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Newin pays price for his father's success

Dad's appointment as House Speaker comes at a high cost for Buri Ram politician / Parents use well-established political connections to find good schools for their children / Resurrected reservoir scheme raises eyebrows following recent meeting between Somsak and senior officials

For veteran Buri Ram politician Newin Chidchob, it took blood, sweat and tears to bring his father Chai to political heights.

Nevertheless, Mr Newin's endeavours have paid off after years of hard toil because his father was chosen on Monday as the new House Speaker, replacing Yongyuth Tiyapairat who faces an electoral fraud case brought by the Election Commission (EC).

Although Mr Chai was earlier nominated for the job after the Dec 23 general election, Mr Yongyuth had the stronger backing and won the position.

So now, against all the odds, the win is a dream come true for Mr Chai.

But his son has paid a high price.

Mr Newin faced strong opposition from 36 veteran People Power party MPs in the Northeast, led by Deputy Speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont, Nakhon Phanom MP Paijit Sriworakhan and other leading seniors.

This so-called Isan senior MPs group formed an alliance with their northern and central counterparts in a bid to dash Mr Newin's hopes when he and his allies, including Transport Minister Santi Promphat, lobbied hard for Mr Chai prior to the vote on Monday.

Newin: Old hand will be feeling the strain

Those PPP members who opposed Mr Chai's appointment fought hard even though the odds were heavily stacked against them, because a large majority of PPP executives are seen as being under Mr Newin's thumb.

The veteran Isan MPs group resorted to meeting former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra at his Chan Song Lah residence in Bang Phlad district in the middle of last week.

The meeting was also attended by Interior Minister Chalerm Yubamrung and Justice Minister Sompong Amornwiwat.

At the meeting, Mr Thaksin said only: "Mr Newin is ready to do something for me and to go to jail for me." It did not take them long to realise what was on Mr Thaksin's mind.

In the past, Mr Thaksin gave his full support to Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee to become the House Speaker, but he faced strong opposition from his wife, Khunying Potjaman, who placed her trust in Mr Newin.

This trust was attributed to Mr Newin's excellent idea of clearing her and her husband's name by amending the constitution.

Efforts to block Mr Chai continued until the party meeting last Sunday.

Strong criticism from the Isan MPs group touched raw nerves with ministers like Mr Surapong, who threatened to resign as PPP secretary-general if his patience was stretched to the limit.

Now Mr Chai is only a step away from the influential position of speaker. He will take up the post once he receives royal endorsement. After that, constitutional amendment won't be far off.

To Mr Newin, the road to his father's political success meant a lot of sacrifice and even old friendships being discarded.

Even though he's an old hand at politics, he will be feeling the strain.

Politicians return favours for 'dek faak'

With the new semester here, the most pressing concern for many parents is to find the best school for their children, or at least to make sure they have a good school to attend.

Children known as dek faak, whose parents try to get them into good schools through well-established connections with people who have influence over the schools, immediately spring to mind.

To make sure their children get a seat at their favoured school, these parents look to someone in a powerful position for a helping hand.

Somsak: Meeting paved way for return of scheme

Their focus is usually on high-ranking officials and politicians with influence at the Education Ministry.

Politicians return favours by finding a good school for their supporters' children.

So, many dek faak are the children of fellow politicians or canvassers working for politicians. Several former education ministers are known to be very busy trying to get these dek faak into top establishments.

Certain former ministers were known to be very insistent those children be given a seat, but others were able to compromise to a certain extent.

One former minister was said to have been relentless in his efforts to push a dek faak student into a top school - only to hit a stumbling block.

The school happened to have a parents' association with connections with people in even more powerful places. The minister had to back down after he received a stern reprimand from a "senior" figure he most certainly feared and respected.

Another former education minister even complained that so many children were from canvassers working for his party leader there were no seats left for children of other party members.

Like it or lump it, civil servants in the Education Ministry, particularly those at the Office of the Basic Education Commission, have to work hard to satisfy the demands of politicians. They have often been on the receiving end of pressure from their superiors to make the necessary arrangements.

But some officials appear to have adapted so well that they have the privilege of not having to do their routine job. All they need to do is to personally coordinate with the chosen schools to ensure a place for these dek faak children.

All eyes on dam project

Political observers are sharply watching out for signs of overwhelming enthusiasm for attempts to dust off a scheme to improve and maintain dams and reservoirs across the country.

The look-out follows a recent meeting between Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Somsak Prissananantakul and senior ministry officials.

Their recent meeting at Kwai Noi dam in Kanchanaburi province took place amid reports that the Chart Thai party's advisers were considering the ministry's potential projects and allocation of funds.

One of the potential projects reportedly raised for discussion at the meeting was a dam improvement and maintenance scheme, which was initiated years ago during the Thaksin Shinawatra administration but was shelved because the then ministers in charge were reportedly at odds over the scheme.

The meeting between Mr Somsak and the senior ministry officials finally paved the way for the return of the scheme with a budget of three billion baht approved for the reinforcement and maintenance of the 45-year-old Lam Pao dam in Kalasin province.

The implementation of the scheme was confirmed by a March 31 announcement of the Royal Irrigation Department (RID)

It assured local people that the project would not affect their farming activities and, once completed, would benefit farmers in the area.

In addition, the RID also approved a two-billion-baht budget to increase the holding capacity of the Kwai Rabom-Siyad reservoir in Chachoengsao province, as well as for its maintenance.

Attempts to raise the reservoir's storage capacity have raised a number of eyebrows as it is widely known that the dam is in a "rain shadow" - an area with little rainfall for the reservoir to catch and store.

In principle, the scheme to improve and maintain dams has merits considering the fact that many of them are decades old and in need of improvement.

But since the project involves a vast amount of utilities - there are 69 large dams, 600 medium-sized ones and around 1,300 small ones across the country - it will undoubtedly draw much attention, especially from the media and the opposition in parliament.

Construction firms and political parties - especially the Chart Thai party, which has Mr Somsak as a deputy leader - had better brace themselves for prying eyes as soon as the dam maintenance scheme is approved by the government.

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