New Mandala readers are invited to contribute information, analysis and opinion on new People Power Party leader Samak Sundaravej. From my brief research there’s not a lot available in terms of a comprehensive English-language profile of Samak. Let’s see if we can build one here.
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According to Chang Noi’s article ‘Acharn Ji sets Khun Samak a history exam’ Samak Sundaravej has been implicated in the 1976 Thammasat massacre and this resulted in a law suit to clear his name. (http://www.geocities.com/changnoi2/jisamak.htm)
At this time (1976) he was MP for Bangkok, Deputy General of the Democrat Party and the Interior Minister. (“The Oyster and the Shell”: Thai Bureaucrats in Politics, by Kamol Somvichian p. 830.*)
He was removed after an outburst that criticized Prime Minister Rajawongse, the media and members of cabinet when General Ayuddhya was removed from his post as Minister of Defence. As a result of this incident Samak was removed from the Democrat Party in September. (Thailand in 1976: Another Defeat for Constitutional Democracy, by Frank C. Darling p. 126 *)
In 1988 as a member of the Prachakorn Thai Party, and at a time of volatile Thai politics, Samak demanded the position of Communications Minister and won it. (Thailand in 1990: Political Tangles, by Scott R. Christensen p.201 *)
In the 2001 elections, Samak blamed the TRT party’s money politics for the loss of Prachakorn’s lower house seats. Samak said “… with that kind of money, you can buy the country.” (Thai Democracy, 2001: Out of Equilibrium, by William F. Case p. 541 *)
Apparently, Samak also had a TV cooking programme called “Chim Pai,Bon Pai” (Tasting It, Mumbling About It). As Mayor of Bangkok, Samak’s development ideas are born of his character which apparently likes to shop at markets and street vendors. (http://www.bangkokpost.net/samak1yr/bangkokian.html)
Chang Noi believes Samak’s term as mayor was ineffectual and that in reference to the new PPP, “he has no credentials to serve as leader of anything.” (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/08/06/opinion/opinion_30043804.php)
* articles in jstor.
Big gaps, but its something?
(P/S This blog makes for good procrastination. Maybe other social science areas ought to look into running blogs?…)
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ED:…..after an outburst that criticized Prime Minister – Seni Pramoj -, the media and members of cabinet
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Here is Part 1 looking at Samak up until 1992.
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I did a quick search of the FEER archive from 1972 to 1980, and there is remarkably little on Samak. There are 5-6 stories that are interesting and that relate to Samak and his right-wing politics, fear of a Vietnamese invasion, expelling a foreign journalist, etc. (and I could post these if people are interested) but no interviews or anything that might reveal his deeper thoughts, if he has them.
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From latest news … Samak and PPP may be both short-lived.
It appears that Samak & PPP may have already violated the election laws by their steadfast and unashamed declaration that they are Thaksin-TRT nominees because that is like confession they will be agents for an outlaw and an an outlawed party.
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Jeru,
Maybe that’s what they want. My understanding was that TRT only moved to PPP as insurance in case the constitution failed and they would have needed to be registered with a political party in the event that the 1997 version was returned.
Now that the new constitution doesn’t require a 90 day membership period, everything is up in the air. Politicians can move to any party they want. Maybe PPP is a temporary stand in giving Samak an opportunity to rant a bit while the rest of them sort out a more permanent situation.
All parties now, are just lists of name of people who may or may not be with them at election time. This is especially true for Ruam Jai Thai, Machima, PPP, and other new ones.
All politicans are waiting to see how it shakes out and who can deliver. I would be surprised if there are not massive defections from all of these. Machima and RJT were just plays on the military staying strong going into the election.
With their drubbing in the constitutional vote, that card is looking harder to play. Is Machima really going to retain 100 electable candidates who are willing to stand in Isaan on a pro-military platform?
What would their slogan be? “I know you hate the military and the constitution, but I’m a really good guy”?
We’re back to horse trading and horse trading season doesn’t start for a few more months now.
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Observer
Machima are more based in the central and lower northern parts of Thailand where the yes vote was high. It is often forgotten that TRT had huge numbers iof MPs from the central, eastern and lower northern areas.
These areas now look less supportative of ex-TRT while virtually all of the Isaan and the upper north look very solid. It will probably depend on where the ex-TRT MP is running as to which party they decide to run under. They wont want to have to use too much overt influence or too much vote buying now that it is harder to manipulate this way. The decisions made and the alliances forged in the next few months will give us a very good idea of how things will look after the election.
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There is a brief article on Samak’s political past in the Bangkok Post of today (1 Sept 2007)
Friends or foes?
Recent events prove that alliances and rivalries in Thai politics are as unpredictable and impermanent as ever
KAMOL HENGKIETISAK
The saying, “there are no permanent friends and enemies in politics, only permanent interests” is a truism that will stand the test of time and well into the future, noted Boonlert Changyai, a Matichon writer.
Thai politics provides many examples of this truism, especially when it comes to Samak Sundaravej, a newly elected People’s Power party (PPP) leader who volunteered to be Thaksin’s nominee.
Since his political debut as an MP for the Democrat party in 1975-76, Samak has had political friends and enemies that have varied with the twists and turns of his political career.
Samak’s first political upset came in 1976 when he defeated the acting premier M.R. Kukrit Pramoj, a Social Action Party leader in Dusit constituency, by aligning himself with the military constituency and other community leaders.
