A Philippine opposition senator formally agreed yesterday to be the running mate of the son of late leader Corazon Aquino in next year's presidential election.
Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III declared his candidacy two weeks ago, saying he will run for president to continue the legacy of his mother, a democracy icon for standing up to dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
At a gathering yesterday of Liberal Party members and allies, Mr Aquino thanked Manuel "Mar" Roxas II, the party president, for foregoing his own presidential bid to be his running mate.
Both men come from wealthy clans with a long history in Philippine politics.
Mr Roxas is a former trade secretary,a US-trained economist and grandson of late Philippines president Manuel Roxas.
"I wholeheartedly accept the responsibility of being Noynoy's partner in his fight for change," Mr Roxas told a cheering crowd."Thank you for the privilege of joining you and all our countrymen in the fight for decency and integrity in public service."
President Gloria Arroyo, who lost the support of the Aquinos and former cabinet officials like Mr Roxas over charges of corruption and election fraud, is scheduled to step down after serving more than nine years in June 2010. She is not allowed to run for re-election.
The massive outpouring of sympathy for Corazon Aquino after her death from colon cancer last month prompted supporters of her son to urge Noynoy to run for president in the May 2010 election.
Despite a patchy record during her six years in office, Corazon Aquino remains a well-loved figure and is credited with restoring democratic institutions after Marcos'20 years of dictatorship.She became a focal point for opposition to Marcos after her husband, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr, was assassinated after returning from exile in 1983.Military kills Abu Sayyaf rebels
The Philippine military killed up to 17 Islamist extremists as it over-ran one of their main strongholds in the south of the country, a general said yesterday.
Following ground and air assaults,the soldiers took control of the Abu Sayyaf group's biggest camp on the island of Jolo on Sunday, said Major General Benjamin Dolorfino, head of military forces in the south.
The military recovered the bodies of two Abu Sayyaf fighters, according to Gen Dolorfino. But intelligence reports suggest 17 rebel deaths, he added.
"This is very significant, because this is their main sanctuary. This is the main stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf [on Jolo],"Gen Dolorfino said."We will build a detachment there so that their world will get even smaller."
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Prasopsuk backs PM on charter
Senate Speaker Prasopsuk Boondej has voiced support for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's suggestion for former constitution drafters and academics to be recruited to vet the proposed six-point rewrite of the charter.
Mr Prasopsuk said the participation of the former members of two constitution drafting assemblies would ensure public input in the charter rewrite process.
He said the charter amendments could be completed within a few months if the government was serious about it.
A special parliamentary meeting could then be convened to screen the amendments when the House goes into recess in November, he said.
However, the speaker said it would be time-consuming if the amended constitution was put up for a referendum.There is no law governing a referendum on a new charter.
He said legislation could be sped up and completed within two months if the public wanted a referendum.
On Sunday, Mr Abhisit floated the idea of forming a fresh constitution drafting assembly to handle changes to the charter and the holding of a referendum.
He said the assembly should be made up of members of parliament, those who drew up the 1997 and present 2007 constitutions, scholars and experts.
Government chief whip Chinnaworn Boonyakiat said the government whips would discuss charter amendments with the opposition and the senate whips tomorrow to reach an agreement before Mr Abhisit's return from overseas.
He said the charter rewrite should not take more than six months.
But Puea Thai Party MP Surapong Towihcakchaikul yesterday shot down the prime minister's proposed new charter drafting assembly suggestion.
He said the party would support only the six points offered by the charter reform and national reconciliation committee.
Mr Prasopsuk said the participation of the former members of two constitution drafting assemblies would ensure public input in the charter rewrite process.
He said the charter amendments could be completed within a few months if the government was serious about it.
A special parliamentary meeting could then be convened to screen the amendments when the House goes into recess in November, he said.
However, the speaker said it would be time-consuming if the amended constitution was put up for a referendum.There is no law governing a referendum on a new charter.
He said legislation could be sped up and completed within two months if the public wanted a referendum.
On Sunday, Mr Abhisit floated the idea of forming a fresh constitution drafting assembly to handle changes to the charter and the holding of a referendum.
He said the assembly should be made up of members of parliament, those who drew up the 1997 and present 2007 constitutions, scholars and experts.
Government chief whip Chinnaworn Boonyakiat said the government whips would discuss charter amendments with the opposition and the senate whips tomorrow to reach an agreement before Mr Abhisit's return from overseas.
He said the charter rewrite should not take more than six months.
But Puea Thai Party MP Surapong Towihcakchaikul yesterday shot down the prime minister's proposed new charter drafting assembly suggestion.
He said the party would support only the six points offered by the charter reform and national reconciliation committee.
Newin among 44 cleared in graft case
The Supreme Court has acquitted political playmaker Newin Chidchob and 43 others of corruption and malfeasance charges in a 1.44-billion baht rubber sapling procurement deal.
The court also cleared the 44 defendants of the 1.3 billion baht compensation for alleged damage to the state from the projects claimed by the plaintiff, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) on behalf of the 2006 coup-appointed Assets Scrutiny Committee (ASC).
The case, investigated by the ASC,mainly centred on unlawful approvals for the use of state funds and collusion among bidders.
The project was initiated in 2003 by Mr Newin, then deputy agriculture and cooperatives minister under the Thaksin Shinawatra government, and Chakan Saengraksawong, then director-general of Department of Agriculture (DOA).
The court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions cleared Mr Newin with 8:1 votes and Mr Chakan with 7:2 votes of wrongdoing for proposing a new line of financial sourcing by allocating funds from the Farmers Aid Fund to purchase 90 million rubber saplings for farmers in 36 northeastern and northern provinces.
"They only followed the then government's policy to improve infrastructure in the agriculture sector," one of the nine judges said.
Mr Newin appeared relieved after the two and a half hour reading of the verdicts, rushing to hug other former ministers.
The Buri Ram politician told reporters that he believed the disputed project would eventually bring about profits to farmers engaging in it over the next two years.
"I have only one thing left to do that is to do every thing to protect the monarchy," said a tearful Mr Newin.
Key Bhumjaithai politicians including Interior Minister Chavarat Charnvirakul and Deputy Interior Minister Boonjong Wongtrairat attended the hearing.
Banned politician Sora-at Klinprathum, under the Bhumjaithai wing,is among other four former ministers and state officials cleared of wrongdoing. In their capacity as panel members of the Farmers Aid Fund, they approved the fund's budget allocation.
The ASC charged that rubber plants did not qualify for the Farmers Aid Fund's funding, but the court found otherwise.
Other former cabinet members cleared of all charges include former deputy prime minister Somkid Jatusripitak, former deputy finance minister Varathep Ratanakorn, and former commerce minister Adisai Bodharamik.
Mr Adisai, who did not show up during the first scheduled hearing on Aug 17 and forced the court to postpone it, failed to attend the session. He earlier told the court he was receiving medical treatment in the United States.
After the ruling, the court also revoked an arrest warrant earlier issued to Mr Adisai for his absence.
The court also acquitted state officials and three sapling supplier companies of criminal charges involving collusion in the bidding.
Using criminal offences, the ASC accused the 44 defendants of malfeasance and causing damage to the state in connection with the project.
The Office of the Attorney-General did not accept the panel's case submitted by the ASC, saying it was "incomplete". But the ASC insisted on going ahead with it.
ASC member Kaewsun Atibhodhi said he accepted the ruling of the Supreme Court and believed in the politics-free trial and all the nine senior judges handling the case.
Mr Kaewsun said the ASC had not tried to unfairly treat any defendants in the case but had taken action in line with the evidence.
"I don't think there will be a counter lawsuit from any acquitted defendant.The court acquitted them because of different legal viewpoints," he said.
Prompong Nopparit, spokesman for the Puea Thai Party, said the court's ruling judged the ASC's credibility.
THE VERDICT
DEFENDANTS: Former deputy agriculture and cooperativers minister Newin Chidchob and former department of agriculture chief Chakan Saengraksawong.
CHARGES: Violations of laws and regulations for initiating the sapling project and for proposing that financing be allocated from the Farmers Aid Fund (FAF) and repayments be made by the Rubber Replanting Aid Fund (RRAF).
VERDICT: Not guilty. The defendants acted in line with government policy.
..............................................................................................
DEFENDANTS: 17 members of the FAF comprising state officials and four ministers-former deputy prime minister Somkid Jatusripitak, former agriculture and cooperatives minister Sora-at Klinprathum, former commerce minister Adisai Bodharamik and former deputy finance minister Varathep Rattanakorn
CHARGES: Unlawful approval of the use of the FAF's budget for investment and the RRAF's revenue for repayment ot the former.
VERDICT: Not guilty. The decisions werre lawful.
..............................................................................................
DEFENDANTS: Eight state officials overseeing the bidding process.
CHARGES: Wrongfully setting up bidding conditions to help certain bidders, and negligence investigating collusion and shared interests among bidders.
VERDICT: Not guilty. No evidence suggested their wrongdoing. The defendants checked bidders' documents correctly as required.
..............................................................................................
DEFENDANTS: Bid winner Charoen Pokphand Seeds (CPS) and two other bidders
CHARGES: Bidding collusion by submitting false documents on their credentials and acquisition of sufficient rubber planting areas to help CPS win the deal. The three companies shared business interest and lines of management.
VERDICT: Not guilty. The credentials documents contained no false statements.
The court also cleared the 44 defendants of the 1.3 billion baht compensation for alleged damage to the state from the projects claimed by the plaintiff, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) on behalf of the 2006 coup-appointed Assets Scrutiny Committee (ASC).
The case, investigated by the ASC,mainly centred on unlawful approvals for the use of state funds and collusion among bidders.
The project was initiated in 2003 by Mr Newin, then deputy agriculture and cooperatives minister under the Thaksin Shinawatra government, and Chakan Saengraksawong, then director-general of Department of Agriculture (DOA).
The court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions cleared Mr Newin with 8:1 votes and Mr Chakan with 7:2 votes of wrongdoing for proposing a new line of financial sourcing by allocating funds from the Farmers Aid Fund to purchase 90 million rubber saplings for farmers in 36 northeastern and northern provinces.
"They only followed the then government's policy to improve infrastructure in the agriculture sector," one of the nine judges said.
Mr Newin appeared relieved after the two and a half hour reading of the verdicts, rushing to hug other former ministers.
The Buri Ram politician told reporters that he believed the disputed project would eventually bring about profits to farmers engaging in it over the next two years.
"I have only one thing left to do that is to do every thing to protect the monarchy," said a tearful Mr Newin.
Key Bhumjaithai politicians including Interior Minister Chavarat Charnvirakul and Deputy Interior Minister Boonjong Wongtrairat attended the hearing.
Banned politician Sora-at Klinprathum, under the Bhumjaithai wing,is among other four former ministers and state officials cleared of wrongdoing. In their capacity as panel members of the Farmers Aid Fund, they approved the fund's budget allocation.
