Pravich returns after a six-year absence

Published on August 03, 2005 - With two decades’ experience, Pravich Ratanapian is no stranger to Thailand’s factional power politics. Now he’s proven he has what it takes to stage a modern-day political comeback, after a six-year absence from the Cabinet.

When he was named science and technology minister yesterday, the 49-year-old politician became a full minister for the first time in a political career that dates back to 1988, when he was elected a Bangkok MP for the Thai Citizens Party. He has held two Cabinet-level positions: Thai Trade Representative and deputy commerce minister.

His career trajectory seems to have been destined to cross paths with that of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, even before his Chat Pattana Party merged with Thai Rak Thai in August.

It was a conflict with Suwat Liptapanlop, his friend and Chat Pattana Party leader, that prompted him and other key members to leave Chat Pattana after nearly a decade as an elected MP for Nakhon Ratchasima.

Pravich became a Thai Trade Representative in July last year shortly after leaving Chat Pattana.

He is tipped to be the second trade representative to be elevated by Thaksin to a Cabinet position, after Kantathi Suphamongkhon became foreign minister in March.

Pravich’s first Cabinet position lasted from 1998 to 1999, when he was deputy commerce minister in the Chuan Leekpai administration.

A kingpin of his family’s Rattanabundit educational institutions, Pravich has a doctorate in education from Pennsylvania State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Chulalongkorn University.