Before and after the bloodshed of October 6, 1976, Samak was known to be the sworn enemy of the left, and especially to the leaders of the student movement, who Samak deemed as traitors who should be eliminated from Thailand.
Sutham Saengprathum, who, along with 17 of his fellow student leaders were arrested and faced jail time, knew all too well Samak’s role in suppressing their left-leaning student movement. Years later, though, Sutham joined Thai Rak Thai party and is now allied with Samak and the PPP to fight the CNS and the interim government.
As a reward for his right-wing stance, Samak was named as interior minister in the civilian puppet government of the coup leaders. While in power, he acted as a civilian dictator, closing down any newspaper which dared to put up news and comments unfavourable to the powers-that-be.
When the military leaders agreed to establish democracy again through a general election on 22 April 1979, Samak founded Prachakorn Thai party and defeated the Democrat party in a Bangkok landslide – leaving the party just the one seat held by Thanat Khoman, who was later elected as Democrat party leader.
The two parties became rivals in Bangkok and fiercely contested many local and national elections to win the hearts and minds of Bangkokians. Samak was not invited to join the Prem I government while the Democrats were. But, after a general election on 18 April 1983, Samak was invited to join the Democrat party in a Prem-led coalition government, which aimed to prevent Chart Thai leader Pramarn Adireksarn from becoming a prime minister even though the Chart Thai party came up with the largest number of MPs. Though fierce rivals, the two parties were able to work together under Gen Prem.
But when Gen Prem dissolved the House in 1986 and a general election followed, a coalition government led by Prem returned to power, this time without inviting Samak’s Prachakorn Thai party back. This may have been the beginning of Samak’s long-held grudge against Gen Prem, who later left politics and was appointed to the Privy Council, eventually becoming its president.
When in 2006 Gen Prem addressed well-wishers and military cadets, reminding them to work for the country in an honest manner as soldiers of the King and the people – not the government – Samak berated Gen Prem on TV, saying that as a statesman and president of Privy Council, Gen Prem should not speak out to damage Thaksin. It was strange that Samak who used to support the military wholeheartedly now dared to criticise Gen Prem, a person well-loved and respected by the military.
Stranger still was Veera Musikhapong – like Gen Prem, a native of the South – who declared himself to be one of Prem’s children when he was with the Democrat party and has since become one of the UDD leaders who campaigned to pressure Gen Prem to resign from the Privy Council.
Veera, who was also defeated by Samak in Dusit constituency and had to retreat to Phatthalung to get elected, was Samak’s sworn enemy for many years. He is now allied with Samak in the PPP to fight his old Democrat party in the Dec 23 general election. They became allies because they both worked for Thaksin.
In 1992, Samak’s Prachakorn Thai, Samakkhitham, Chart Thai, Social Action and Rassadorn parties united to invite Gen Suchinda Kraprayoon to head a coalition government, even though Gen Suchinda did not stand for general election and had made a pledge in toppling the “buffet cabinet” government of Gen Chatichai Choonhavan that he would not hold onto power and become a prime minister after a general election.
This led to the uprising and the so-called Black May incident which forced Gen Suchinda to resign and resulted in an interim government led by Anand Panyarachun to organise a new general election. At the time, Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh was the leader of the New Aspiration party and was opposed to the Gen Suchinda. At that time, Samak and Gen Chavalit stood in opposite camps.
Now both Samak and Gen Chavalit are working to advance the cause of Thaksin’s return to power. Initially, it was believed that Gen Chavalit was invited to become the PPP leader, but his “fee” was too much for Thaksin’s camp to bear, so Samak was offered the job instead.
Yet Gen Chavalit was still believed to work for Thaksin in a covert manner by offering to make himself a go-between to bridge the enmity of the two opposing camps: the PPP and the Democrats.
One trait of Samak which was much admired by his political allies was that once he committed himself politically in a coalition government, he would not waver in his support. This was the case in 1996 when the Banharn-led coalition government was facing a no-confidence debate in the House. Other coalition government parties wanted Banharn to quit so that the NAP leader Gen Chavalit could become PM instead, but Samak declared that Prachakorn Thai would support Banharn 100%. Banharn was grateful.
Yet today, Banharn’s Chart Thai party is in a coalition with the Democrat party to contest in the general election against the PPP led by Samak.
When Samak decided to run for Bangkok’s governorship in 2001, he faced a formidable opponent in Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan, of Thai Rak Thai party. Despite facing the better funded, Thaksin-backed candidate, Samak prevailed against the TRT party machine. Even so, Samak mended fences with Thaksin when he was Bangkok governor and continued being Thaksin’s supporter even after his retirement from politics.
Now, Samak is a true friend of the TRT and in its new guise of the PPP, fights to demand justice from the CNS. His enemies are the CNS, the Assets Scrutiny Committee, the Democrats, the People’s Alliance for Democracy, newspapers, academics and whoever dares to criticise and oppose Thaksin.
Samak will lead the PPP to fight all who are Thaksin’s sworn enemies. His troops include former TRT party executives who used to fight against Samak in their previous political careers, before they joined Thaksin-led Thai Rak Thai.
One may never know what Thaksin offered Samak to entice the old warrior to come out of political retirement and lead a political fight again.
One also has to wait and see whether Samak, as Thaksin’s nominee, can help Thaksin and the former TRT return to power. Finally, one has to wait and see if Samak’s friends today will become his enemies tomorrow. Nothing is certain in politics.
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Grasshopper: General “Ayuddhya” was non-existent, though the name was apt for a military leader. It is not clear whom you were referring to.
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