The ASC charged that rubber plants did not qualify for the Farmers Aid Fund's funding, but the court found otherwise.
Other former cabinet members cleared of all charges include former deputy prime minister Somkid Jatusripitak, former deputy finance minister Varathep Ratanakorn, and former commerce minister Adisai Bodharamik.
Mr Adisai, who did not show up during the first scheduled hearing on Aug 17 and forced the court to postpone it, failed to attend the session. He earlier told the court he was receiving medical treatment in the United States.
After the ruling, the court also revoked an arrest warrant earlier issued to Mr Adisai for his absence.
The court also acquitted state officials and three sapling supplier companies of criminal charges involving collusion in the bidding.
Using criminal offences, the ASC accused the 44 defendants of malfeasance and causing damage to the state in connection with the project.
The Office of the Attorney-General did not accept the panel's case submitted by the ASC, saying it was "incomplete". But the ASC insisted on going ahead with it.
ASC member Kaewsun Atibhodhi said he accepted the ruling of the Supreme Court and believed in the politics-free trial and all the nine senior judges handling the case.
Mr Kaewsun said the ASC had not tried to unfairly treat any defendants in the case but had taken action in line with the evidence.
"I don't think there will be a counter lawsuit from any acquitted defendant.The court acquitted them because of different legal viewpoints," he said.
Prompong Nopparit, spokesman for the Puea Thai Party, said the court's ruling judged the ASC's credibility.
THE VERDICT
DEFENDANTS: Former deputy agriculture and cooperativers minister Newin Chidchob and former department of agriculture chief Chakan Saengraksawong.
CHARGES: Violations of laws and regulations for initiating the sapling project and for proposing that financing be allocated from the Farmers Aid Fund (FAF) and repayments be made by the Rubber Replanting Aid Fund (RRAF).
VERDICT: Not guilty. The defendants acted in line with government policy.
..............................................................................................
DEFENDANTS: 17 members of the FAF comprising state officials and four ministers-former deputy prime minister Somkid Jatusripitak, former agriculture and cooperatives minister Sora-at Klinprathum, former commerce minister Adisai Bodharamik and former deputy finance minister Varathep Rattanakorn
CHARGES: Unlawful approval of the use of the FAF's budget for investment and the RRAF's revenue for repayment ot the former.
VERDICT: Not guilty. The decisions werre lawful.
..............................................................................................
DEFENDANTS: Eight state officials overseeing the bidding process.
CHARGES: Wrongfully setting up bidding conditions to help certain bidders, and negligence investigating collusion and shared interests among bidders.
VERDICT: Not guilty. No evidence suggested their wrongdoing. The defendants checked bidders' documents correctly as required.
..............................................................................................
DEFENDANTS: Bid winner Charoen Pokphand Seeds (CPS) and two other bidders
CHARGES: Bidding collusion by submitting false documents on their credentials and acquisition of sufficient rubber planting areas to help CPS win the deal. The three companies shared business interest and lines of management.
VERDICT: Not guilty. The credentials documents contained no false statements.
Noppadon faces temple charge
The national anti-graft agency has accused former foreign minister Noppadon Pattama of negligence of duty over his signing of a joint communique with Cambodia concerning the Preah Vihear temple, a source at the agency says.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission ruling will be announced today based on a 130-page report.
The investigation of the signing covered 35 other people including four cabinet members in the present government and government officials, including some from the Foreign Ministry.
The ministers involved are Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kachornprasart,Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti, Information and Communications Minister Ranongruk Suwunchwee and Deputy Finance Minister Pradit Phataraprasit. The four served in the Samak administration.
Only Mr Noppadon is to be indicted,the source said.
The investigators did not find enough grounds to take action against the others as they were not aware of what the then foreign minister was doing, the source said. Their cases could be rejected if the NACC submitted them to the court.
The anti-graft agency found Mr Noppadon was negligent in his duties under Article 157 of the Criminal Code, the source said.
Mr Noppadon signed the joint communique with Cambodian Deputy Prime
Minister Sok An on June 18 last year to support Cambodia's application to declare the temple a World Heritage site. Mr Noppadon's mandate was endorsed by Noppadon: Backed the government a heritage listing day earlier.
But Thailand backed off from its position after the Constitution Court ruled it unconstitutional as it had bypassed parliamentary approval as required under the constitution. Mr Noppadon later resigned.
NACC member Somluck Jadkrabuanpol, chairman of the investigating panel,denied the NACC had been pressured to rule against the Samak government.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban has asked police to take action against those who instigated the unrest that led to Saturday's fierce clash between the People's Alliance for Democracy and Si Sa Ket residents near the border with Cambodia.
The PAD supporters staged a protest on Saturday near the border in Kantharalak district in Si Sa Ket to call for the authorities to force Cambodians from the disputed area near Preah Vihear.They confronted a group of local residents who blocked the protest. The clash between PAD protesters and the villagers left scores of people on both sides injured.
Mr Suthep said those who violated the law must face legal action.
Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon expressed regret over Saturday's clash between the two groups of Thai citizens.
Gen Prawit said he had instructed 2nd Army chief Wiboonsak Neepal to closely coordinate with local police and the provincial governor to prevent a recurrence.
He insisted Cambodia understood the situation as Thai and Cambodian commanders remained in contact.
Both PAD and Si Sa Ket residents yesterday filed complaints against each other with local police over Saturday's clash.
Pol Maj Gen Sompong Thongveeraprasert, chief of the Si Sa Ket police,said more than 30 complaints were filed by the two groups.
Interior Minister Chavarat Charnvirakul dismissed reports a group of men dressed in blue shirts had stirred up local residents to confront the PAD demonstrators. The blue shirts are supporters of Newin Chidchob, the power broker behind Mr Chavarat's Bhumjaithai Party.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission ruling will be announced today based on a 130-page report.
The investigation of the signing covered 35 other people including four cabinet members in the present government and government officials, including some from the Foreign Ministry.
The ministers involved are Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kachornprasart,Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti, Information and Communications Minister Ranongruk Suwunchwee and Deputy Finance Minister Pradit Phataraprasit. The four served in the Samak administration.
Only Mr Noppadon is to be indicted,the source said.
The investigators did not find enough grounds to take action against the others as they were not aware of what the then foreign minister was doing, the source said. Their cases could be rejected if the NACC submitted them to the court.
The anti-graft agency found Mr Noppadon was negligent in his duties under Article 157 of the Criminal Code, the source said.
Mr Noppadon signed the joint communique with Cambodian Deputy Prime
Minister Sok An on June 18 last year to support Cambodia's application to declare the temple a World Heritage site. Mr Noppadon's mandate was endorsed by Noppadon: Backed the government a heritage listing day earlier.
But Thailand backed off from its position after the Constitution Court ruled it unconstitutional as it had bypassed parliamentary approval as required under the constitution. Mr Noppadon later resigned.
NACC member Somluck Jadkrabuanpol, chairman of the investigating panel,denied the NACC had been pressured to rule against the Samak government.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban has asked police to take action against those who instigated the unrest that led to Saturday's fierce clash between the People's Alliance for Democracy and Si Sa Ket residents near the border with Cambodia.
The PAD supporters staged a protest on Saturday near the border in Kantharalak district in Si Sa Ket to call for the authorities to force Cambodians from the disputed area near Preah Vihear.They confronted a group of local residents who blocked the protest. The clash between PAD protesters and the villagers left scores of people on both sides injured.
Mr Suthep said those who violated the law must face legal action.
Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon expressed regret over Saturday's clash between the two groups of Thai citizens.
Gen Prawit said he had instructed 2nd Army chief Wiboonsak Neepal to closely coordinate with local police and the provincial governor to prevent a recurrence.
He insisted Cambodia understood the situation as Thai and Cambodian commanders remained in contact.
Both PAD and Si Sa Ket residents yesterday filed complaints against each other with local police over Saturday's clash.
Pol Maj Gen Sompong Thongveeraprasert, chief of the Si Sa Ket police,said more than 30 complaints were filed by the two groups.
Interior Minister Chavarat Charnvirakul dismissed reports a group of men dressed in blue shirts had stirred up local residents to confront the PAD demonstrators. The blue shirts are supporters of Newin Chidchob, the power broker behind Mr Chavarat's Bhumjaithai Party.
PM, CHAOVARAT ACCUSED OF GRAFT
A Pheu Thai MP yesterday filed a complaint with National Anti-Corruption Commission against the Prime Minister and the Interior Minister for allowing conflict of interest, claiming the minister's family members hold shares in a construction company.
Pheu Thai Lamphun MP Sanguan Pongmanee and the party's spokesman Prompong Nopparit claimed a Cabinet resolution on March 10 approved a Bt408 million budget for additions to the Airport Link project. They said the wife and children of Interior Minister Chaovarat Chanweerakul hold shares in Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction, the company which won the contract.
He said Abhisit must also be responsible for the Cabinet resolution favouring Chaovarat's family.
"I ask the NACC to investigate Prime Minister Abhisit as the prime minister according to Article 171 that he must be directly related to (the case) just as (former prime minister) Thaksin (Shinawatra) was. The laws on country administration state clearly a prime minister must be responsible for all ministries," Sanguan said.
Thaksin was found guilty after his wife bought Ratchadaphisek land from the Financial Institutions Development Fund during his premiership. The law prohibits government officials and their spouses from contracting with an agency of which the official is in charge. Thaksin, as a prime minister, was considered also in charge of the FIDF.
Chaovarat, also Bhum Jai Thai Party leader, said he had declared his assets after many Cabinet reshuffles and did not conceal them. Also, he had had nothing to do with the company for a long time.
Moreover, he said, Sino-Thai was a public company in which anyone can buy shares; his children are mature persons according to the law and they could buy shares in any company.
Supachai Jaisamut, Bhum Jai Thai spokesman, said Chaovarat was planning to file a libel suit against Prompong related to the case.
Pheu Thai Lamphun MP Sanguan Pongmanee and the party's spokesman Prompong Nopparit claimed a Cabinet resolution on March 10 approved a Bt408 million budget for additions to the Airport Link project. They said the wife and children of Interior Minister Chaovarat Chanweerakul hold shares in Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction, the company which won the contract.
He said Abhisit must also be responsible for the Cabinet resolution favouring Chaovarat's family.
"I ask the NACC to investigate Prime Minister Abhisit as the prime minister according to Article 171 that he must be directly related to (the case) just as (former prime minister) Thaksin (Shinawatra) was. The laws on country administration state clearly a prime minister must be responsible for all ministries," Sanguan said.
Thaksin was found guilty after his wife bought Ratchadaphisek land from the Financial Institutions Development Fund during his premiership. The law prohibits government officials and their spouses from contracting with an agency of which the official is in charge. Thaksin, as a prime minister, was considered also in charge of the FIDF.
