PM is a man totally isolated
Written by Admin on Thursday, September 4th, 2008
NEWS THINK
PM is a man totally isolated
PRADIT RUANGDIT
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Whether he attempts to cling to power or not, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej is finding it increasingly difficult to govern as those who rule over the corridors of power close ranks against him.
The country’s top bureaucrats and military officers now refuse point blank to follow his instructions, putting him in an impossible position.
A special team headed by Interior Minister Pol Gen Kowit Wattana has been closely examining the crisis facing Mr Samak. Their conclusion is that it’s no longer possible for his government to run the country as state officials will not take orders.
“We had expected that under the state of emergency, army chief Anupong Paojinda would order his soldiers to counter the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) demonstrators. But the military has done nothing,” one team member says.
“The demonstrators aren’t intimidated by the announcement. On the contrary, more people have joined the protest. It shows that the government is losing politically.”
Being isolated so completely by the very people tasked with obeying their political masters takes the issue of instability beyond any question of retrievability.
As the country reeled to the news of the fatal clashes on Tuesday, top civil servants from more than 20 ministries and state agencies met Gen Anupong, who is in charge of enforcing the executive decree for governing in emergency situations.
At the meeting, the civil servants discussed possible solutions to the political turmoil.
A source said some permanent secretaries came out in favour of the anti-government movement’s calls for Mr Samak to resign, or that parliament be dissolved.
Among them were the influential figures of Pongpayom Vasaputi from the Interior Ministry and Charuayporn Thoranin from the Education Ministry .
One key leader from a coalition party has even suggested that the way Gen Anupong is refusing to exercise his power under the emergency decree to send in the troops against PAD demonstrators is a kind of silent putsch.
The coalition’s confidence in the government’s ability to handle the PAD demonstration has also withered quite dramatically.
There seems little Mr Samak can do anymore.
