TRT without Thaksin 'will shatter'
Many party members looking for new homes
PRADIT RUANGDIT
Without former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, his Thai Rak Thai party could well be heading for disintegration, according to some party members. As Mr Thaksin fades out of the political picture, the 400 or so former party MPs are finding it increasingly difficult to cling to the party.
''Without Mr Thaksin, the curtain is certainly coming down on Thai Rak Thai. Factions need to find new homes,'' said a senior source in the Ban Rim Nam faction led by Sora-at Klinprathum, Suchart Tancharoen and Sonthaya Khunpluem.
Mr Thaksin is seen as the party's benefactor, able to sustain the party's finances for the 400 former MPs, said the member who asked not to be named.
''I think it will be hard for Thai Rak Thai to stay on. Today, all factions are pondering where they should go. Their pulse is on the political developments and they are waiting to see the shape of the new constitution,'' he said.
In fact, the party source pointed out, Thai Rak Thai was never a political institution as some people thought. It belonged to a single family.
Few of its former MPs actually shared the party's political ideology. The Ban Rim Nam faction has been approached to join Chart Thai, the source admitted.
The Wang Phayanak faction under former public health minister Phinij Jarusombat, is also packing up its bags as it sees no other ''magnet'' in the party able to take Mr Thaksin's place.
A key member of the faction said in the past, party members and former ministers would skip party meetings or cabinet meetings unless Mr Thaksin attended. This was clear proof that the party could not function without Mr Thaksin.
The ex-prime minister and his wife Khunying Potjaman were the party's main financiers and fund-raisers.
''Thai Rak Thai is a party of quantity, not quality. It has no direction. When its leader is in the doldrums, the party's future is bleak. I think that the factions living off the party's patronage are ready to jump to a new ship,'' said the source.
One party faction is made up of members who left Chart Thai to form the New Aspiration party of ex-prime minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh in late-1996.
When the New Aspiration-led government lost power after the 1997 economic crisis, the members followed Sanoh Thienthong, now Pracharaj party leader, and defected to Thai Rak Thai.
Another faction comprises former MPs of the Social Action party led by Somsak Thepsuthin who paired up with Suriya Jungrungreangkit to form the Wang Nam Yom faction.
There is also the Wang Phayanak camp of Mr Phinij who merged his Seritham party with Thai Rak Thai. Suwat Liptapanlop, meanwhile, merged his Chart Pattana party with Thai Rak Thai.
Several Thai Rak Thai key stalwarts thought it was too early to comment on Thai Rak Thai's future, preferring to wait for the new constitution.
Pichai Ratanadilok, a social development lecturer at the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida), predicted that Thai Rak Thai minus Mr Thaksin would shatter.
The lecturer said Thai Rak Thai was a loosely-grouped party united on the basis of financial benefits, not ideology and several factions were independent of one another.
Former deputy public health minister Anuthin Charnveerakul has decided to wash his hands of politics after the coup.
Now it's time to take a rest and reassess his political career, Mr Anuthin said as he packed at the ministry office yesterday.
Mr Phinij earlier said he would also retire from politics.
Former Commerce Minister Somkid Jatusripitak who came back from France yesterday told the media he had no desire to become prime minister or a cabinet minister.
Mr Somkid, was previously branded by the public as a desirable political successor of Mr Thaksin, was on his European trade mission in Paris when the military coup toppled the Thaksin government.
He has not yet decided whether to keep his political career. Mr Somkid said he will now help his wife take care of the family.
The coup would not hurt the economy much if the army clarified its missions and future plans to the public, he said.