Chaovarat, also Bhum Jai Thai Party leader, said he had declared his assets after many Cabinet reshuffles and did not conceal them. Also, he had had nothing to do with the company for a long time.
Moreover, he said, Sino-Thai was a public company in which anyone can buy shares; his children are mature persons according to the law and they could buy shares in any company.
Supachai Jaisamut, Bhum Jai Thai spokesman, said Chaovarat was planning to file a libel suit against Prompong related to the case.
Monday, September 21, 2009
GERMANY'S CONSERVATIVES PREPARE FOR POWER
Backed by the trendy middle class and led by a man obsessed with tax cuts, the Free Democrats are bidding to become Angela Merkel's new sidekicks By Tony Paterson
The women wear Burberry scarves, UGG boots and a lot of make-up; the men favour brassbuttoned blazers and loud blue and yellow striped ties. The political rallies hosted by Germany's pro-business, liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) are like early trendy middle class parties - and this event was no exception. Crowds waited in front of the 500-year-old town hall in the prosperous west German town of Osnabruck for the man who is expected to put the FDP back into power in next week's general election, ending a period of exile from national government that has lasted 11 years.
Guido Westerwelle tries hard to be German liberalism (which translates into conservatism)personified. The openly gay party leader,47,is permanently suntanned, nearly always in a suit and clearly obsessed with bringing the FDP back into government. His almost singlehanded campaign is peppered with dire warnings about the "Red Menace" facing Germany, and outrageously high taxes he blames for crippling small- and mediumsized businesses.
In Osnabruck, Guido, as he is known to followers, lost no time in attacking the threat posed by an eventual coalition of the Social Democrats and more communist Left party that could rule Germany."They claim to be democratic socialists," he said of the Left party."But there is no such thing as democratic socialism; it's like talking about a vegetarian abattoir," he added, to laughter.
Voters appear to be impressed with his party's commitment to cutting taxes and ridding Germany of the restrictions and bureaucracy that not so long ago earned it the title of "sick man of Europe". One of the Burberry-clad ladies at Mr Westerwelle's rally said she would vote for him because the conservative Chancellor, Angela Merkel, had "gone socialist".
Latest opinion polls suggest the Free Democrats are within a hair's breadth of realising their long-held ambition to form a coalition government with Mrs Merkel's conservatives after the election on Sept 27. Mrs Merkel is certain to take the lion's share of the vote but the race to be her coalition partner is too close to call. Some polls suggest the liberals will get in with a margin of 1% or 2%; others forecast that Mrs Merkel will be obliged to continue her present unwieldy grand coalition with the Social Democrats. Mr Westerwelle is fighting tooth and nail for a place in government. He has flatly ruled out joining a coalition with any of Germany's other parties,dismissing the idea as "completely unworkable". Mrs Merkel has also committed herself to forming an alliance with the liberals, even if it is obtainable with only a single seat.
Pundits predict if the FDP gains power, it will usher in a new era of pro-business, marketoriented government. The currently left-ofcentre conservative Mrs Merkel, they argue,could transform herself into a Teutonic, albeit toned-down, Margaret Thatcher overnight.
Gerd Langguth, a political scientist who has written a biography of the Chancellor,says many conservative voters are frustrated by the Merkel government's handling of the recession and its readiness to prop up failed banks and ailing car manufacturers, like Opel.
"The Free Democrats are benefiting from the support of disappointed conservative voters who are fed up with what they see as the state-capitalism practised by Mrs Merkel's party," he said."The liberals stand out because of their clear pro-business policies."
Mrs Merkel's Christian Democratic Union fought the last general election in 2005 promising radical economic reform. But the conservatives secured such a wafer-thin majority as result that they were forced to form a coalition with the Social Democrats. Since then, Mrs Merkel has not dared to mention serious changes on the economic front, fearing the subject was a sure vote-killer.
So the legally-trained Guido Westerwelle has been plugging the gap. He promises a radically simplified tax system that will put more money in the pockets of those who go to work. He attacks the conservatives for rush-ing to the aid of Germany's major concerns as soon as they face economic problems,while ignoring the plight of the vast Mittelstand ,the medium-sized manufacturing firms that provide 70% of German jobs."When a big car company is in trouble, the government bails it out," he says."But when a small firm has problems, the owner ends up mortgaging his house." Tax cuts, he says, are the only way to help these smaller firms stay in business and keep jobs.
His serious campaign message appears to have transformed the German liberals'prospects. Early in his career as party leader,Mr Westerwelle liked to portray himself as Germany's "fun politician".
He followed the mayors of Berlin and Hamburg in announcing he was gay. Then he started turning up at rallies in a bright yellow bus called the Guidomobile and wearing shoes with the figure 18 emblazoned on the soles in the liberal colour yellow to stress the percentage of the vote his party wanted to bag.He even put in an appearance on the German version of reality TV show Big Brother .While nobody in Germany bats an eyelid about Mr Westerwelle's homosexuality, many blame his "fun" antics for the party's poor showing in the 2002 and 2005 elections. If his party forms part of Germany's next government, Mr Westerwelle will be expected to take the job of foreign minister like the heads of most junior coalition parties before him.Unlike the other parties in opposition in Germany, the FDP is not clamouring for a speedy withdrawal of the 4,500 German army troops in northern Afghanistan, but neither are they prepared to send their forces to the more dangerous south.
Mr Westerwelle insists it is Germany's job to confront the Taliban. But his party has decided to break with one of Germany's near sacrosanct post-war codes by demanding an end to conscription. The liberals say a professional army would be much better suited to Germany's military needs.
The FDP also wants to hang on to Germany's nuclear power stations beyond the scheduled shutdown date of 2020 so Germany can sufficiently develop its alternative energy sources and avoid its dependence on Russian gas."If we don't want to be blackmailed we have to diversify," Mr Westerwelle says.
Yet whether he will accept the foreign minister's job that was held by his famous liberal predecessor, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, for decades, is no foregone conclusion. If he is asked, he always plays shy."I wish it was the agriculture minister's job I was up for; at least that's a subject I really know something about," he said in an interview. He did not appear to be joking.
The Independent
PARTNERSHIP POLITICS: A NATION VOTES
Q. Who's going to win the German general election on Sept 27?Right now, it looks as if Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats will secure the biggest share of the vote. In the runup, they have been polling 36%, mainly because Mrs Merkel is one of Germany's most popular leaders since the war.
Q. But that means she'll have to find a coalition partner won't she?Yes, and this is where the outcome is almost impossible to predict. Mrs Merkel wants to end her present grand coalition with the left-wing Social Democrats and form a new government with the probusiness Free Democrats. Some polls predict that the liberals and conservatives will squeak enough votes to form such an alliance; others that they will just fail.
Q. What would a conservative coalition mean for Germany?It would result in key policy changes including lower taxes and a long-term delay in Germany's plan to phase out all nuclear power stations by 2020. It would also enable Mrs Merkel to introduce a programme of structural and economic reform she abandoned when she was obliged to join with the Social Democrats after the 2005 poll.
Q. What will happen if Mrs Merkel hasn't the votes for a new alliance?In that case, she will be forced to continue her existing arrangement with the Social Democrats. That's likely to mean a continuation of compromise politics with both parties agreeing on the lowest common policy denominator to govern.
"The Free Democrats are benefiting from the support of disappointed conservative voters who are fed up with what they see as the state-capitalism practised by Mrs Merkel's party GERD LANGGUTH POLITICAL SCIENTIS
The women wear Burberry scarves, UGG boots and a lot of make-up; the men favour brassbuttoned blazers and loud blue and yellow striped ties. The political rallies hosted by Germany's pro-business, liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) are like early trendy middle class parties - and this event was no exception. Crowds waited in front of the 500-year-old town hall in the prosperous west German town of Osnabruck for the man who is expected to put the FDP back into power in next week's general election, ending a period of exile from national government that has lasted 11 years.
Guido Westerwelle tries hard to be German liberalism (which translates into conservatism)personified. The openly gay party leader,47,is permanently suntanned, nearly always in a suit and clearly obsessed with bringing the FDP back into government. His almost singlehanded campaign is peppered with dire warnings about the "Red Menace" facing Germany, and outrageously high taxes he blames for crippling small- and mediumsized businesses.
In Osnabruck, Guido, as he is known to followers, lost no time in attacking the threat posed by an eventual coalition of the Social Democrats and more communist Left party that could rule Germany."They claim to be democratic socialists," he said of the Left party."But there is no such thing as democratic socialism; it's like talking about a vegetarian abattoir," he added, to laughter.
Voters appear to be impressed with his party's commitment to cutting taxes and ridding Germany of the restrictions and bureaucracy that not so long ago earned it the title of "sick man of Europe". One of the Burberry-clad ladies at Mr Westerwelle's rally said she would vote for him because the conservative Chancellor, Angela Merkel, had "gone socialist".
Latest opinion polls suggest the Free Democrats are within a hair's breadth of realising their long-held ambition to form a coalition government with Mrs Merkel's conservatives after the election on Sept 27. Mrs Merkel is certain to take the lion's share of the vote but the race to be her coalition partner is too close to call. Some polls suggest the liberals will get in with a margin of 1% or 2%; others forecast that Mrs Merkel will be obliged to continue her present unwieldy grand coalition with the Social Democrats. Mr Westerwelle is fighting tooth and nail for a place in government. He has flatly ruled out joining a coalition with any of Germany's other parties,dismissing the idea as "completely unworkable". Mrs Merkel has also committed herself to forming an alliance with the liberals, even if it is obtainable with only a single seat.
Pundits predict if the FDP gains power, it will usher in a new era of pro-business, marketoriented government. The currently left-ofcentre conservative Mrs Merkel, they argue,could transform herself into a Teutonic, albeit toned-down, Margaret Thatcher overnight.
Gerd Langguth, a political scientist who has written a biography of the Chancellor,says many conservative voters are frustrated by the Merkel government's handling of the recession and its readiness to prop up failed banks and ailing car manufacturers, like Opel.
"The Free Democrats are benefiting from the support of disappointed conservative voters who are fed up with what they see as the state-capitalism practised by Mrs Merkel's party," he said."The liberals stand out because of their clear pro-business policies."
Mrs Merkel's Christian Democratic Union fought the last general election in 2005 promising radical economic reform. But the conservatives secured such a wafer-thin majority as result that they were forced to form a coalition with the Social Democrats. Since then, Mrs Merkel has not dared to mention serious changes on the economic front, fearing the subject was a sure vote-killer.
So the legally-trained Guido Westerwelle has been plugging the gap. He promises a radically simplified tax system that will put more money in the pockets of those who go to work. He attacks the conservatives for rush-ing to the aid of Germany's major concerns as soon as they face economic problems,while ignoring the plight of the vast Mittelstand ,the medium-sized manufacturing firms that provide 70% of German jobs."When a big car company is in trouble, the government bails it out," he says."But when a small firm has problems, the owner ends up mortgaging his house." Tax cuts, he says, are the only way to help these smaller firms stay in business and keep jobs.
