Thaksin aide quits as Thai economic adviser to defuse conflict

The Straits Times, February 21, 2007


BANGKOK - Mr Somkid Jatusripitak, a one-time key aide to deposed Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, has quit his post at the head of the military government's new economic policy team, less than a week after he was appointed.

Mr Somkid was deputy prime minister when Mr Thaksin fell from power, but the army-installed government had tapped him to head a new team charged with boosting sagging confidence in Thailand's economy.

His appointment sparked an uproar among supporters of the coup and had drawn threats of street protests.

'I want to stop this conflict early,' Mr Somkid told reporters on Wednesday. 'After consulting with the prime minister, I told him that I want to resign in order to defuse the conflict,' he said.

His resignation was the latest in a series of abrupt shifts in Thailand’s economic policy since the coup in September that forced Mr Thaksin from office.

Mr Somkid, 53, had been appointed to help explain the government’s new policies, especially to foreign investors whose confidence has been badly shaken in the wake of the coup.

He warned that army-installed Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont’s government needed to do a better job of communicating with investors to avoid causing even more damage to the economy.

'If we leave the new policies unexplained, it will cause considerable damage to the country,' he said. 'That’s why I volunteered, because I can help our country.'

Mr Somkid had been one of the most prominent members of Mr Thaksin’s government, variously holding the top jobs at the finance and commerce ministries.

He was credited with formulating many of Mr Thaksin’s economic policies, which revived Thailand’s economy following the 1997 financial crisis.

But his appointment created tension within General Surayud’s government, especially with Finance Minister Pridiyathorn Devakula.

Mr Pridiyathorn, a former Bank of Thailand governor, has given confusing and sometimes contradictory explanations of Thai economic policy, blamed in part for weakening confidence in the country.

Mr Somkid resigned just one day after the so-called People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which had spearheaded months of protests against Mr Thaksin before the coup, threatened to return to the streets unless he was sacked. -- AFP