration, as well as dealing with chaos in the party. We know what to do to solve problems. Sometimes just being allies is enough, but we also need to be close enough to use the same (money) pocket," Mun said.

Many are watching how big the party will grow.