His serious campaign message appears to have transformed the German liberals'prospects. Early in his career as party leader,Mr Westerwelle liked to portray himself as Germany's "fun politician".
He followed the mayors of Berlin and Hamburg in announcing he was gay. Then he started turning up at rallies in a bright yellow bus called the Guidomobile and wearing shoes with the figure 18 emblazoned on the soles in the liberal colour yellow to stress the percentage of the vote his party wanted to bag.He even put in an appearance on the German version of reality TV show Big Brother .While nobody in Germany bats an eyelid about Mr Westerwelle's homosexuality, many blame his "fun" antics for the party's poor showing in the 2002 and 2005 elections. If his party forms part of Germany's next government, Mr Westerwelle will be expected to take the job of foreign minister like the heads of most junior coalition parties before him.Unlike the other parties in opposition in Germany, the FDP is not clamouring for a speedy withdrawal of the 4,500 German army troops in northern Afghanistan, but neither are they prepared to send their forces to the more dangerous south.
Mr Westerwelle insists it is Germany's job to confront the Taliban. But his party has decided to break with one of Germany's near sacrosanct post-war codes by demanding an end to conscription. The liberals say a professional army would be much better suited to Germany's military needs.
The FDP also wants to hang on to Germany's nuclear power stations beyond the scheduled shutdown date of 2020 so Germany can sufficiently develop its alternative energy sources and avoid its dependence on Russian gas."If we don't want to be blackmailed we have to diversify," Mr Westerwelle says.
Yet whether he will accept the foreign minister's job that was held by his famous liberal predecessor, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, for decades, is no foregone conclusion. If he is asked, he always plays shy."I wish it was the agriculture minister's job I was up for; at least that's a subject I really know something about," he said in an interview. He did not appear to be joking.
The Independent
PARTNERSHIP POLITICS: A NATION VOTES
Q. Who's going to win the German general election on Sept 27?Right now, it looks as if Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats will secure the biggest share of the vote. In the runup, they have been polling 36%, mainly because Mrs Merkel is one of Germany's most popular leaders since the war.
Q. But that means she'll have to find a coalition partner won't she?Yes, and this is where the outcome is almost impossible to predict. Mrs Merkel wants to end her present grand coalition with the left-wing Social Democrats and form a new government with the probusiness Free Democrats. Some polls predict that the liberals and conservatives will squeak enough votes to form such an alliance; others that they will just fail.
Q. What would a conservative coalition mean for Germany?It would result in key policy changes including lower taxes and a long-term delay in Germany's plan to phase out all nuclear power stations by 2020. It would also enable Mrs Merkel to introduce a programme of structural and economic reform she abandoned when she was obliged to join with the Social Democrats after the 2005 poll.
Q. What will happen if Mrs Merkel hasn't the votes for a new alliance?In that case, she will be forced to continue her existing arrangement with the Social Democrats. That's likely to mean a continuation of compromise politics with both parties agreeing on the lowest common policy denominator to govern.
"The Free Democrats are benefiting from the support of disappointed conservative voters who are fed up with what they see as the state-capitalism practised by Mrs Merkel's party GERD LANGGUTH POLITICAL SCIENTIS
SARAH PALIN SUPPORTER PAYS $63,000 FOR DINNER
A true fan of former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in paying US$63,500 (Bt2 million) to have dinner with her.
Cathy Maples of Huntsville, Alabama, on Friday won the dinner in an Internet auction, which was a benefit for a charity that aids wounded veterans.
Maples says she fully supports the military and the men and women fighting for this nation. Maples, who owns a defence contracting company, also says she's "big advocate" for Palin, and would love to see her as president.
Palin offered the dinner as part of the charity auction on eBay for the Ride for the Ride 2 Recovery programme, which supports wounded veterans through cycling programmes.
Organisers say the winner will gave to foot the travel bill to meet up with Palin, likely in Alaska. Maples says that's no problem.
Cathy Maples of Huntsville, Alabama, on Friday won the dinner in an Internet auction, which was a benefit for a charity that aids wounded veterans.
Maples says she fully supports the military and the men and women fighting for this nation. Maples, who owns a defence contracting company, also says she's "big advocate" for Palin, and would love to see her as president.
Palin offered the dinner as part of the charity auction on eBay for the Ride for the Ride 2 Recovery programme, which supports wounded veterans through cycling programmes.
Organisers say the winner will gave to foot the travel bill to meet up with Palin, likely in Alaska. Maples says that's no problem.
IRANIAN PROTESTERS ARRESTED AFTER RALLY
Iran's official news agency says police detained several protesters after Friday'a massive demonstrations.
The spokesman of Tehrkan police department Colonel Mahdi Ahmadi yesterday said "several" people were detained for throwing rocks at police and setting morotcycles on fire, according to IRNA.
No exact numbekr was given for the detentions.
On Friday tens of thousands of protesters-many decked out in the green colours of the reform movement and chanting "Death to the dictator!" - rallies in defiance of Iran's Islamic leadership, clashing with police and confronting staterun anti-Israel rallies.
In the first major opposition protests in two months, demonstrators marching shoulder-to-shoulder raised their hands in V-for-victory signs on mian boulevards and squares throughout kthe capital.
Lines of police, security forces and plainclothes Basij militiamen kept the two side apart in most cases.
At times they waded into the protesters with baton charges and tear gas volleys. The demonstrators responded by throwing stones and bricks, and setting tyres ablaze.
Hard-liners attacked two senior opposition leaders who joined the protects.
Former pro-reform President Mohammad Khatami was shoved and jostled, gripping his black turban to keep it from being knocked off as supporters rushed in to protect him, pushing away the attackers.
The spokesman of Tehrkan police department Colonel Mahdi Ahmadi yesterday said "several" people were detained for throwing rocks at police and setting morotcycles on fire, according to IRNA.
No exact numbekr was given for the detentions.
On Friday tens of thousands of protesters-many decked out in the green colours of the reform movement and chanting "Death to the dictator!" - rallies in defiance of Iran's Islamic leadership, clashing with police and confronting staterun anti-Israel rallies.
In the first major opposition protests in two months, demonstrators marching shoulder-to-shoulder raised their hands in V-for-victory signs on mian boulevards and squares throughout kthe capital.
Lines of police, security forces and plainclothes Basij militiamen kept the two side apart in most cases.
At times they waded into the protesters with baton charges and tear gas volleys. The demonstrators responded by throwing stones and bricks, and setting tyres ablaze.
Hard-liners attacked two senior opposition leaders who joined the protects.
Former pro-reform President Mohammad Khatami was shoved and jostled, gripping his black turban to keep it from being knocked off as supporters rushed in to protect him, pushing away the attackers.
NEWIN TO ATTEND COURT FOR VERDICT TOMORROW
Newin Chidchob, a core leader of the Bhum Jai Party, said yesterday he would go to court tomorrow to hear the verdict of the rubber-saplings case, which involves 44 defendants, including former ministers in the Thaksin Cabinet.
The Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Political Office Holders is scheduled to hand down its verdict on the case at 2pm tomorrow. The court postponed reading its ruling on August 17, when a high-profile defendant, former commerce minister Adisai Bodharamik, was absent, saying he was on a medical trip to the US. Other defendants among the 44 are former deputy prime minister Somkid Jatusripitak and deputy finance minister Varathep Ratanakorn.
The media has reported that the court will definitely issue its verdict tomorrow even though some defendants are not expected to turn up.
Newin said he had been staying at his Bangkok home and had not run away to the provinces or absconded from the country.
Newin and another core leader of the coalition Bhum Jai Thai Party, Sora-at Klingprathum, would definitely show up at the court, a source said. "They will not run away because if they do, they will have to keep running for the rest of their life,'' the source said.
All top Bhum Jai Thai Party leaders will also be present at the court to give their leaders moral support.
However, Newin's supporters - known as the blue shirts - will not mobilise at the court. If Newin and Sora-at are acquitted, the party cannot yet celebrate because both face a number of other graft cases, including the two-and three-digit lotteries, the source said.
The Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Political Office Holders is scheduled to hand down its verdict on the case at 2pm tomorrow. The court postponed reading its ruling on August 17, when a high-profile defendant, former commerce minister Adisai Bodharamik, was absent, saying he was on a medical trip to the US. Other defendants among the 44 are former deputy prime minister Somkid Jatusripitak and deputy finance minister Varathep Ratanakorn.
The media has reported that the court will definitely issue its verdict tomorrow even though some defendants are not expected to turn up.
Newin said he had been staying at his Bangkok home and had not run away to the provinces or absconded from the country.
Newin and another core leader of the coalition Bhum Jai Thai Party, Sora-at Klingprathum, would definitely show up at the court, a source said. "They will not run away because if they do, they will have to keep running for the rest of their life,'' the source said.
All top Bhum Jai Thai Party leaders will also be present at the court to give their leaders moral support.
However, Newin's supporters - known as the blue shirts - will not mobilise at the court. If Newin and Sora-at are acquitted, the party cannot yet celebrate because both face a number of other graft cases, including the two-and three-digit lotteries, the source said.
MAN CITY BOSSES REGRET ALLOWING THAKSIN TO TAKE OVER THEIR CLUB
"We failed to do proper research on him," chief executive tells Guardian
Senior figures at Manchester City have publicly rounded on the club's former owner, ex-Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra, in comments reported by Britain's Guardian newspaper yesterday.
Garry Cook, the club's executive chairman, said he "deeply regretted my failure to do proper research on Thaksin", while manager Mark Hughes admitted he made "too many assumptions" before joining from Blackburn Rovers last year.
It is three years since Thaksin, who is living in exile to avoid jail for corruption, was toppled by the military and had $U$2.2 billion dollars (Bt76 billion) in funds frozen soon afterwards.
Hughes, Cook and others including midfielder Stephen Ireland said a lack of cash under Thaksin meant Manchester City was well short of having the resources needed to make the club big hitters in the Premiership.
"I made too many assumptions," Hughes told the Guardian. "I assumed that people and facilities would be top quality and it was patently obvious they weren't."
Cook admitted that the atmosphere at Eastlands was like a "lion's den".
"Thaksin's money was locked away," he said. "We got into a position where we couldn't pay the players and [ex-chairman] John Wardle was asked to lend the club two million pounds (Bt110 million)."
Ireland added: "It was mad that somebody like that ... could own our football club".
Hughes was frustrated by the club's problems during the tumultuous few months he worked under Thaksin.
"The reality wasn't exactly what was described and sold to me," Hughes was quoted as telling The Guardian website. "In fairness, we were able to go into the transfer market, but there seemed a focus that players had to be sold, and I realised that maybe the resources weren't in place that I thought."
Hughes found it difficult to concentrate on his job while Thaksin was at the helm.
