January 29, 2008

Around 11:40 AM of January 29, 2008, a royal endorsement of Samak Sundaravej as Thailand's 25th prime minister was handed down. Then a few minutes after noon, somebody updated a biography of Samak on wikipedia. Now you can read a full version of Samak's life and time at: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samak_Sundaravej#Early_life_and_family

One of my friends have called and told me about this. He was very impressed with the political machinery of the People Power, who has tried and worked rather effectively to shape public opinions via online.

"They are very quick. They know how to spin the political machinery to their advantage," my friend told me.

In the evening Samak sworn in as prime minister in a ceremony held at his Bangkok home. He prostrated before the picture of His Majesty the King. But he had a difficult time standing up. Well, he is already 73 years old.

The first thing he told the Thai people on national TV was that he, like all of his predecessors, honoured the Monarchy Institution. He also used the occasion to defend ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who he said was also a royalist. Then he vowed to move the country forward although he knew that a lot of people disliked him.

Yongyuth Tiyaphairat, the House Speaker, also pledged his loyal support to the Monarchy after the swearing-in ceremony last Friday.

I don't know what's going on. All the key members of the People Power, including the ousted prime minister, have come out again and again to pledge their loyalty to the Monarchy. As I have said before, if you are a royalist, you only have to feel it in your heart. You don't have to advertise yourself.

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 How do you describe Samak's political ideology? That's difficult to tell. In fact, you now can't use any ideological cloak to label the Thai politicians, who have mutated beyond recognition.

Samak has been known as a conservative, if not a right winger. The mantra of the right wingers in the old days was nationhood, religion and monarchy. He was a key member in the 1976 incident, in which several hundreds of students were killed inside Thammasat University over fasle allegations that they were communists.

Nobody is certain whether Samak is still a conservative or part of the Establishment because he is now serving capitalist Thaksin Shinawatra rather wholeheartedly.

But a die-hard fan of Samak would say that Samak is Samak.

Chaturon Chaisaeng went into the jungle after the 1976 incident. Other leftists included Dr Surapong Suebwonglee and Dr Phrommin Lertsuridej. Now they are supporting Samak as prime minister.

Thaksin is a capitalist, who banks on populist support to forward his political ambition. He showers contempt over the elites and the Establishment. He wants to create a New Society under his sole leadership.

Before the election, Banharn Silapa-archa vowed that he would not join the People Power because he would never trust Thaksin. On Monday, he rose in Parliament to utter his support to Samak as prime minister. It was the lowest point of his political career.

That's how he has come to be known as an "eel", who is so slippery that you can't never get hold on it with your hand.  Sometimes journalists even call him "eel wearing a pair of roller-skate".

Snoh Thiengthong is no better. He is the last surviving dianosaur. He denounced Thaksin during the People Alliance for Democracy's campaign. After the election, he was the first to try to contact Thaksin and ask to join the coalition government. He needed to recoup his investment in the election badly.

If things go on like this, soon Thailand will only have two parties and a half left. All the coalition partners -- except for the Chat Thai -- will return to the embrace of the People Power like the pre-coup period. Then there will be the People Power, the Democrat and the Chat Thai, whose size is so small that it will be considered a half-sized party.

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