BKKPOST:Mar13 Power struggle in PDP

[Kamol Hengkietisak]

Sunday Perspective:

POWERS TRUGGLE IN PDP

Health and dissatisfaction were cited as prompting the recent
resignation of Chaiwat Sinsuvong from his post as Deputy Governor.
However, might his decision be construed as another attempt by the
Palang Dharma Party's "temple faction" to wrestle power back from
its "political faction"? APHALUCK BHATIASEVI, SAENGROAJ
SRISAWASKRAISORN, and KAMOL HENGKIETISAK report.



THE resignation of Palang Dharma Party Administrative Committee
member Chaiwat Sinsuvong from the post of Deputy Governor of
Bangkok may be just the beginning of a storm within the party.
Chaiwat, a close aide to the party's de facto leader Maj Gen
Chamlong Srimuang, has been with the party for six years.
Throughout this time he often expressed dissatisfaction with
certain party members for not doing their jobs as good
politicians.
"Chaiwat's resignation is certainly not an ordinary issue, because
it shows the problems within the party," said a PDP Administrative
Committee member.
He said the temple faction of the party has decided to declare its
stand within the party, in order to make the party function
according to its original policies and norms.
The source, also a close associate of Chaiwat, said a close watch
should be kept on the party. "Although it seems as if the party
members do not have any problems with each other, in reality, the
temple faction of the party is fed-up with some [political
faction] party members." The temple faction members include Deputy
Party Leader Thamrong Saengsuriyachan, Deputy Party Spokesman
Kuthep Saikrachang, advisor to Bangkok Governor Khomsan
Phongsutham, and Administrative Committee members Athorn
Boonmalert and Phornthep Viriyaphan. The source believes the
faction is planning something," ... as the party founder and
de-facto leader Maj Gen Chamlong will not do anything and has left
the party to leader Boonchu Rojanasathien, who in turn leaves
everything concerning the party's affairs to a few prominent
members like Col Vinai and Deputy Party Leader Udon
Tantisunthorn."
He claimed Col Vinai Sompong, the Party Secretary-General, had
often used the opportunities at party executive meetings to show
off his power by accepting all the assignments, yet he succeeded
in none. Meanwhile, the other party executive members were left
idle, without any responsibility.
For this reason, the temple faction in the party is planning to
declare an open war with the political faction, and demand a say
in the party's work with the coalition government.
"Currently the party's resolutions are controlled by members in
the cabinet and the temple faction has no say in anything," said
the source.
Party founder Maj-Gen Chamlong Srimuang has said he believes
Chaiwat resigned because he was uncomfortable with the party in
the Coalition Government, although Chaiwat officially insisted
that the main reason was his deteriorating health.
Maj-Gen Chamlong said certain members have suggested a reshuffle
of PDP cabinet members, but this has yet to be formally forwarded
to the party administrative committee.
The party's de facto leader said he understood that the party
faced obstacles in pushing its policies through the Coalition
Government, because there were differences of opinions among
various political parties.
At a press conference on Thursday, Chaiwat admitted his
resignation was partly due to political reasons. He cited the
party Secretary-General, who in his capacity as election director,
had not shown responsibility despite the party's defeats in three
elections. He also pointed to the past election, where the
Bangkok's Dusit constituency voted on a replacement for Arkorn
Hoontrakool, who had resigned when his business was implicated for
stock-trading manipulation, the election of eight district
councillors last November, and the recent local elections on March
6.
Chaiwat did not deny that his ideas conflicted with Col Vinai and
commented that there should be talks to consider Col Vinai's
position in the party, because of the party's lack of success in
the city and district councillors elections while Col Vinai was
election director.
Chaiwat also revealed that at the recent party meeting he did not
agree with the party's resolution to join hands with the Democrat
Party in the city assembly.
The PDP won 24 Bangkok Council's seats out of 55 in last Sunday's
city and district councillors elections. It was considered a
humiliating defeat, as the party won by by an overwhelming
majority in the 1990 elections when it obtained 49 seats.
Chaiwat commented that the Palang Dharma Party need not only
co-operate with its own members in the local politics, " ...
because the City Assembly does not function like Parliament, and
we should try to coordinate with as many other members in the
assembly as possible, in order to work for the benefit of the
people." He also said he felt PDP members should not attach
themselves firmly to any administrative position and should be
prepared to leave at any moment.
"I have always said that political administrative positions are
for solving the problems of the people, and we come in as
volunteers to solve these problems. The administrative position
does not mean anybody's face [honour] or family. Therefore, if one
can't fully contribute to the work it makes others [in the party]
lose the opportunity to show their abilities," he said.
He said politicians should not stay in the administrative