"If you get to a point where it is untenable and not manageable, then you make the decision to walk away," he said. "I never got to that point - but I was close."
Hughes persevered and saw City bought in September 2008 by Abu Dhabi's wealthy Sheikh Mansour, who has lavished more than US$200 million on new players.
Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the club's current chairman, said the situation the new owner, Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, inherited was "simply unacceptable" and forced quick action to make basic improvements to, for example, the club's gym.
Senior figures at Manchester City have publicly rounded on the club's former owner, ex-Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra, in comments reported by Britain's Guardian newspaper yesterday.
Garry Cook, the club's executive chairman, said he "deeply regretted my failure to do proper research on Thaksin", while manager Mark Hughes admitted he made "too many assumptions" before joining from Blackburn Rovers last year.
It is three years since Thaksin, who is living in exile to avoid jail for corruption, was toppled by the military and had $U$2.2 billion dollars (Bt76 billion) in funds frozen soon afterwards.
Hughes, Cook and others including midfielder Stephen Ireland said a lack of cash under Thaksin meant Manchester City was well short of having the resources needed to make the club big hitters in the Premiership.
"I made too many assumptions," Hughes told the Guardian. "I assumed that people and facilities would be top quality and it was patently obvious they weren't."
Cook admitted that the atmosphere at Eastlands was like a "lion's den".
"Thaksin's money was locked away," he said. "We got into a position where we couldn't pay the players and [ex-chairman] John Wardle was asked to lend the club two million pounds (Bt110 million)."
Ireland added: "It was mad that somebody like that ... could own our football club".
Hughes was frustrated by the club's problems during the tumultuous few months he worked under Thaksin.
"The reality wasn't exactly what was described and sold to me," Hughes was quoted as telling The Guardian website. "In fairness, we were able to go into the transfer market, but there seemed a focus that players had to be sold, and I realised that maybe the resources weren't in place that I thought."
Hughes found it difficult to concentrate on his job while Thaksin was at the helm.
"If you get to a point where it is untenable and not manageable, then you make the decision to walk away," he said. "I never got to that point - but I was close."
Hughes persevered and saw City bought in September 2008 by Abu Dhabi's wealthy Sheikh Mansour, who has lavished more than US$200 million on new players.
Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the club's current chairman, said the situation the new owner, Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, inherited was "simply unacceptable" and forced quick action to make basic improvements to, for example, the club's gym.
Has Thailand made progress? Thaking taunts
Fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra last night asked what good had been done for the coun-try over the past three years, after his government was overthrown in a military coup. "I would like both my admirers and haters to think what good has been done over the past three years. Has the economy improved? What about justice and human rights? And is there fair treatment for bureaucrats?" Thaksin asked.
"They accuse me of interfering with independent organisations, and what about the situation these days? They accused me of interfering in the mass media and what's going on today?" he said during his speech.
"See you in Thailand soon," he said to conclude his video-link broadcast to red-shirt supporters at their anti-government rally at the Royal Plaza.
Earlier, the former premier posted a new Twitter message asking the coup leaders and Thais to analyse if the country was in a better shape three years after the coup toppled his government.
"They accused me of not being loyal [to the monarchy], interfering in the media, the independ-ent agencies and failing to solve problems in the three southern border provinces and causing national divisions. Today, are these problems getting solved and is there an improvement?" his message said.
"They accuse me of interfering with independent organisations, and what about the situation these days? They accused me of interfering in the mass media and what's going on today?" he said during his speech.
"See you in Thailand soon," he said to conclude his video-link broadcast to red-shirt supporters at their anti-government rally at the Royal Plaza.
Earlier, the former premier posted a new Twitter message asking the coup leaders and Thais to analyse if the country was in a better shape three years after the coup toppled his government.
"They accused me of not being loyal [to the monarchy], interfering in the media, the independ-ent agencies and failing to solve problems in the three southern border provinces and causing national divisions. Today, are these problems getting solved and is there an improvement?" his message said.
COUNTRY WEATHERS PROTESTS
Red shirts defy heavy rains to mark third anniversary of coup with peaceful rally; Violence mars yellow shirts' bid to march to disputed area on border with Cambodia
The country was hit by two mass protests yesterday when about 20,000 anti-government red shirts held a rally in Bangkok and thousands of the rival yellow shirts marched towards a disputed border area near Si Sa Ket.
The Bangkok protest was generally peaceful although it was disrupted by a heavy downpour. However, the march by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to a cliff next to the disputed area near the Preah Vihear temple led to a clash between the yellow shirts and local villagers, who said they feared the protest would further sour ties with Cambodia.
The red shirts gathered at the Royal Plaza to mark the third anniversary of the military coup that ousted the government of Thaksin Shinawatra, who is now a fugitive overseas.
"We came here today to mark the third anniversary of the coup, which has caused huge damage to the country," red-shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan told the crowd as a thunderstorm drenched the protest site.
"This will be a peaceful protest and will end by midnight if the government does not use violence," said Jatuporn, who is also an MP from the opposition Pheu Thai Party.
Thaksin was due to address the crowd later by video-link.
Authorities deployed more than 6,500 soldiers and police and imposed the Internal Security Act |in the protest area, amid fears of |a repeat of riots by the same |group in April, which left two people dead.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said there were reports unidentified groups of trouble-makers could set off bombs in the capital to create unrest. "I am worried about the situation tonight and have warned intelligence agencies," he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, who is in charge of security, warned yesterday that four to five groups of trouble-makers might try to incite violence during the red-shirt protest.
The red shirts continued their protest despite hours of heavy rain that flooded the protest site around the Royal Plaza.
Heavy rain started at 2.20pm and the downpour didn't stop till more than two hours later. Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship leaders Veera Musigapong, Nattawut Saikua and Chatuporn Prompan took turns to address protesters on the stage, urging them to stand their ground and not to leave the protest site.
Some protesters who came by their personal vehicles left the scene and some waded through knee-length water at certain spots and found shelter at roofed bus stops.
When the rain stopped, they converged again at the Royal Plaza. They held hands vowing not to give up even if it rained heavier. The back of their main rally stage read: "Three years against bureaucratic polity to found a new Thai state".
More than 100 pieces of plywood were kept behind the stage, ready to be installed if the authorities turned on a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) to disrupt their protest.
Sanchai Chadapet, a leader of the red shirts, took to the make-shift stage on a pickup truck loaded with loud speakers after moving on Si Ayutthaya Road to the Si Sao Residence of Privy Council president General Prem Tinsulanonda. He slammed the elder statesman for 30 minutes before an audience of 50 red shirts before dispersing to join the main stage. They carried a 500-metre long cloth with a message "Give us back the 1997 Constitution".
Police threw a security blanket around Prem's residence.
The red shirts accuse Prem of masterminding the 2006 coup.
Earlier yesterday, some 4,000 red-shirt supporters of Thaksin showed up outside Prem's country home in Nakhon Ratchasima but called off their protest when confronted by an Army guard and informed that the chief royal adviser was not there.
The country was hit by two mass protests yesterday when about 20,000 anti-government red shirts held a rally in Bangkok and thousands of the rival yellow shirts marched towards a disputed border area near Si Sa Ket.
The Bangkok protest was generally peaceful although it was disrupted by a heavy downpour. However, the march by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to a cliff next to the disputed area near the Preah Vihear temple led to a clash between the yellow shirts and local villagers, who said they feared the protest would further sour ties with Cambodia.
The red shirts gathered at the Royal Plaza to mark the third anniversary of the military coup that ousted the government of Thaksin Shinawatra, who is now a fugitive overseas.
"We came here today to mark the third anniversary of the coup, which has caused huge damage to the country," red-shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan told the crowd as a thunderstorm drenched the protest site.
"This will be a peaceful protest and will end by midnight if the government does not use violence," said Jatuporn, who is also an MP from the opposition Pheu Thai Party.
Thaksin was due to address the crowd later by video-link.
Authorities deployed more than 6,500 soldiers and police and imposed the Internal Security Act |in the protest area, amid fears of |a repeat of riots by the same |group in April, which left two people dead.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said there were reports unidentified groups of trouble-makers could set off bombs in the capital to create unrest. "I am worried about the situation tonight and have warned intelligence agencies," he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, who is in charge of security, warned yesterday that four to five groups of trouble-makers might try to incite violence during the red-shirt protest.
The red shirts continued their protest despite hours of heavy rain that flooded the protest site around the Royal Plaza.
Heavy rain started at 2.20pm and the downpour didn't stop till more than two hours later. Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship leaders Veera Musigapong, Nattawut Saikua and Chatuporn Prompan took turns to address protesters on the stage, urging them to stand their ground and not to leave the protest site.
Some protesters who came by their personal vehicles left the scene and some waded through knee-length water at certain spots and found shelter at roofed bus stops.
When the rain stopped, they converged again at the Royal Plaza. They held hands vowing not to give up even if it rained heavier. The back of their main rally stage read: "Three years against bureaucratic polity to found a new Thai state".
More than 100 pieces of plywood were kept behind the stage, ready to be installed if the authorities turned on a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) to disrupt their protest.
Sanchai Chadapet, a leader of the red shirts, took to the make-shift stage on a pickup truck loaded with loud speakers after moving on Si Ayutthaya Road to the Si Sao Residence of Privy Council president General Prem Tinsulanonda. He slammed the elder statesman for 30 minutes before an audience of 50 red shirts before dispersing to join the main stage. They carried a 500-metre long cloth with a message "Give us back the 1997 Constitution".
Police threw a security blanket around Prem's residence.
The red shirts accuse Prem of masterminding the 2006 coup.
Earlier yesterday, some 4,000 red-shirt supporters of Thaksin showed up outside Prem's country home in Nakhon Ratchasima but called off their protest when confronted by an Army guard and informed that the chief royal adviser was not there.
Prosecutor takes on Potjaman in civil suit
A public prosecutor yesterday filed a civil suit against Potjaman na Pombejra,former wife of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, on behalf of the Bank of Thailand's Financial Institutions Development Fund.
The public prosecutor, Phasin Thipphayarak, filed the case with the Civil Court, asking it to nullify the fund's sale of four land plots, or 33 rai worth 772 million baht, to Khunying Potjaman and to order her to return the ownership of the plots to the fund.
FIDF sold the land to Khunying Potjaman after she won an uncontested bid in December 2003.
The prosecutor claimed the land deal was nullified after the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions convicted Thaksin of violating Article 100 of the National AntiCorruption Act, which forbids politicians and their spouses from business deals with state agencies, last October.
Thaksin and Khunying Potjaman were still married when the land deal was sealed. The former prime minister was accused of using his position to help Khunying Potjaman buy the land at a discounted price.
The public prosecutor, Phasin Thipphayarak, filed the case with the Civil Court, asking it to nullify the fund's sale of four land plots, or 33 rai worth 772 million baht, to Khunying Potjaman and to order her to return the ownership of the plots to the fund.
