Abhisit challenges Thaksin to a live pre-election debate

By Daniel Ten Kate

07 August 2006

Democrat party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday challenged caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to a debate ahead of an election scheduled for October 15.

“If the prime minister is so confident in his policies and methods, he can meet me anytime on a television program so the people can see, hear and compare our policies,” Abhisit, pictured, told a party seminar at the Miracle Grand Hotel entitled ‘The People Come First.’ “Because at the end of the day, the people will make the decision. My party will respect the decision of the people.”

The Democrats appear ready to face the voters after boycotting the April 2 election, which the Constitutional Court later nullified. In the 2005 election, Thai Rak Thai trounced the Democrats by nearly 12 million votes.

Bolstered by the recent court decisions that voided the election and jailed the former election commissioners, the Democrats have launched a media blitz designed to portray the party as free from corruption. Playing off the Criminal Court’s recent verdict against the election watchdog, Abhisit said yesterday that the courts should investigate corrupt officials instead of constitutionally enshrined bodies designed to fight graft.

“We will amend the law so that corruption charges don’t have an expiry date,” Abhisit said. “Injured parties can file cases directly to the court. It will cause politicians to go directly to jail. There will be no need to go through the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) in order to prevent those independent institutions from being interfered with by politicians.”

Over the past year or so, Democrat leaders have devoted much of their time to investigating allegations of government corruption, and raised questions surrounding the purchase of bomb scanners for Suvarnabhumi airport, as well as the largely tax-free transfer of Shin Corp shares worth 73.3 billion baht from Thaksin’s family to Temasek Holdings.

The attorney general has yet to bring charges against anyone in connection with contracts dealing with the airport construction. In March, the Securities and Exchange Commission cleared Thaksin of wrongdoing regarding the Shin Corp share sale, but fined his son Panthongtae 5.982 million baht for three violations of the Securities and Exchange Act in connection with the deal.

The party’s fight against corruption is an attempt to capitalize on the anti-graft sentiment that fueled large street protests in Bangkok about four months ago. Corruption allegations marred the previous two Democrat governments, which led the country through most of the 1990s.

Democrat party members have routinely criticized Thai Rak Thai for pushing a populist agenda. But the main opposition party plans to unveil its own ‘People’s Agenda’ on Wednesday.

Abhisit offered a sneak preview yesterday, saying that the party wants to raise the minimum wage by at least seven baht per day. The minimum wage for unskilled labor currently stands at 184 baht per day, while labor groups want it to rise to 233 baht. In June, the Finance Ministry proposed a 10-baht increase.

The Democrat party leader also said it would change the formula for calculating the fuel tariff (ft) rate for electricity which, he claimed, would allow electricity prices to fall. The current formula was introduced before state-owned electricity firm EGAT planned to list on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, he said.

“Since EGAT is not listed on the SET, there is no need to cling to the old formula,” he said.

Prior to the change in calculating the ft rate, EGAT took a heavy financial hit in the government’s attempt to shield consumers from rising global oil prices. Abhisit did not say if EGAT, which needs cash to invest in new ventures, would take a financial hit from this policy.

In addition, Abhisit said the public should not pay the two-baht-per-liter of petrol that currently finances the Oil Fund that racked up nearly 90 billion baht in debt during a subsidy program two years ago.

“It is not the responsibility of the people to redeem the sins of the current government,” he said. “If the petrol price is reduced, it will bring relief to the business owner and allow the minimum wage to increase 13 baht per day.”

Again, Abhisit failed to say if state-owned oil company PTT would then be required to pay back the billions owed to the fund. The current government has used market leader PTT to sell retail petrol lower than cost to protect consumers from global oil prices.

The Democrats also have plans to reduce public debt and set up a ‘sufficiency economy’ fund that will provide financial aid to rural villages. It is still unclear whether the money amounts to direct aid or loans, similar to Thai Rak Thai’s Village Fund program. Details will be forthcoming on Wednesday, Abhisit said.

Analysts have long questioned the Democrats’ ability to defeat Thai Rak Thai on policy. The various lending programs, 30-baht healthcare scheme and war on drugs that the government has implemented have cemented the party’s popularity in rural areas.

“The policies of the Democrats – education, anti-corruption, debt reduction – are very abstract,” said Somchai Pakapatwiwat, a political scientist at Thammasat University. “The Democrats need more concrete policies. Thaksin has the advantage on policy because Thai Rak Thai’s policies are very articulate and aimed at a targeted market.”

Thai Day