M.L. Nattakorn reviews
Thailand's outgoing "old ginger" cabinet
By Jon Fernquest |
In his weekly column in the Bangkok Post on Thursday M.L. Nattakorn Devakula reviewed the accomplishments of the outgoing cabinet, known as the "old ginger" cabinet.
A common sentiment is that "the performance of this gathering of retired academics and bureaucrats has been forgettable."
Nattakorn argues that the cabinet's accomplishments were, in fact, quite impressive, but it "depends on what you mean by impressive."
Ranked in order of the praise, here are M.L. Nattkorn's comments on the "old ginger" cabinet:
Let's talk about the energy minister. Piyasvasti Amranand worked his brains off trying to convince an extremely careful and cautious cabinet unwilling to quickly solve a variety of problems in terms of policy execution.This former secretary-general of the Energy Policy and Planning Office is the most accomplished member of the Surayud government.
Pushing through the Energy Act and paving the way for selection of the energy sector's regulatory board, the former Kasikorn Asset Management president was doing the hard work while others were passing their tasks to the Samak administration.
Dr Piyasvasti's biggest accomplishment was having to deal with the PTT Plc privatisation reversal saga while simultaneously clearing away 100 billion baht of debt over at the Oil Fund. This is when he's got record-breaking global crude prices every minute and an unappreciative general public, media, and non-governmental organisations at his throat.
Commerce Minister Krirkkrai Jirapaet:
Aside from complaints that he travelled abroad too much (which I don't even know is true or not, nor do I know the reason why anyone would complain about that since he was travelling to negotiate deals with trade partners), the overall record of the news director-turned-government official-turned-politician was highly satisfactory.The signing and implementation of the Japan-Thailand Economic Cooperation Partnership Agreement was one.
The gangbuster export numbers during a US economic slowdown and near-financial crisis is two.
Guiding exporters to handle the baht's strength is three. Keeping a lid on rising prices of vital consumer items is four. There are many more.
Some say he's a Grinch; I say he's a workaholic. Similar to the energy minister, Minister Krirkkrai worked hard while others held the power and gave speeches."
Whether you love or hate him, there's no denying that the public health minister led a virtual revolution of world-wide note in the compulsory licensing of life saving drugs, sort of a David taking on the Goliath of powerful international pharmaceutical companies:
(See photo on right of small David after defeat of giant Goliath)
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How about Mongkol Na Songkhla? Wow. He made major changes. The compulsory licensing on one Aids drug, two heart-disease drugs, and four cancer-treating medications will go down as one of the most daring anti-globalisation policy manoeuvrings in the history of the world. Not that I condone the actions of the public health minister here because he did violate many international rules in pursuing his patients-come-first objective; the experienced doctor did lay the example for other developing countries to issue compulsory licences as well. Intellectual property rights Thailand undoubtedly violated. But perhaps it was for worthy causes.I've not even mentioned Dr Mongkol's implementation of a public health ministry order to ban smoking in public parks, restaurants, closed semi-private/public spheres like hotels, bars and pubs (yes, bars & pubs too). Not knowing for sure whether that last part of the order would be enforceable or even practical, it is for certain a legacy of this outgoing minister.
There is also the Alcohol Controls Act which was heavily debated in parliament and controversially debated in the media. In the end it was toned down and some advertisements are still allowed. This was a draconian piece of legislation that will rank up there among the more unforgettable ones of the military-appointed House.
The ICT minister led the pack in terms of eccentricity. I'm surprised the closing down of Youtube the online video site is not mentioned:
Then there is, of course, ICT Minister Sittichai Pookaiyaudom. Man, was he eccentric! That would be eccentric in the positive definition of the word. Not to mention the fact that he has in storage at home 288 guns (yes, 288 rifles worth in the millions and millions of baht), this is a near-genius and wealthy academic who came in and told it like it was.I don't know if he got anything done at TOT Corporation or CAT Telecom, however; nor if he ever had the power to do so. The weakness of his delivery may have been his association, or at least having to work for the better part of his tenure, with Gen Saprang Kalayanamitr.