FIDF sold the land to Khunying Potjaman after she won an uncontested bid in December 2003.
The prosecutor claimed the land deal was nullified after the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions convicted Thaksin of violating Article 100 of the National AntiCorruption Act, which forbids politicians and their spouses from business deals with state agencies, last October.
Thaksin and Khunying Potjaman were still married when the land deal was sealed. The former prime minister was accused of using his position to help Khunying Potjaman buy the land at a discounted price.
The coup-making coalition's mistaken basic premise
All things considered, the military is now resurgent.
Its budget has increased substantially. It has reversed many of the security sector reforms.
That Thailand remains increasingly locked in a protracted political crisis three years after its latest military coup suggests the generals have not succeeded in their aims.
Corruption allegations and conflicts of interest are still rife. Meddling with the bureaucracy's operations and promotions continues. Society is more polarised now than at the time of the Sept 19,2006 coup.
Challenges to the monarchy, as manifested in the blocked websites and lese majeste cases, have grown markedly.
These four stated coup conditions have not been justified. In fact, they have exacerbated in view of the political machinations that have unfolded over the past three years.
Where the generals went wrong is rooted in their - and their backers' and allies'- fundamental premise. Their putsch was intended not just to get rid of Thaksin Shinawatra but to undo his unwitting but lasting legacy in the awakening of the Thai rural masses.
These previously neglected sections of the electorate became stakeholders during the Thaksin years. Their political consciousness rose irreversibly. With a stake in the system, they have been unwilling to go away quietly.
The coup-making coalition's chief mistake was their attempt to turn back the clock to pre-Thaksin Thailand. This mistake has been working its way through the body politic in various manifestations.Corrective measures and pacification campaigns from the sufficiency movement and the military's "moderation society" to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's "I love Thailand" have been unable to rein in and put a lid on these newly unleashed forces of change.
The long trail of Thaksin's corruption,cronyism and abuses of power meant that most people did not come out to protest against the coup when it took place. Apart from small groups of demonstrators in the streets of Bangkok, a wait-and-see atmosphere prevailed. The glaring exception was the taxi driver,Nuamthong Praiwan, who first drove his car into a tank and later hung himself in remonstration.
The coup-makers then appointed a lacklustre interim government and saw to it that the coup-making coalition was given the upper hand under a new set of rules enshrined in the 2007 constitution to pin down the development of democratic institutions.
Most baffling of all was the coupmaking coalition's unwillingness to simply acknowledge that Thaksin had to go because he was a crook, but that his positive legacies in popular stakeholdership would be incorporated. Getting rid of parts of the Thaksin regime while retaining some in order to move on would have engendered reconciliation and a way forward.
All things considered, the military is now resurgent. Its budget has increased substantially. It has reversed many of the security sector reforms that were broached in the late 1990s, including more streamlined personnel. Its anachronistic agencies from decades past, particularly the Internal Security Operations Command, have been given new leases of life. Isoc is now the main driver of the moderation society, or "mo-so," campaign. The top brass are in charge of key policy areas that had been taken away after their disgraceful intervention that led to the crisis in May 1992.
Civil-military relations are increasingly dictated by the brass. Indeed, the generals are back, and this time they will stay and insist on their role as the selfprofessed protectors and guardians of how Thailand shapes up in the near term.
Although it has been costly to Thailand's democratic development, the ascendancy of the military has made the coup, despite all of its problematic consequences, worthwhile for the generals. They have also learned by doing.The results of the last coup do not encourage them to seize power directly again, which is the "first-best" outcome in military interventions in politics. It would be difficult to find an effective interim government to keep the economy chugging along. Thailand's international credibility would diminish. Diplomats,investors and tourists are wary of coupmaking countries. The generals themselves would lose prestige at home and abroad.
They have found a "second-best" option that has worked rather well in their scheme of things. With allies in Parliament, the bureaucracy and civil society,the generals could see to it that a sitting government does not survive in the topsyturvy political arena.
This was evident last year when the military chose not to follow two elected governments' instructions.
At the same time, they can broker and nudge forward a government of elected MPs whom they could work with and whose instructions in dealing with street protests they have duly followed.Mr Abhisit's government, for example,comprises elected representatives but it is seen as not really an elected government. This is a nuanced and sophisticated coup-making formula tailored for the globalisation age. It is not ideal for the generals but it works under the pressures and constraints at home and abroad.
The most striking development in Thailand's coup-making circles is the coalescence of a unit-based, rather than the age-old class-based, lines of power.In the recent past, coup-makers harked back to their school days as members of the same graduating class from the military academy. Class Five was infamous during the 1991-92 period, preceded by Class Seven in the 1980s.
This time, anybody who is to be somebody in the line of command is likely to hail from the 21st Infantry Regiment,which is under the 2nd Infantry Division,located in the eastern provinces.
This niche of select officers is popularly known as the "tiger soldiers" or "eastern tigers". Their rise and prominence have been well documented in the Thai media as public information.
Coup-making considerations in the guise of nation, religion and monarchy,whether as a first-best or second-best preference, are likely to fall under their domain in the foreseeable future.
The writer is Director of the Institute of Security and International Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University.
Its budget has increased substantially. It has reversed many of the security sector reforms.
That Thailand remains increasingly locked in a protracted political crisis three years after its latest military coup suggests the generals have not succeeded in their aims.
Corruption allegations and conflicts of interest are still rife. Meddling with the bureaucracy's operations and promotions continues. Society is more polarised now than at the time of the Sept 19,2006 coup.
Challenges to the monarchy, as manifested in the blocked websites and lese majeste cases, have grown markedly.
These four stated coup conditions have not been justified. In fact, they have exacerbated in view of the political machinations that have unfolded over the past three years.
Where the generals went wrong is rooted in their - and their backers' and allies'- fundamental premise. Their putsch was intended not just to get rid of Thaksin Shinawatra but to undo his unwitting but lasting legacy in the awakening of the Thai rural masses.
These previously neglected sections of the electorate became stakeholders during the Thaksin years. Their political consciousness rose irreversibly. With a stake in the system, they have been unwilling to go away quietly.
The coup-making coalition's chief mistake was their attempt to turn back the clock to pre-Thaksin Thailand. This mistake has been working its way through the body politic in various manifestations.Corrective measures and pacification campaigns from the sufficiency movement and the military's "moderation society" to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's "I love Thailand" have been unable to rein in and put a lid on these newly unleashed forces of change.
The long trail of Thaksin's corruption,cronyism and abuses of power meant that most people did not come out to protest against the coup when it took place. Apart from small groups of demonstrators in the streets of Bangkok, a wait-and-see atmosphere prevailed. The glaring exception was the taxi driver,Nuamthong Praiwan, who first drove his car into a tank and later hung himself in remonstration.
The coup-makers then appointed a lacklustre interim government and saw to it that the coup-making coalition was given the upper hand under a new set of rules enshrined in the 2007 constitution to pin down the development of democratic institutions.
Most baffling of all was the coupmaking coalition's unwillingness to simply acknowledge that Thaksin had to go because he was a crook, but that his positive legacies in popular stakeholdership would be incorporated. Getting rid of parts of the Thaksin regime while retaining some in order to move on would have engendered reconciliation and a way forward.
All things considered, the military is now resurgent. Its budget has increased substantially. It has reversed many of the security sector reforms that were broached in the late 1990s, including more streamlined personnel. Its anachronistic agencies from decades past, particularly the Internal Security Operations Command, have been given new leases of life. Isoc is now the main driver of the moderation society, or "mo-so," campaign. The top brass are in charge of key policy areas that had been taken away after their disgraceful intervention that led to the crisis in May 1992.
Civil-military relations are increasingly dictated by the brass. Indeed, the generals are back, and this time they will stay and insist on their role as the selfprofessed protectors and guardians of how Thailand shapes up in the near term.
Although it has been costly to Thailand's democratic development, the ascendancy of the military has made the coup, despite all of its problematic consequences, worthwhile for the generals. They have also learned by doing.The results of the last coup do not encourage them to seize power directly again, which is the "first-best" outcome in military interventions in politics. It would be difficult to find an effective interim government to keep the economy chugging along. Thailand's international credibility would diminish. Diplomats,investors and tourists are wary of coupmaking countries. The generals themselves would lose prestige at home and abroad.
They have found a "second-best" option that has worked rather well in their scheme of things. With allies in Parliament, the bureaucracy and civil society,the generals could see to it that a sitting government does not survive in the topsyturvy political arena.
This was evident last year when the military chose not to follow two elected governments' instructions.
At the same time, they can broker and nudge forward a government of elected MPs whom they could work with and whose instructions in dealing with street protests they have duly followed.Mr Abhisit's government, for example,comprises elected representatives but it is seen as not really an elected government. This is a nuanced and sophisticated coup-making formula tailored for the globalisation age. It is not ideal for the generals but it works under the pressures and constraints at home and abroad.
The most striking development in Thailand's coup-making circles is the coalescence of a unit-based, rather than the age-old class-based, lines of power.In the recent past, coup-makers harked back to their school days as members of the same graduating class from the military academy. Class Five was infamous during the 1991-92 period, preceded by Class Seven in the 1980s.
This time, anybody who is to be somebody in the line of command is likely to hail from the 21st Infantry Regiment,which is under the 2nd Infantry Division,located in the eastern provinces.
This niche of select officers is popularly known as the "tiger soldiers" or "eastern tigers". Their rise and prominence have been well documented in the Thai media as public information.
Coup-making considerations in the guise of nation, religion and monarchy,whether as a first-best or second-best preference, are likely to fall under their domain in the foreseeable future.
The writer is Director of the Institute of Security and International Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Emissions, elections bring out the worst
Australian politics is turning personal again, with deep animosity between Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his chief opponent spilling into upper house gridlock on emissions trade laws and speculation about a snap poll.
Mr Rudd and conservative leader Malcolm Turnbull could barely bring themselves to shake hands at a recent book launch, while a political legacy speech by Mr Rudd was dismissed by Mr Turnbull as the most "graceless and ungracious" talk he had witnessed.
Mr Turnbull this month called Mr Rudd "breathtakingly dishonest".
One of Mr Turnbull's senior henchman, Tony Abbott, joined in to describe the bookish prime minister as "timid,smug and partisan", setting up a belligerent fortnight of parliament disrupted daily by an increasingly aggrieved opposition.
Analysts say the renewed combativeness has its roots in an obstructive upper house Senate's opposition to key Rudd policies, including emissions trade.
And that combative tone in a centreleft Labor government, that until now has tried to strip partisanship out of politics, could potentially trigger an early election, says Australian National University analyst Norman Abjorensen.
"We are now entering a pre-election phase and there is a broad strategy here for Mr Rudd's Labor to stamp its brand on everything," Mr Abjorensen said.
