Hard to keep promises

Hard to keep promises

Name: Nattawut Saikuar

Age: 37

Education: Master's degree in public and private management, the National Institute of Development Administration

Position: Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister

Achievements: Nothing until the eurozone crisis is over

If you bump into Mr Nattawut somewhere, you have to accept his moodiness. The high-profile leader of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship is grumpy, depressed and frustrated.

He was up, but now he is down.

Buoyed by the successful street battle against the Democrat Party two years ago, Mr Nattawut reached another remarkable milestone in his political career when he was rewarded with a cabinet seat by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in January this year amid envy from other red-shirt bigwigs who fought alongside him and instead were hung out to dry by the prime minister.

His motivational speeches on stage kept the red-shirt crowds with him and carried the UDD-backed Pheu Thai to victory over the Democrats in the last general election.

His words seemed to carry some magic _ but now they are coming back to haunt him.

Shortly after his cabinet appointment, Mr Nattawut guaranteed farmers that they would see the rubber price go up to 120 baht per kilogramme, as promised by the ruling Pheu Thai Party.

The Democrats had already done it when Abhisit Vejjajiva was prime minister. So why couldn't he do it even better than his arch rival?

Seven months on, he is struggling to fulfil that promise and is hearing more complaints than praise.

The rubber price hovers around 90 baht or lower, far short of the target.

"Ten panics as rubber price hits 2-year low", read the headline in the business section of the mass circulation Thai Rath, which refers to Mr Nattawut by his nickname. Using the word "panic" might be exaggerating a bit, but it's getting pretty close to the mark.

Like other politicians, Mr Nattawut never admits his failures and never says that he is not suitable for the position of deputy minister in charge of rubber.

He pointed his finger at the European Union, saying that the financial crisis in the eurozone was leaving all rubber planters in misery.

"The slump in the rubber price cannot be solved overnight. When the Democrats were the government, it took them 24 months to tackle this problem and push the price to over 100 baht per kilogramme," he said last week as he pleaded for more time to turn the situation around.

Mr Nattawut is partly right; the economic downturn in the eurozone has lead to a slowdown in demand for this commodity.

But China's diminished appetite for rubber is the main cause, as that country is the main destination for Thailand's rubber. Worse is yet to come for him as there is no hope in sight that the global rubber price will go up in the coming weeks or months.

The point is not necessarily about the price. All of his problems now come down to his promises which, unlike the red-shirt protesters, he cannot control. The 120 baht per kilogramme pledge has landed him in trouble and so far he has not found a way out.

Since being in the cabinet, Mr Nattawut has willingly been carrying two loads. He has to prove that a red-shirt leader like himself and others can run government agencies too, in addition to directing the red-shirt protesters.

As a native of Nakhon Si Thammarat, he also carries the hopes of the Pheu Thai Party by becoming a front man to bolster its popularity on turf dominated by the Democrats for many elections.

Making rubber planters happy will give Pheu Thai a better chance to steal some seats from its opponent next time. That's why he has become a favourite target of the Democrats, given his performance and threats to its stronghold.

Mr Nattawut believes he knows a lot about rubber because he is a prai (commoner) minister, but up to now there are no indicators showing his success, said opposition leader Abhisit on the Blue Sky channel.

More attacks will be directed at him _ and it seems he is being left alone in this fight, with no one from the red shirts showing up to defend him.

The world is a cruel place for Mr Nattawut. And if he's looking for a lifeline, perhaps he should not pin his hopes on the eurozone _ the crisis there will not end anytime soon.


Saritdet Marukatat is Editorial Pages Editor, Bangkok Post.

Saritdet Marukatat

Bangkok Post columnist and former Digital Media News Editor

Saritdet Marukatat is a Bangkok Post columnist and former Digital Media News Editor at the paper. Contact Saritdet at saritdet@yahoo.com

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