BURNING ISSUE

Rifts in govt spokesmen's team coming to a head

Piyanart Srivalo

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The lack of cohesiveness within the government spokesmen's team has become a thorn in the side of the Yingluck Shinawatra administration since it came into power over a year ago, despite the dumping of chief spokeswoman Thitima Chaisaeng, who was assigned as deputy secretary to the PM.

Back then, skill suitability was cited as the reason for the move. Media personality Sansanee Nakphong was then recruited to take the job, as she was familiar to the general public. She would work under the guidance of PM's secretary Suranand Vejjajiva.

Yet it did not solve the long-standing problem of staff not working as a unified team, with each of the three deputy spokesmen, coming from the quota of each coalition party, listening more to their own party boss than to the head spokeswoman herself.

And even the two spokesmen from the same Pheu Thai Party come from different camps. Anusorn Eiamsa-ard is from the red-shirt movement while Pakdeehan Himathongkam is supported by Pheu Thai legal adviser Noppadol Pattama. The third deputy spokesman, Chalitrat Chantru-baeksa, is from the Chart Pattana Party.

Too many cooks spoil the broth, and the situation is made worse with Suranand, the PM's secretary, reigning over all three deputies. The three apparently do not pay attention to Suranand and see him as only having influence over Sansanee, the spokeswoman, as they have their own backing.

Both Suranand and Sansanee are aware of the difficult situation and have tried to "order" the three deputies to do things their way but with little or no success. This eventually led to the October 15 incident when, right after the Cabinet meeting ended, an order was given to lock up the rooms of the deputy spokesmen to prevent reporters from entering their rooms to get interviews or access to any documents.

The order was apparently given by Suranand because Sansanee was earlier heard complaining that reporters tend to prefer talking with the three deputies rather than the top spokeswoman.

The discord didn't stop there. One of the three deputies said that during the Cabinet meeting, Sansanee cited Suranand as instructing all deputies not to reveal any information to the media, as some economic data had been leaked by one of the three deputies, although they don't know which one.

In reality, such a document could have been leaked from other sources, such as a Cabinet member or even a senior bureaucrat.

The draconian move by Suranand has poisoned the team's work environment and may lead to a decisive confrontation in the near future.

Nobody knows if there was any attempt to sow rifts and remove any of the three deputies, but the news about all these troubles and conflict have come from only one source.

Sansanee seems to be the most affected and she was in Kuwait with PM Yingluck when the issue was "leaked". Sansanee was reportedly furious about the revelation. But her position is likely not to be affected as she seems to enjoy solid support from the all-powerful Suranand, who is likened to a "little prime minister" by observers.

But will all the deputies be spared from possible persecution? And what price will the simmering conflict exact on the government and the coalition?

We'll have to wait and see, but not likely for long.

-- The Nation 2012-10-18

Is this story meant to have a rhyme or reason.

Some bureaucrats can't work together. And........

Thaksin operates on the principle of divide and rule on his own side, so that no one or no section can independently build a power base strong enough to provide a pole of attraction.

Each part is a layer of the onion. It should not be surprising therefore if bickering breaks out in public. Only an engineered crisis brings them all back in line. Even for Thaksin it is a juggling act.

The Government continues to open its collective mouth to change feet, so no-one really cares what spokesperson came up with the information, it is always misinformation and certainly without cohesion to facts.

What do we learn about the people and "secretary of states" that work under the Shinawatra network????

When the prime minister and the spokeswoman Khun Sansanee were out of Dubai, Khun Suranand used this opportunity to backstab Khun Sansanee big time, in order to prevent too much information to be revealed to the public… by bribing the Pheu Thai spokesmen

The higher their status is, the more those peeps fear if losing face

Indeed the Machiavellian twists and turns in the press office are amazing.The truth cannot be allowed to escape as it will damage the campaign for the rehabilitation of the convicted bai jumping renegade puppet master. Remember , ''You cannot serve two masters.''.

Edited October 18, 201213 yr by siampolee

Indeed the Machiavellian twists and turns in the press office are amazing.The truth cannot be allowed to escape as it will damage the campaign for the rehabilitation of the convicted bai jumping renegade puppet master. Remember , ''You cannot serve two masters.''.

Yes. And there's no possibility of them serving a third - the Thai people.

This country has the most pathetic and incompetent collection of politicians outside of North Waziristan.

Indeed the Machiavellian twists and turns in the press office are amazing.The truth cannot be allowed to escape as it will damage the campaign for the rehabilitation of the convicted bai jumping renegade puppet master. Remember , ''You cannot serve two masters.''.

And no way three different people with three different agenda's, attempting to tell the same lie will ever become cohesive. Case in point being the bizarre information coming our way concerning the Rice Pledging Scheme".

How much of a majority does the government have with the coalition? What would happen if any rift led to the coalition split?

Sent from my GT-I9003

How much of a majority does the government have with the coalition? What would happen if any rift led to the coalition split?

Out of 500 seats about

Pheu Thai 265, Democrats 159, Bhumjaithai 34, Chartthaipattana 19, others 23 ???

Laugh all you want but people have no idea of how hard it is to find some one with two different faces that both look honest.

<b>TomTao, on 2012-10-18 19:27:49, said:</b><br />How much of a majority does the government have with the coalition? What would happen if any rift led to the coalition split?

<br />Out of 500 seats about<br />Pheu Thai 265, Democrats 159, Bhumjaithai 34, Chartthaipattana 19, others 23 ???

Thank you.

Sent from my GT-I9003

How much of a majority does the government have with the coalition? What would happen if any rift led to the coalition split?

Sent from my GT-I9003

Perhaps also important to realise that, far from being a monlithic political-party glued-together by a common ideology, TRT/PPP/PTP is itself somewhat of a coalition-of-factions. The initial achievement of stitching-together this coalition, before rather than after an election as was previously more normal, is perhaps something which Thaksin can take some credit for ?

Having now tasted power, and the rewards of power, also makes a split less likely.

But when a faction like Newin's gets pissed-off, and visits to Dubai or Hong Kong can't smooth the ruffled feathers, then there's also the danger of internal-splits & breakaways. This may be part of why spokespeople from different factions fail to take a common-line ?

Also note that one reason for PTP to form the current coalition, even though they already had a slight overall majority of seats, is to lessen the risk or threat by any one other party or internal-faction to break away, since that would not necessarily lead to the current government losing power. In a sense this is learning from the lesson of the loss-of-power of the PPP in late-2008.

All in my own opinion of course, perhaps someone who was here in the late-90s might have different insights into the formation of TRT ?

Edited October 19, 201213 yr by Ricardo

Indeed the Machiavellian twists and turns in the press office are amazing.The truth cannot be allowed to escape as it will damage the campaign for the rehabilitation of the convicted bai jumping renegade puppet master. Remember , ''You cannot serve two masters.''.

Yes. And there's no possibility of them serving a third - the Thai people.

Well said