Thai Premier Abhisit defies protesters for maiden speech

Thai Premier Abhisit Vejjajiva delivers his maiden speech a day late (Reuters/Sukree Sukplang)

December 30, 2008
Anne Barrowclough
Times Online (UK)

Thailand's new premier Abhisit Vejjajiva delivered his maiden speech today in defiance of the thousands of protesters blockading parliament.

Mr Abhisit moved to the foreign ministry to make his speech, in order to avoid the anti-government demonstrators who have surrounded parliament for a second day running, forcing him to postpone his mandated policy speech yesterday.

With the country in economic and political turmoil in the wake of the airport blockade that brought the country to a standstill, he was expected to unveil plans for a 300 billion baht (£5.9 billion) spending plan to jump-start the economy and its crucial tourist industry.

Appealing for unity to ease the economic crisis threatening to engulf the country, Mr Abhisit told MPs: "The urgent measures in the first year are restoring confidence and stimulating the economy, increasing people's revenue and decreasing people's expenses.

"We will keep negotiating and mediating. I beg everyone, including all the lawmakers and officials, to dedicate our (New Year) holiday for the country in order to move our country forward," he said.

He warned that renewed turmoil could push the country into recession, saying: "Political conflicts that have spread to civic groups could push the economy, along with the tourism industry, into recession if action is not taken quickly to resolve them and revive confidence among investors and foreign tourists.

"These conflicts are the country's weakness, especially at a time the world economy is entering its worst crisis in a century," he said.

Under the Thai Constitution, the government cannot start work until its policies have been laid out before parliament. But on Monday the politicians refused to run the gauntlet of red-shirted members of the Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship (DAAD) outside parliament, although the demonstrators promised not to harm them.

Early on Tuesday MPs arrived at parliament in a fleet of police vans but when protesters refused to clear the way they moved to the foreign ministry.

A handful of protesters who support the ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra confronted police outside the ministry as proceedings began.

The demonstrations remained peaceful although some ministry staffers were seen climbing small ladders to get over a fence to flee the compound.

The latest protests have raised fears of a renewed descent into political chaos after months of protests by the anti-Thaksin group People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which brought the country's economy to its knees.

Eton and Oxford educated Mr Abhisit scraped into power in a closely fought election on December 17, to become the country's third prime minister in four months.

His election, which came after the previous government of Somchai Wongsawat was dissolved by the Constitutional Court, raised hopes that it would soothe political tensions.

But his party, which had been in opposition since 2001, and won mainly thanks to the pressure of his supporters in the military, heads a coalition that some analysts doubt is strong enough to last until the next general election, due in 2011.

The manner of his rise to power is also a cause of concern. The protesters of DAAD, an eclectic mix of farmers, urban labourers and supporters of Mr Thaksin, who was ousted in a coup in 2006, claim his ascent was a coup by stealth.