Govt unshaken at debate

The leader of the opposition’s censure team, Chalerm Yubamrung, right, makes a point in parliament yesterday. Photos by THITI WANNAMONTHA

Opposition fails to land a knockout punch

By: POST REPORTERS
Published: 20/03/2009

The opposition failed to land a knockout punch on the Democrat-led coalition government on the first day of the censure debate yesterday.

The debate centred on three issues: the controversial donation to the Democrats by TPI Polene, questions over whether Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva dodged the military draft, and the sending of mobile text messages to enlist support for the government.

The opposition's censure debate team leader, Puea Thai-list MP Chalerm Yubamrung, said the TPI Polene issue alone showed the prime minister lacked legitimacy to administer the country. Before the debate he promised to deal the government a knockout blow.

Mr Chalerm told a news conference after leading the debate he had spent two months delving into the donation issue and thought it could lead to the Democrats' disbandment.

Puea Thai MP Jatuporn Prompan accused Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya of failing to lodge a claim to a disputed 4.6 sq km area with Cambodia and allowing Cambodian troops to build a 250m-long road to the Preah Vihear temple on Thai soil. Mr Kasit will defend himself today.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said late last night his party was not worried about being censured because the opposition lacked new information, strong evidence and had failed to hurt Mr Abhisit and his government.

Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kajornprasart, representing Chart Thai Pattana, said his party's MPs should have no problem voting in support of the government since the debate was not related to any allegations of graft or mismanagement by the administration.

Puea Thai MPs showered Mr Chalerm with praise after his three-hour onslaught.

Puea Thai MP for Chiang Mai Chinnicha Wongsawat said "Excellent!" as she commended him for his performance on the first day of the debate.

But two polling agencies, Abac and Suan Dusit, showed Mr Chalerm had failed to convince respondents.

Abac Poll reported that 46% of people said they did not give credence to the information presented by Mr Chalerm during the censure debate. Only 34% said they trusted him.

Assumption University, which runs the Abac Poll, surveyed a selected group of people in 17 provinces who watched the broadcast.

The poll by Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, which questioned 432 people who watched the debate in Bangkok and nearby provinces, had Mr Abhisit voted the most popular speaker in the debate by 31% of respondents. Mr Chalerm came second with 29% for his colourful, crowd-pleasing speaking style.

In the debate, Mr Abhisit distanced himself from the 258-million-baht TPI Polene donation, saying he was not leading the Democrats at the time. The issue is to be clarified by Deputy Finance Minister Pradit Phataraprasit today.

He challenged Mr Jatuporn for continuing to question his military conscription record from 22 years ago.

"I don't understand why this issue is raised to waste our time," said the prime minister who called the allegation "complete nonsense".

But Mr Jatuporn hammered on at the issue with the same information he had used to attack the prime minister many times before at political rallies of the anti-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD).

Leading members of Puea Thai grabbed the chance to touch on the Thaksin Shinawatra legacy and the perceived injustices against him several times in the no-confidence debate, televised nationwide, which was supposed to centre on questionable standards of ethics and corruption allegations.

Surapong Towichakchaikul defended Thaksin who was sentenced to two years in jail last year over the Ratchadaphisek land deal, describing it as an injustice. "Mr Abhisit has not been fair to Thaksin," he said.

Puea Thai MP Sunai Julapongsathon was the only speaker to deliver new evidence against Deputy Education Minister Narisara Chavaltanpipat for her ministry's handling of a 750-million-baht funding scheme for vocational colleges.

He alleged the project implemented last month was questionable as the funds were shared out in the same portions to all colleges despite each college being a different size. There could have been collusion in the project, he said.

But the issue was clarified by Ms Narisara's confirmation that the scheme was initiated by the former government. which is now in opposition.