"His intention is to run full term [until the end of 2010]. But events can change and Rudd might decide enough is enough, and let's go. If he sees a significant political advantage, he'll go for it,"he said. The current slanging match is at least a step above past Australian political debates. Former Labor premier Paul Keating described opponents variously as "a shiver waiting for a spine","brain-damaged" or "a dead carcass,swinging in the breeze".
The current ill feeling may cloud the ability of both sides to negotiate on key climate change laws promised by Mr Rudd, as well as contentious private health reforms to make the wealthy pay more for medical cover.
"The hard-heads will be trying now to draw a distinction about the reality of political negotiation over theatrical tactics," Mr Abjorensen said."We are seeing a spillover of frustration of opposition,of seeing how powerless you are."
Voters could go to the polls as early as December if Mr Rudd's much-vaunted emissions trading scheme fails to pass the Senate for a second time in November, handing Mr Rudd a constitutional trigger to call elections in both the upper and lower houses. The conservatives are viscerally divided on the scheme to force 1,000 of Australia's biggest polluting companies to purchase emissions permits, with Mr Turnbull's leadership and preference for negotiation under pressure over the issue.
Rebel conservative MPs, including a disgruntled former leader who called Mr Turnbull "narcissistic", want Mr Turnbull to reject the scheme and risk an early election against Mr Rudd, whose standing in recent opinion polls is at near-record levels of popularity.
Mr Rudd was keeping the option of an early election to drive home a message Labor was different, Mr Abjorensen said,while holding the threat of a snap poll over unpopular Mr Turnbull.
"It's a useful tool, particularly for a government riding high in the polls,"he said.
Mr Rudd and conservative leader Malcolm Turnbull could barely bring themselves to shake hands at a recent book launch, while a political legacy speech by Mr Rudd was dismissed by Mr Turnbull as the most "graceless and ungracious" talk he had witnessed.
Mr Turnbull this month called Mr Rudd "breathtakingly dishonest".
One of Mr Turnbull's senior henchman, Tony Abbott, joined in to describe the bookish prime minister as "timid,smug and partisan", setting up a belligerent fortnight of parliament disrupted daily by an increasingly aggrieved opposition.
Analysts say the renewed combativeness has its roots in an obstructive upper house Senate's opposition to key Rudd policies, including emissions trade.
And that combative tone in a centreleft Labor government, that until now has tried to strip partisanship out of politics, could potentially trigger an early election, says Australian National University analyst Norman Abjorensen.
"We are now entering a pre-election phase and there is a broad strategy here for Mr Rudd's Labor to stamp its brand on everything," Mr Abjorensen said.
"His intention is to run full term [until the end of 2010]. But events can change and Rudd might decide enough is enough, and let's go. If he sees a significant political advantage, he'll go for it,"he said. The current slanging match is at least a step above past Australian political debates. Former Labor premier Paul Keating described opponents variously as "a shiver waiting for a spine","brain-damaged" or "a dead carcass,swinging in the breeze".
The current ill feeling may cloud the ability of both sides to negotiate on key climate change laws promised by Mr Rudd, as well as contentious private health reforms to make the wealthy pay more for medical cover.
"The hard-heads will be trying now to draw a distinction about the reality of political negotiation over theatrical tactics," Mr Abjorensen said."We are seeing a spillover of frustration of opposition,of seeing how powerless you are."
Voters could go to the polls as early as December if Mr Rudd's much-vaunted emissions trading scheme fails to pass the Senate for a second time in November, handing Mr Rudd a constitutional trigger to call elections in both the upper and lower houses. The conservatives are viscerally divided on the scheme to force 1,000 of Australia's biggest polluting companies to purchase emissions permits, with Mr Turnbull's leadership and preference for negotiation under pressure over the issue.
Rebel conservative MPs, including a disgruntled former leader who called Mr Turnbull "narcissistic", want Mr Turnbull to reject the scheme and risk an early election against Mr Rudd, whose standing in recent opinion polls is at near-record levels of popularity.
Mr Rudd was keeping the option of an early election to drive home a message Labor was different, Mr Abjorensen said,while holding the threat of a snap poll over unpopular Mr Turnbull.
"It's a useful tool, particularly for a government riding high in the polls,"he said.
HATOYAMA BECOMES PM IN HISTORIC POWER SHIFT
Japan's new centre-left Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama acclaimed a turning point in history yesterday as he took command of Asia' s biggest economy with a pledge to return power to the people.
The 62-year-old scion of a political dynasty was installed by parliament a fortnight after his Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) ended more than half a century of conservative dominance in a stunning election landslide.
After naming his cabinet ministers, whose top priority is recovery from Japan's worst post-war economic recession, Hatoyama side he also wanted to redress the nation's long subservience to US foreign policy.
"Immediately after I was appointed prime minister, I felt a tremor of excitement at a change in Japanese history, and on the other hand I felt a grave responsibility," he said at his frist prime ministerial press conference.
"We will probably face some trial and error, but I want to ask people to stay with us, patiently," he said.
Reaffirming his campaign promise to build a gentler, more "fraternal" society, Hatoyama said: "We have to shift the country toward that end, I will lead the way."
Japan's usually risk-averse voters, tired with a stagnant political system and years of economic malaise, took a chance on the untested DPJ when they threw out the Liberal Democratic Party.
But while the party itself is unfamiliar with political power, Hatoyama's cabinet lieutenants encompass years of experience.
Hirohisa Fujii, a 77-year-old former finance ministry bureaucrat who has attacked wasteful public spending, was appointed finance minister, a post that he briefly held in the early 1990s.
Katsuya Okada, 56, a former DPJ leader known as "Mr Clean" for his strait-laced image, was named foreign minister tasked with overhauling Japan's relations with the United States and Asia.
Naoto Kan, a DPJ co-founder, was appointed deputy prime minister and head of the newly-formed National Strategy Bureau, which will have the crucial remit of wresting control over policy and budgets from the powerful state bureaucracy.
"It will be the start of a new era," said Hidekazu Kawai, political science professor emeritus of Gakushuin University.
"But that is not to say the public is euphoric. Voters are very cool and keenly watching whether the DPJ can pull off their agenda. The people are dissatisfied with the LDP. They are also anxious about the DPJ."
The 62-year-old scion of a political dynasty was installed by parliament a fortnight after his Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) ended more than half a century of conservative dominance in a stunning election landslide.
After naming his cabinet ministers, whose top priority is recovery from Japan's worst post-war economic recession, Hatoyama side he also wanted to redress the nation's long subservience to US foreign policy.
"Immediately after I was appointed prime minister, I felt a tremor of excitement at a change in Japanese history, and on the other hand I felt a grave responsibility," he said at his frist prime ministerial press conference.
"We will probably face some trial and error, but I want to ask people to stay with us, patiently," he said.
Reaffirming his campaign promise to build a gentler, more "fraternal" society, Hatoyama said: "We have to shift the country toward that end, I will lead the way."
Japan's usually risk-averse voters, tired with a stagnant political system and years of economic malaise, took a chance on the untested DPJ when they threw out the Liberal Democratic Party.
But while the party itself is unfamiliar with political power, Hatoyama's cabinet lieutenants encompass years of experience.
Hirohisa Fujii, a 77-year-old former finance ministry bureaucrat who has attacked wasteful public spending, was appointed finance minister, a post that he briefly held in the early 1990s.
Katsuya Okada, 56, a former DPJ leader known as "Mr Clean" for his strait-laced image, was named foreign minister tasked with overhauling Japan's relations with the United States and Asia.
Naoto Kan, a DPJ co-founder, was appointed deputy prime minister and head of the newly-formed National Strategy Bureau, which will have the crucial remit of wresting control over policy and budgets from the powerful state bureaucracy.
"It will be the start of a new era," said Hidekazu Kawai, political science professor emeritus of Gakushuin University.
"But that is not to say the public is euphoric. Voters are very cool and keenly watching whether the DPJ can pull off their agenda. The people are dissatisfied with the LDP. They are also anxious about the DPJ."
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Norway's Stoltenberg declares victory in poll
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg declared victory yesterday for the centre-left in a tight parliamentary election and pledged to maintain his economic policy course and start coalition talks with partners.
With 99.9% of votes counted, Mr Stoltenberg's coalition holds a slim but unassailable majority in parliament over the centre-right opposition, which had tried to woo voters with promises of tax cuts and more private initiative in the economy.
The result showed voters credited Mr Stoltenberg with steering his oilproducing country through the global downturn and an active government role in promoting full employment.
"We will start the work on a new government platform. I'm confident we'll succeed, as we've had four years of experience with this," Mr Stoltenberg told a news conference.
Mr Stoltenberg's Labour, the Socialist Left and the Centre Party jointly hold 86 of parliament's 169 seats, one less than they won four years ago but good enough to be the first re-elected Norwegian government in 16 years.
"Stoltenberg's grand triumph," daily Dagsavisen flashed on its front page.Mainstream daily Aftenposten said "The Victor" next to a smiling picture of Mr Stoltenberg, while Dagbladet lead with "Proud of you Jens", quoting the prime minister's wife.
Tabloid VG looked forward, saying on its front page that "Jens wants new people in his cabinet".
The campaign debated issues ranging from whether to tap new Arctic areas for oil and gas exploration as North Sea output falls, to how Norway should use its massive $400 billion offshore wealth fund - which owns 1% of global stocks.
Norway has survived the global downturn better than its Nordic peers in part because Mr Stoltenberg has injected more oil money into the economy and offered big relief to banks.
Financial markets reacted calmly to the election result, with the crown trading steady and the Oslo bourse gently rising.
"The 2010 budget is nowmore important for markets, which want to see how much oil money will be spent ... and if that could influence interest rates and possibly the crown," said Camilla Villand, an analyst at Norway's largest bank DnB NOR.
Mr Stoltenberg said he would continue the economic policies that his government has pursued since 2005 and declined to comment on next year's budget, which is due on Oct 13.
With unemployment at 3% and the mainland economy set to grow more than 2% in 2010 after a mild recession this year, many see the red-green coalition as a safe pair of hands.
No government has been voted back in since 1993, not long before the country set up the wealth fund to invest oil and gas revenues abroad, instead of pumping them into the local economy.
Now worth $80,000 per citizen, the fund stokes expectations for quick improvements in public services, which in turn has led to a series of one-term cabinets.
The centre-left has promised to return to strict spending curbs on the oil windfall once the crisis fades.
It opposes the tax cuts and privatisation proposals made by centre-right parties, saying they would eat away at spending on healthcare, education and care for the elderly.
Norway is the world's fifth-biggest crude exporter and western Europe's biggest natural gas exporter. However,the powerful oil and gas lobby has said the future of the industry in the country hinges on gaining access to the Lofoten Islands region in the Arctic.
Mr Stoltenberg voiced hope his cabinet would find "solutions" to questions about exploration off the archipelago, even though the Socialist Left vehemently oppose drilling due to environmental concerns and the region's fishing interests.
