According to academics, the government’s first cabinet reshuffle under the Srettha Thavisin government aims to improve efficiency, especially in advancing monetary stimulus initiatives. Additionally, the government intends to introduce more nationalist programs to entice voters in the upcoming election.
Separate political and economic analyst Somjai Phagaphasvivat told the Bangkok Post that the new government represents merely a shift in control and not a significant shift in government policy.
Additionally, Mr. Somjai cited the nomination of Pichai Chunhavajira as the innovative finance minister, both a deputy prime minister and a former deputy prime minister. Past stock exchange of Thailand president and advisor to the prime minister was Mr. Pichai.
Easing PM’s load
” The finance secretary has to deal with entire policy as well as intricacies. Due to his removal as finance minister at the same time, the change will help to lessen his task.
The new finance minister may be tasked with telling reporters about specialized information, including those relating to the president’s digital wallet program, according to Mr. Somjai.
Since the new finance minister may also function as deputy prime minister continuously, he may also oversee various ministries handling financial affairs, such as the Commerce Ministry, to ensure more efficiency in implementing the government’s financial measures.
” This government intends to devote a sizable sum of money to assist consumers in lowering their spending, subsidizing utility bills, and lowering fees in order to support the real state business.”
” Coupled with the anticipated digital wallet freebies, this will establish financial obligations. Therefore, the Finance Ministry needs three deputy ministers to handle important professional matters, according to Mr. Somjai.
Paopoom Rojanasakul, minister to the financing secretary, was named as a second deputy finance minister in the change. Krisada Chinavicharana and Julapun Amornviviat are the other two assistant finance ministries in power.
Mr. Somjai said Mr. Srettha had outperformed Mr. Parnpree in the field of foreign affairs when he spoke about Parnpree’s horror resignation as foreign affairs minister.
” There is no major shift in international policy ]after the reshuffle]. According to Mr. Somjai, the excellent secretary continues to act as a seller in favor of foreign investment.
He claimed that the ruling Pheu Thai Party plans to introduce a number of methods, including the minimal daily income increase and the electronic wallet handbook.
” Its target party will be delighted. But these steps even pose risks to the government’s economic standing,” he said.
Because it wants to win vote support, this government has just given priority to short-term initiatives. These methods are not the solution to the region’s problems. There are no distinct measures that will certainly assist revitalise the market,” he said.
Somjai: No expecting little
Pushing for the modern pocket
The new funding minister’s appointments and a new assistant finance secretary are clearly meant to improve the digital wallet handout plan, according to Thanaporn Sriyakul, chairman of the Political and Public Policy Analysis Institute.
” It is visible. Its political future will be in danger if Pheu Thai ca n’t fulfill its promise to create a digital wallet, according to Mr. Thanaporn.
The claim that some deputy finance ministers are required to speed up the budget’s release is false. This task is capable of state officials. Instead of just short-term stimulus measures, he said, people need different financial measures.
According to Mr. Thanaporn,” the state may come up with measures to enhance the income base to increase state coffers and give small and medium enterprises more access to funding sources.”
He also pointed out that Pheu Thai’s most recent reshuffle does not include a deputy agriculture minister, which he claimed was a significant political blow to the organization.
” This means Pheu Thai has abandoned almost 19 million farmers nationwide. He claimed that farmers are not benefiting from the Finance Ministry’s stimulus measures.
In the cabinet reshuffle, Chaiya Promma, who lost his position as deputy agriculture and cooperatives minister, had warned that his removal from the position might hurt the ruling Pheu Thai Party’s victory in the upcoming election.
Nong Bua Lam Phu’s Pheu Thai MP Mr. Chaiya is one of the party’s seasoned Isan politicians.
In the upcoming general election, he predicted that Pheu Thai might face a difficult challenge to win House seats in the northeastern districts.
He claimed no one else could represent Pheu Thai’s northeastern voters as well as himself as he was fired from the cabinet.
Drawback
Given that he has a long history of loyalty to the party, Mr. Thanaporn said that Pheu Thai’s removal from Cholnan Srikaew as its public health minister is another significant setback.
Somsak Thepsutin, of Pheu Thai, has replaced Dr Cholnan as public health minister.
Pheu Thai will struggle to win House seats in the upper North and may lose ground to the Move Forward Party as a result of Dr. Cholnan’s resignation from his cabinet position.
” The party has failed to keep Dr. Cholnan who is completely devoted to the party,” said Mr. Thanaporn, “because there are unhappy supporters there.”
Additionally, he claimed that the government cannot justify the removal of Jakkapong Sangmanee from the position of deputy foreign affairs minister from the cabinet of the PM, Jiraporn Sindhuprai, and Pichit Chuenban, Pheu Thai deputy leader, Jiraporn Sindhuprai.
Ms. Jiraporn is expected to be in charge of the government’s media division, including Mcot Plc and the Department of Public Relations, while Mr. Pichit is tipped to lead the government’s legal division. The Budget Bureau is tipped to be under the control of Mr. Jakkapong.
However, Mr. Thanaporn claimed that the previous Prayut Chan-o-cha government had changed laws to place those organizations under deputy prime ministers ‘ control.
” The newly- appointed PM’s Office ministers have no real power to steer the government’s work,” he said.
Another concern is that, according to Mr. Thanaporn, Mr. Parnpree quit immediately in protest of his resignation from his deputy prime minister position while he was in charge of the foreign affairs minister’s portfolio.
Thanaporn: PT must deliver handout
Pichit Chuenban’s appointment as the PM’s Office Minister, an adviser to Prime Minister Srettha and former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s former lawyer, raises further questions about his eligibility to serve as a cabinet minister.
He was sentenced to prison for contempt of court in 2008 when he represented Thaksin in a contentious land case.
After they attempted to bribe Supreme Court officials by handing them a paper bag containing two million baht in cash a fortnight prior, the Supreme Court sentenced Mr. Pichit and two of his colleagues to six months in prison.
In the Ratchadaphisek land case, for which Thaksin received a two-year prison sentence in 2008, all three of Thaksin’s former partners, Khunying Potjaman na Pombejra and his ex-wife, were represented.
A group of activists recently submitted a petition to the Election Commission asking for information on Mr. Pichit’s eligibility to be a cabinet minister.
Because he was previously given a prison sentence, the activists leading by Pichit Chaimongkol, the Network’s leader, claimed that Mr. Pichit is unfit to serve as a minister under Section 160 of the constitution. The section provides a cabinet minister’s moral and ethical standards.
Return of favour
Because the pair do well looking after more than 20 MPs in their party’s Pheu Thai, according to Phichai Ratnatilaka Na Bhuket, an academic at the National Institute of Development Administration ( Nida ).
” This helps ease the burden of Pheu Thai’s big boss, so the pair got the cabinet posts as a return of favour”, Mr Phichai said.
He was referring to Thaksin, who has long been viewed as the de facto leader of Pheu Thai, which created a coalition government under the leadership of his youngest daughter, Paetongtarn.
Mr Phichai also said Capt Thamanat Prompow, the secretary- general of the coalition partner Palang Pracharath party ( PPRP ), still retains the post of Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister while Atthakorn Sirilatthayakorn, a PPRP MP for Chachoengsao, was appointed his deputy.
Capt Thamanat will now take over the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry, Mr. Phichai, adding:” This shows Capt Thamanat still has close ties to the de facto leader.” Mr. Chaiya of Pheu Thai and Anucha Nakasai of the United Thai Nation Party will lose their positions as deputy agriculture minister.
Phichai: Thamanat has close ties to Thaksin