positions for a long time, because staying just for the sake of
fame or honour would be useless if that politician's main aim is
to truly work for the people.
Deputy Party Spokesman Kuthep Saikrachang said Chaiwat's
resignation should be considered an example of a failure of the
party's mechanism to retain its competetent members.
Kuthep said the party should decentralise power among its
executive committee, in order to improve its credibility, "for
decentralisation must begin at home first."
Chaiwat had earlier expressed disatisfaction with the party's
performance, and claimed its members in the administrative posts
were not doing their work properly and were not pushing for the
party's policies.
His resignation did not come as a surprise to his associates, for
he had said many times that he was "fed-up and tired of politics".
In the lead-up to last week's elections, Chaiwat hinted he would
take responsibility for his approval of a 2 million baht budget to
be used to create a TV ad warning people against vote-buying.
A member of PDP got the job of creating the ad, which depicts the
good guy, called "Porn" while the bad guy is named "Pracha."
The ad was banned from being shown on TV by Bangkok Metropolitan
Administration (BMA) City Clerk Prasert Samalapha. He reasoned
that it could be construed as biased towards a certain party, as
the public might think that "Porn" referred to Palang Dharma while
"Pracha" might be thought to mean either Prachathiphat (Democrat)
or Prachakorn Thai.
Chaiwat had once earlier declared that several party members had
violated party principles and were beginning to become much too
flexible after joining the Coalition Government.
He had also asked the party several times to reconsider its role
in the Coalition Government, but his proposal was defeated during
the party executives' meetings.
Chaiwat said many of the party members in the cabinet have not
done enough to push forward the party's main policy, that is,
decentralisation of power and election of provincial governors.
Reactions: PDP de facto leader Maj-General Chamlong Srimuang said
that Chaiwat's resignation would not affect Palang Dharma as a
whole and that his resignation was really due to his deteriorating
health.
Chamlong revealed this only after holding court for his temple
faction at his house on Soi Rachawat on Thursday.
BMA City Clerk Prasert responded that he regretted Chaiwat's
resignation as it would be hard to find someone capable of
fullfilling his duties. If health was the main reason, BMA
Governor Krisada Arunwongse na Ayutthaya should grant 2 months
temporary leave for his deputy to recuperate, according to
Prasert.
He said it would be hard for the BMA officials to brief the
newcomer as the work of the BMA is complicated and taxing. The
officials prefer to work with their existing boss as there are yet
many tasks waiting to be tackled urgently.
PDP leader Boonchu Rojanastien also attributed Chaiwat's
resignation to his failing health. He scoffed at the news that the
resignation was due to conflicts with Col Vinai, suggesting that
conflict was normal in politics where some people liked to create
divisiness within political parties.
PDP Deputy Leader Sqn Ldr Prasong Soonsiri also insisted that
there was no conflict between Chaiwat and Col Vinai, adding that
Chaiwat could still work for the party as he is the party
executive and registrar.
He expected BMA Governor Krisada to submit a candidate's name to
fill the vacant position for the party's acknowledgement during
the upcoming executives' meeting.
Krisada said that he had yet to meet Chaiwat to discuss the reason
for his resignation, adding that he had not thought of finding a
replacment, and would reject Chaiwat's resignation.
PDP executive and MP for Bangkok Tinnawat Maruekapitak said that
health may be only be a pretext. Yet he discounted that Chaiwat's
resignation could affect the national Government as it involved
local politics. Sudarat Kayuraphan, Deputy Government
Spokesperson, said that Chaiwat had earlier mentioned his
intention to resign due to his failing health and that he had been
admitted to hospitals on several occasions.
"Chaiwat is a good man, very clean. He might have felt uneasy
about the PDP's image under the Coalition Government as it could
not push for its own policies to be adopted at the national level.
His resignation should not affect the Government's stability but
may affect the BMA as he shoulders a lot of work there," she said.
Being a deputy governor for administration, Chaiwat is known to be
a hard-working man and never shirks his responsibilities. He comes
to work early and often leaves very late at night. He is also
known to be tough and clean. He has successfully sued many
high-rise buildings including famous department stores for
violating building construction codes.
B MA's insiders reveal that Chaiwat is both respected and feared
by BMA officials as he is a strict disciplinarian and can master
complicated work routines easily. It is not easy to pull any
tricks on him and no officials dare to do so.
As he is a workaholic, it is not surprising that his health is
deteriorating. He is a vegetarian and eats only one meal a day,
supplemented with a few vitamin tablets. Chaiwat is not lying when
he cites failing health as the main reason. It is generally
believed by insiders, that his psychological health is also being
eroded as he sees his faction's ideals whittled down by the
political faction led by the pragmatic Col Vinai Sompong.

