Cabinet Reshuffles: Catch Us If You Can: Thai Talk

[webfact]

THAI TALK

Cabinet reshuffles: Catch us if you can

Suthichai Yoon

The Nation

Premier Yingluck Shinawatra says her first Cabinet has "already" been in office for six months. It's time to review, evaluate and shake things up.

Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva says this government started working "only" six months ago. If the premier feels the need to reshuffle her council of ministers, it probably means the Cabinet has missed its targets.

That's how divergent the views are on the political scene. It all depends on where you stand and whom you speak to. In other words, reactions to the new Cabinet line-up (which has yet to be officially announced as I write on Wednesday morning, January 18) are not only mixed, but are extremely subjective and partisan.

The strange thing about low expectations is that "bad" becomes "passable", "mediocre" is automatically upgraded to "good", and the usual "acceptable" grading becomes "fantastic".

Informed public discourse on the quality of politics has been banished from the conflict-ridden political landscape. If you are on one side, your reaction to everything that emerges from "your side" can't be anything but positive. On the other hand, if it's the other party that initiates certain activity, it has to be downright ridiculous and terrifying.

I found it rather amusing, therefore, to hear those in the middle - trying to be objective about the whole political scene - telling interviewers that the leaked list of the Yingluck Cabinet II "poses some very interesting challenges" to the prime minister. That, of course, amounts to saying nothing. But trying to sound as if you're saying something about nothing seems to be the new trend in our highly divided society. You don't want to be seen to be taking sides because you believe in "national reconciliation". But when real reconciliation doesn't happen, most people avoid making their opinion known.

They aren't really members of the "silent majority". Rather, they constitute the new class of the "muted majority" who sit and watch in despair, hoping against hope that things will turn the corner, realising, as Einstein once said: "You can't solve problems using the same thinking as when they were created."

The vocal commentators on the one side, not surprisingly, will tell you that Premier Yingluck is reshuffling her Cabinet to improve performance after a six-month "probation" period. That's what a good CEO does in a successful business concern. That's what her brother Thaksin did before. You put more qualified personnel into the Cabinet to replace those proven unsatisfactory by the premier or the public. That's called responsive government. That's what every good prime minister should do.

Those on the other side cry foul, as expected. They immediately say, in many cases, that the choices of new ministers reflect the usual horse-trading gimmicks. Political debt has to be repaid and favours have to be returned. So, it's the qualifications of the individuals that count. It's how the premier or her brother repays political debt that becomes the main criteria for the new line-up.

They charge that the frequent Cabinet shake-ups don't necessarily mean constant improvement attempts on the part of the prime minister. Rather, it shows just how much political debt has piled up on Thaksin, whose main task these days is to pacify those who feel that the former premier owes them Cabinet, civil service and advisory positions for services rendered earlier.

And because you know that another Cabinet reshuffle may be effected again in May - when some of the 111 disbarred executives of the disbanded Thai Rak Thai Party are due to re-emerge from a five-year political ban - there is little need to remember the names of new Cabinet members, especially those named as deputy ministers. New names will soon replace the current ones anyway, even before you have time to find out what their job descriptions are.

It's therefore much more productive to ask who will be in charge of solving the major tasks facing the government - and how Yingluck goes about giving the public regular scores for the performance of each Cabinet member.

Some of the main assignments for the Yingluck Cabinet II:

Who is in charge of measures to ensure that the big flood won't recur?

Who's responsible for the government's economic policies to cope with the highly volatile international financial situation this year?

How does the new Cabinet implement the national reconciliation scheme, which, despite all the promises, hasn't taken any substantial shape in this first Cabinet.

If the premier can tell us who in the new council of ministers will carry out these major tasks (all clearly stipulated in the policy statement upon her taking office) and how we can grade their performances on a monthly basis, then we don't even have to bother memorising the names of the new Cabinet members.

If we want to be realistic about it, the Thai public will just have to live with the fact that we will, from now on, have a new Cabinet every three to four months.

I know why this strategy will work brilliantly for the government. It's the classic "Catch us if you can" gimmick all over again.

-- The Nation 2012-01-19

[anterian]

Why are they wearing black armbands, are they mourning the demise of Thailand?