'Brotherly Talk' Hides Political-Military Rifts: Thai Talk

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THAI TALK

'Brotherly talk' hides political-military rifts

Suthichai Yoon

The Nation

Who says military officers can't talk like diplomats?

BANGKOK: -- Newly-appointed defence minister, ACM Sukampol Suwannat, asked whether he could get along with the Army chief, General Prayuth Chan-Ocha, said: "We are both straight-talking guys. That should make it easier for us to understand each other. That's better than sweet-talking but insincere people."

The next day, when reporters asked General Prayuth about his new boss at the Defence Ministry, he responded, dead-pan: "He [ACM Sukampol] is my elder brother. Brothers don't hurt each other."

The new defence minister will also have to patch things up with the current Air Force chief, ACM Ithiporn Supawong, who edged out ACM Sukampol to win the top Air Force post following the 2006 coup.

Now, the former rival has returned to become the boss. The current Air Force chief has publicly stated, "The Air Force has no problems with anybody becoming the defence minister."

Sukampol plays it cool. He said on a radio programme last week that gentlemen must learn to forget the past so that they can move on. "I don't dwell on the past. When I met Ithiporn, we talked like old friends."

Sukampol, well-known for his close ties with Thaksin Shinawatra, was moved from the post of transport minister to Defence in an apparent attempt to "get a few things done" in the armed forces that his predecessor, General Yuthasak Sasiprapa, had failed to accomplish.

Yuthasak has been moved upstairs to the post of deputy premier. He is said to have been surprised by the abrupt transfer himself, having been informed at the last minute on January 16 (just before the official Cabinet reshuffle list was made public) of his new, less powerful position.

Thaksin had initially put Yuthasak at Defence probably because he could "mend fences" with the top brass. That assignment was probably so well accomplished that the soft-spoken veteran general was seen to be too weak to push for changes that the Pheu Thai-red shirt core leaders were aiming at: amend the Defence Council Law to allow a politically-appointed defence minister to be able to hire and fire military officers.

Yuthasak was stalling for time to make that drastic change. Thaksin probably realised after a while that Yuthasak wasn't going to adopt the make-or-break tactic with the top brass. He would rather apply the soft approach to win over the generals. The conflict between Sukampol as transport minister and his two deputies offered an opening for Thaksin to kill two birds with one stone. He moved Sukampol to Defence to solve the Transport Ministry's problems and get some real action at Defence through the no-nonsense style of one of his most trusted former Cadet College classmates.

Does he think that his being moved to head the Defence Ministry will make the top brass nervous? Sukampol's public statements sound conciliatory enough, although it's clear that his mission to rewrite the law governing the Defence Council's authority will decide whether he can fulfill his mission or not.

"I say what I think. No, I haven't been put here to prevent coups. Let's stop talking about coups," he said.

Questioned directly about speculation that his main mission was to amend the law to transfer power from the Defence Council to the defence minister, Sukampol dodged: "If we can talk things over, there won't be any need to use the law in question. I am a simple man. I only need 15 minutes to wrap up a topic, not an hour or so."

That's not as direct as what he had said before: "Why have a defence minister if he has no authority to appoint and dismiss personnel?"

And that was immediately interpreted as his single most important item on the agenda in the new posting.

He said he could understand why some of the generals had to be on the side of the coup-makers in 2006. "But now, they have to be on my side. We are in the same boat now," he declared.

The real test will come soon enough. The top brass has publicly stated that they work under the government. But how each side interprets the process of "democratisation of the armed forces" will determine whether the new defence minister and the military commanders can strike a professional working relationship.

For now, the facade of comradeship between the new Defence chief and the military leaders conceals the rising tension by at least one degree.

[jeffcool]

""If we can talk things over, there won't be any need to use the law in question. I am a simple man. I only need 15 minutes to wrap up a topic, not an hour or so."

"But now, they have to be on my side. We are in the same boat now," he declared.

Well, that should be interesting.... Who would wanna be on a siking ship????