Long-running battle
By KAMOL HENGKIETISAK I T might be suggested that Maj-Gen
Chamlong single-handedly founded the Palang Dharma Party. But in
reality, no one could have accomplished such a job alone,
including a capable and extraordinary personality like Chamlong.
It was Chamlong and his fellow followers of the breakaway
Bhuddhist sect, Santi Asoke, however, who helped found the Palang
Dharma Party about eight years ago.
Santi Asoke was founded by Phra Bhotirak, who was later stripped
of his monkhood by the Supreme Sangha Council for declaring his
sect's independence.
Apart from advocating vegetarianism and eating one meal a day,
Santi Asoke followers believe in hard work and the involvement of
politics in cleaning up society.
Urged by Phra Bhotirak and other fellow sect members, Chamlong
decided to run for the Bangkok Governorship 10 years ago. His
success came in spite of strong opposition from the favoured
candidate, Chana Rungsaeng of the Democrat Party. Chamlong's
candidacy was belittled by the then Democrat leader Bhichai
Rattakul, who was also Deputy Prime Minister, as being
"pedestrian" or "sidewalk" ware, while his candidate was likened
as"Department Store" ware.
Yet Chamlong and Santi Asoke's followers did not give up. They
were the first in local or national politics to adopt simple,
inexpensive posters and door-to-door campaigns, in contrast to
erecting giant posters and political rallies.
The result surprised everyone -- Chamlong defeated Chana by a
margin of more than 100,000 votes.
However, he did not come to rule the BMA council as the Democrat
Party garnered the majority of seats while his Ruam Palang group
came in third behind the Prachakorn Thai party.
Later the Ruam Palang group was transformed into the Palang Dharma
Party to contest the national election. Although initially formed
by the temple followers, the party began to recruit outsiders to
stand for national election. The most prominent was Dr Udomsilp
Srisaengnam, who was later elected Secretary-General of the party.
Thus began the long-running battle for the party's control.
The first test was the decision of Dr Udomsilp and a few fellow
MPs to join Gen Chatichai Choonhavan's Government to provide a
"clean" image to the Coalition Party, which was perceived as being
a "buffet cabinet." It was believed that Dr Udomsilp would be
offered the Public Health portfolio. Chamlong decided against
this. When confronted with the resolution engineered by Dr
Udomsilp, Chamlong declared that he would rather dissolve the
party than let Dr Udomsilp succeed. Dr Udomsilp relented as he
realised that Gen Chatichai would not accept him if Chamlong did
not agree. He later resigned his Secretary-General post which was
taken up by Col Vinai Sompong, then Chamlong's personal secretary.
When the Chatichai Government was toppled by the military coup led
by Gen Suchinda Kraprayoon, Dr Udomsilp decided to quit politics
and resigned from the Palang Dharma Party.
When Dr Udomsilp later changed his mind and decided to rejoin the
party to run in the April 1992 general election, his application
was opposed by the temple faction led by Chaiwat. Meanwhile, Col
Vinai, leader of the political faction, argued that it would help
heal the party and make the party prosper. Chamlong chose to side
with the political faction. C hamlong then decided to oppose the
Suchinda-led Government, and was whole-heartedly supported by the
temple faction, while the political faction maintained only token
support. After resigning from his leadership position, Chamlong
and the temple faction's influence in the party declined as most
of the executive positions were dominated by PDP cabinet members.
From time to time, the temple faction has tried to ask the party
to reconsider its role in the Chuan-led Coalition Government, as
the Party's political fortune was declining along with the
Government's. But each time it was defeated in the executives'
meeting.
Chaiwat's resignation could be seen as the latest move to bring
the confrontation between the two internal factions into the open.