I wouldn't blame this past year's mess at TOT Corporation on Dr Sittichai alone, although he could've handled things more forcefully there. There will be no other minister who drinks Pepsi Max from a can like he does.
The Defense minister led the pack in terms of transparency:
"The candid nature of Defence Minister Boonrawd Somtas was a breath of fresh air. Whenever reporters needed a dose of the truth, or some inside information on the goings-on within the armed forces, he was the perfect source. Willing to divulge some real, nowhere-else-to-be-found intelligence, Gen Boonrawd is likely to stay with us in our memories as a nice and gentle truth-telling soldier."
Read more articles about the Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement (JTEPA) and the politics of the 2006 coup.
(Source: Bangkok Post op-ed section, 31-01-08, temp-link)
Vocabulary:
accomplishments - the good and impressive things that a person has done and achieved
sentiment - feeling
academics - professors and lecturers, people who teach at universities
bureaucrats - people who work in government ministries, civil servants
X depends on what you mean by Y - whether I agree with statement X depends on the definition of Y used in X
worked his brains off - worked very hard
pushing through - forcing something to happen, that faces a lot of obstacles
Energy Act - the legislation passed this year by the NLA on the regulation of Thailand's energy sector
energy sector's regulatory board - the new group of people under the Energy Act who will oversee Thailand's energy sector and issue regulations governing it
Kasikorn Asset Management - a mutual fund management company established in 1992, a member of Kasikorn Bank Grou (Source: Company Background; See Wikipedia)
accomplishment - good things that someone has done or achieved
privatisation reversal - when parts of a government run company that was been turned into a private company are returned to the government after a court case
a saga - a long involved story
Oil Fund - a monetary reserve "used to maintain domestic retail price level at a set ceiling in times when global petroleum prices soar by subsidizing domestic oil producers and importers" (Source: UNESCAP good practices; For history see presentation at National Energy Policy Office)
crude prices - crude oil prices
at his throat - arguing and fighting violently with each other
Japan-Thailand Economic Cooperation Partnership Agreement - the trade promotion agreement between Thailand and Japan that was finalized this year (See our archives and Wikipedia)
gangbuster export numbers - very good and impressive export numbers
keeping a lid on rising prices - prevent prices from rising a lot
Grinch - not a nice person (the Grinch was the bad guy in a children's Christmas TV programme in the US; See Wikipedia)
workaholic - a person addicted to workign (just like a person addicted to drinking alcohol)
David taking on Goliath - when the small powerless person takes on a giant powerful person and wins, this is from the bible but has become an English idiom (See Wikipedia on Goliath and David)
will go down as - history will remember it as
globalization - the increasing world-wide integration of markets for goods, services and capital, growing interdependence of people around the world with regard to societal influence, economies, and cultural exchanges (See Wikipedia on globalization)
anti-globalisation - people who are worried about the negative effects of globalization and take steps to reduce them (See Wikipedia)
manoeuvrings - changing a situation in a clever and skillful way to benefit from it
condone - accept and approve of
a legacy - the part of a person's work that continues to exist after they are gone
toned down - make less forceful, severe, and offensive
draconian - extremely harsh and severe
led the pack - ahead of everyone else in a race or competition (for example, the French cyclist is ahead of the pack in this year's Tour de France)
eccentricity - unusual behaviour different from what is expected, so people consider it strange and a little funny
transparency - making the details of activities that are important for public well-being, available to the public, so they can see what is going on
candid - speaking honestly about something, saying what you really think without hiding anything
was a breath of fresh air - it was nice to see something new and different from the usual old boring way of doing it
dose - a dose of medicine, the medicine you take at one time, like before a meal
dose of the truth - like medicine, the truth is necessary and doesn't always taste good
goings-on - things that people are doing
