ABOUT POLITICS
Former Thai Rak Thai deputy forced out of hibernation by PAD FAir force chief Chalit has anti-government seal of approval FChalerm, never short of a tale or two, faces some awkward enquiries
Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan has been thrust into the political spotlight after the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) accused her of cosying up to military chiefs to help her former boss.
The former deputy leader of the Thai Rak Thai party was driven into political hibernation after the former ruling party was dissolved for electoral fraud. She and 110 Thai Rak Thai executives were stripped of their election rights for five years.
Khunying Sudarat was keeping a low profile until the PAD turned its attention on her.
The PAD, whose gatherings have evolved into a major extra-parliamentary political force, may have been preoccupied with whipping up nationalistic sentiment over the proposed listing by Cambodia of the ancient Preah Vihear temple on the Thai-Cambodian border. But it is also keeping up its attacks on what it labels "Thaksin tyrants" against whom the alliance came together to fight.
Two PAD founders, media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul and Democrat party MP Somkiat Pongpaiboon, accused Khunying Sudarat of trying to forge closer connections with the military by co-organising a mass merit-making ceremony with them.
They believe she is trying to help her former boss Thaksin Shinawatra get off corruption and abuse of power charges.
The religious event, intended to be a royal tribute, had been planned for July 20 with Supreme Commander Boonsrang Niempradit as chairman of the organising committee and armed forces leaders as committee members.
Organisers planned to hold the ceremony at the Royal Plaza. It would be marked by the mass giving of alms to more than 10,000 monks invited from all over the country.
The PAD insisted that even if the event was noble, the presence of a certain "politically tainted" co-organiser was out of place.
The PAD claimed Khunying Sudarat had dinner with top brass co-organising the ceremony, including army chief Anupong Paojinda. Gen Anupong, however, called Mr Sondhi to deny he had attended the dinner, according to Mr Sondhi.
Gen Boonsrang has now postponed the ceremony indefinitely.
Khunying Sudarat said organisers had no choice but to delay the event, which has already been postponed twice. Planning was well under way before the PAD began its rally this year, but protesters were occupying large areas close to the Royal Plaza, where the gathering was supposed to take place.
Worried about their safety, monks have turned down invitations to take part, she said.
Khunying Sudarat said nothing hurts her more than the malicious lies circulated by a PAD regular debater who said she had been intimately involved with senior military officers and some powerful politicians.
Khunying Sudarat said the accuser left her no option but to sue.
He who dares to do things differently
It seems the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) is now at odds with all the top military brass, with the sole exception of air force chief Chalit Phukpasuk.
Army chief Gen Anupong Paojinda and Supreme Commander Gen Boonsrang Niempradit joined the long list of persona non grata as soon as they showed signs of friendship with Thaksin accomplice Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan.
Khunying Sudarat was recently invited to a gathering of alumni where most of those present were former members of the Council for National Security (CNS) and helped staged the 2006 coup.
She was co-organising a mass merit-making ceremony with Gen Anupong and Gen Boonsrang, both members of the CNS.
The PAD is convinced that Khunying Sudarat has been assigned to befriend top army officers who command tanks and troops.
ACM Chalit succeeded Sonthi Boonyaratkalin as the head of the CNS when Gen Sonthi retired from the position of army commander last year.
The air force chief seems to be the only CNS member not trying to make up with Mr Thaksin.
He reportedly stepped up security for members of the Assets Scrutiny Committee and chaired its farewell party on Monday.
Air force personnel are allowed to watch the satellite-based ASTV station, which they can tune in to in their barracks.
ACM Chalit is considered to be an anti-Samak element and was suspected of plotting a coup against the current government. Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej does not trust him and the air force is the only armed unit he does not visit in his capacity as defence minister.
The prime minister is said to have asked a close aide in the air force to monitor ACM Chalit's movements.
This is because the air force chief did not bow to political pressure in the mid- year reshuffle, rejecting a demand that ACM Sukhampol Sunwannathat, a classmate of Mr Thaksin, be transferred back to the air force with the position of assistant chief, from his present position as a specialist.
ACM Chalit knew too well that if he agreed, ACM Sukhampol would succeed him as air force chief when he retires this September.
He is expected to continue fiercely resisting political pressure in the coming annual reshuffle.
More questions than answers
He is the colourful focus and mouthpiece of the government. He is Interior Minister Chalerm Yubamrung and he has repeatedly come up with stories to deflect criticism heaped on the government.
Now, though, he has to defend himself.
Having been on the offensive against his political rivals ever since taking office, Mr Chalerm is now getting a taste of his own medicine.
He was caught off guard when his opponents alleged that behind the family-man facade, the interior minister has some dirty linen to wash. His image as a loving father devoted to his three full-grown sons is being shaken to its core. Rumours flew around in the press and at the People's Alliance for Democracy protest stage about a hidden romance Mr Chalerm would rather not discuss.
Mr Chalerm claims he has never taken away any man's wife. But it is said he would not let a certain woman start a new life with the man she loved, leading her to commit suicide.
According to political arch-rival Watchara Phetthong, her funeral was attended by all the MPs in Mr Chalerm's constituency - except Mr Chalerm himself.
Mr Chalerm's declaration that he has never ruined anyone's relationship looks to be nothing but hot air.
But it was also reported Mr Chalerm actively supported the promotion of a female general in April. The general is said to have pulled strings to secure the reinstatement of Mr Chalerm's youngest son, Duang, a sub-lieutenant in the army.
Today the female general works in the secretariat of the defence minister and is responsible for cooperation and information exchanges between the Defence and the Interior ministries.
And the accusations against Mr Chalerm keep emerging. This time over his educational qualifications.
The PAD has asked Ramkhamhaeng University to explain how Mr Chalerm was able to obtain his master's and doctoral degrees from the university without sitting an English proficiency test.
To this day, Mr Chalerm is still answering questions about Ai Pued, a mysterious person he fingered for killing a Crime Suppression Division detective in a Bangkok pub some years ago. His youngest son Duang was at one time a suspect in the shooting.
Mr Chalerm encountered stiff opposition, mostly from PAD supporters, in Krabi when he landed at the airport there on a land inspection trip on Tuesday.
Mr Chalerm and the PAD look to be permanent enemies after the interior minister claimed that foreign migrant workers were herded to the PAD demonstration in Bangkok.
Also, Mr Chalerm alleged that a man called Ai Jock supplied weapons to anti-government protesters at the PAD's protest site.
To a lot of people, Mr Chalerm's "stories" are no less far-fetched and amusing than his policies. He had all provincial governors report to him at his residence in person to deliver his policy statement in a one-on-one environment.
Then he seriously vowed to suppress encroachment on public land and forest reserves, although he was suspected of singling out opposition parties and his political rivals in what his critics called a witchhunt.
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Next