"We have a demanding set of questions to handle on the issue of drilling offshore Lofoten. We found solutions on the Barents Sea, and I'm confident we'll find solutions on Lofoten as well,"Mr Stoltenberg said.
With 99.9% of votes counted, Mr Stoltenberg's coalition holds a slim but unassailable majority in parliament over the centre-right opposition, which had tried to woo voters with promises of tax cuts and more private initiative in the economy.
The result showed voters credited Mr Stoltenberg with steering his oilproducing country through the global downturn and an active government role in promoting full employment.
"We will start the work on a new government platform. I'm confident we'll succeed, as we've had four years of experience with this," Mr Stoltenberg told a news conference.
Mr Stoltenberg's Labour, the Socialist Left and the Centre Party jointly hold 86 of parliament's 169 seats, one less than they won four years ago but good enough to be the first re-elected Norwegian government in 16 years.
"Stoltenberg's grand triumph," daily Dagsavisen flashed on its front page.Mainstream daily Aftenposten said "The Victor" next to a smiling picture of Mr Stoltenberg, while Dagbladet lead with "Proud of you Jens", quoting the prime minister's wife.
Tabloid VG looked forward, saying on its front page that "Jens wants new people in his cabinet".
The campaign debated issues ranging from whether to tap new Arctic areas for oil and gas exploration as North Sea output falls, to how Norway should use its massive $400 billion offshore wealth fund - which owns 1% of global stocks.
Norway has survived the global downturn better than its Nordic peers in part because Mr Stoltenberg has injected more oil money into the economy and offered big relief to banks.
Financial markets reacted calmly to the election result, with the crown trading steady and the Oslo bourse gently rising.
"The 2010 budget is nowmore important for markets, which want to see how much oil money will be spent ... and if that could influence interest rates and possibly the crown," said Camilla Villand, an analyst at Norway's largest bank DnB NOR.
Mr Stoltenberg said he would continue the economic policies that his government has pursued since 2005 and declined to comment on next year's budget, which is due on Oct 13.
With unemployment at 3% and the mainland economy set to grow more than 2% in 2010 after a mild recession this year, many see the red-green coalition as a safe pair of hands.
No government has been voted back in since 1993, not long before the country set up the wealth fund to invest oil and gas revenues abroad, instead of pumping them into the local economy.
Now worth $80,000 per citizen, the fund stokes expectations for quick improvements in public services, which in turn has led to a series of one-term cabinets.
The centre-left has promised to return to strict spending curbs on the oil windfall once the crisis fades.
It opposes the tax cuts and privatisation proposals made by centre-right parties, saying they would eat away at spending on healthcare, education and care for the elderly.
Norway is the world's fifth-biggest crude exporter and western Europe's biggest natural gas exporter. However,the powerful oil and gas lobby has said the future of the industry in the country hinges on gaining access to the Lofoten Islands region in the Arctic.
Mr Stoltenberg voiced hope his cabinet would find "solutions" to questions about exploration off the archipelago, even though the Socialist Left vehemently oppose drilling due to environmental concerns and the region's fishing interests.
"We have a demanding set of questions to handle on the issue of drilling offshore Lofoten. We found solutions on the Barents Sea, and I'm confident we'll find solutions on Lofoten as well,"Mr Stoltenberg said.
Monday, September 14, 2009
DEMOCRATS TO TAKE POWER AMID HIGH EXPECTATIONS
Half a century of almost uninterrupted conservative rule in Japan will come to an end this week as Yukio Hatoyama's Democrats take power, facing huge pressure to revive the economy.
It is the first time since 1955 that the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been voted out of government in the world's number two economy, and only their second stint ever in opposition.
Hatoyama, whose Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) wonalandslide general election victory two weeks ago with a promise of change, is set to be appointed prime minister by parliament on Wednesday.
Three in four people expect much of their incoming government, with an equal number unsure of what to expect after over 50 years of almost unbroken LDP rule, a poll showed yesterday.
The percentage of people with high expectations of the DPJ rose to 72 per cent in early September, up from 52 per cent in June, the survey, carried out by the Yomiuri Shimbun and Waseda University, said.
However, 77 per cent said they felt unsure about the DPJ, slightly up from the 76 per cent who expressed such concerns in the previous survey, the poll showed.
The latest survey was conducted on September 5 and 6, interviewing 3,000 eligible voters at 250 locations across the country.
Experts say Hatoyama's honeymoon with voters may not last long.
Opinion polls show the DPJ faces high expectations from voters eager to see an improvement in the ailing economy following the worst slump in decades, but pulling the country out of its long economic malaise will be no easy task. While the recession may be over, officially at least, unemployment and homelessness are on the rise and the country faces major long-term challenges to cope with an ageing and shrinking population as well as soaring public debt.
Hatoyama, 62, has laid out an ambitious agenda, promising to boost household income through financial assistance for families and farmers, free high school education and an end to highway tolls, all without raising taxes.
He has delighted environmentalists but irked business leaders by pledging to cut Japan's greenhouse gas emissions by ambitious 25 per cent by 2020 from 1990 levels, if other major emitters commit similarly aggressive goals.
On the diplomatic front, he has vowed to seek an "equal" alliance with the United States and has already raised eyebrows in Washington with a spirited critique of US-led globalisation and "unrestrained market fundamentalism".
Hatoyama will make his debut on the world stage as premier later this month, addressing the UN General Assembly, meeting US President Barack Obama and taking part in a summit of leaders from the Group of 20 nations.
His foremost task during the trip is to confirm Japan's alliance with the United States, having called for a review of US military forces in Japan that provide security against the threat from North Korea.
The DPJ, which has long argued that Japan should not be part of "an American war", has promised to end Japan's naval refuelling mission in the Indian Ocean in support of the Nato-led force in Afghanistan.
"It is only natural that policies change when the government changes," said Jiro Yamaguchi, a politics professor at Hokkaido University. "Japan should have no reason to be bound by US policies."
It is the first time since 1955 that the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been voted out of government in the world's number two economy, and only their second stint ever in opposition.
Hatoyama, whose Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) wonalandslide general election victory two weeks ago with a promise of change, is set to be appointed prime minister by parliament on Wednesday.
Three in four people expect much of their incoming government, with an equal number unsure of what to expect after over 50 years of almost unbroken LDP rule, a poll showed yesterday.
The percentage of people with high expectations of the DPJ rose to 72 per cent in early September, up from 52 per cent in June, the survey, carried out by the Yomiuri Shimbun and Waseda University, said.
However, 77 per cent said they felt unsure about the DPJ, slightly up from the 76 per cent who expressed such concerns in the previous survey, the poll showed.
The latest survey was conducted on September 5 and 6, interviewing 3,000 eligible voters at 250 locations across the country.
Experts say Hatoyama's honeymoon with voters may not last long.
Opinion polls show the DPJ faces high expectations from voters eager to see an improvement in the ailing economy following the worst slump in decades, but pulling the country out of its long economic malaise will be no easy task. While the recession may be over, officially at least, unemployment and homelessness are on the rise and the country faces major long-term challenges to cope with an ageing and shrinking population as well as soaring public debt.
Hatoyama, 62, has laid out an ambitious agenda, promising to boost household income through financial assistance for families and farmers, free high school education and an end to highway tolls, all without raising taxes.
He has delighted environmentalists but irked business leaders by pledging to cut Japan's greenhouse gas emissions by ambitious 25 per cent by 2020 from 1990 levels, if other major emitters commit similarly aggressive goals.
On the diplomatic front, he has vowed to seek an "equal" alliance with the United States and has already raised eyebrows in Washington with a spirited critique of US-led globalisation and "unrestrained market fundamentalism".
Hatoyama will make his debut on the world stage as premier later this month, addressing the UN General Assembly, meeting US President Barack Obama and taking part in a summit of leaders from the Group of 20 nations.
His foremost task during the trip is to confirm Japan's alliance with the United States, having called for a review of US military forces in Japan that provide security against the threat from North Korea.
The DPJ, which has long argued that Japan should not be part of "an American war", has promised to end Japan's naval refuelling mission in the Indian Ocean in support of the Nato-led force in Afghanistan.
"It is only natural that policies change when the government changes," said Jiro Yamaguchi, a politics professor at Hokkaido University. "Japan should have no reason to be bound by US policies."
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Norway's "Thatcher" locked in tight race
Siv Jensen has an unusual ambition for a nation famous for its cradle-to-grave welfare system: she wants to go down in history as Norway's Margaret Thatcher.
And polls leading up to tomorrow's national election in the oil-rich Nordic state of 4.8 million people show the leader of the right-wing Progress Party may have a shot at pursuing her dream of applying a free market overhaul to a society often called a socialist paradise.
The Progress Party is locked in a tight duel with Prime Minster Jens Stoltenberg's left-leaning Labour Party, Norway's dominant political force since World War Two.
A win for the bleached-blond 40-yearold Ms Jensen - who takes explicit inspiration from the former British prime minister - would represent a sea-change in Norwegian politics, traditionally a contest between socialists and a cluster of parties on the centre-right.
While those parties disagree about the level of taxation needed to sustain Norway's welfare state, the Progress Party challenges the Scandinavian welfare model altogether. It proposes reforms including increased privatisation of healthcare and education and using Norway's vast oil wealth to cut the country's famously high taxes.
In foreign policy, Progress is much more Israel-friendly than the current government, which in 2007 made Norway the first Western nation to recognise the Hamas-led Palestinian leadership.
It also has strong views on immigration,advocating higher demands onnewcomers to integrate into Norwegian society.
That has touched a nerve in Norway, whose immigrant population has skyrocketed by a factor of five since the Siv Jensen early 1970s. Today, immigrants make up over 10% of Norway's population and a quarter of Oslo's halfmillion citizens.
"We can't just take all the immigrants in," Anne-Marie Sellvang, a 70-year-old Progress Party supporter said."Many of them don't work, they come here without papers - I can't understand it."
In recent years the biggest groups of asylum-seekers have come from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and Eritrea.
The Progress Party uses less bombastic rhetoric than many other anti-immigrant groups in Europe, but party officials have raised eyebrows with suggestions that Norway move its cramped asylum centres
to Uganda and Tanzania.
"The Progress Party simply have no sense of how to build a multi-cultural Norway.They're against all foreigners,even though we work hard and pay our taxes just like Norwegians do," said Awadhi Abdi,47, a Somali bus driver,who was sitting at a cafe in Groenland, a largely immigrant neighbourhood ineastern Oslo.Ms Jensen appears to have toned down the immigration issue to keep it from overshadowing the party's economic platform, much of which rests on the assumption that Norway's massive oil wealth could be spent more wisely.
To avoid inflation, Norway sets aside much of the revenue from its North Sea oil and gas in a sovereign wealth fund,currently valued at more than two trillion kroner (11.4 trillion baht).
The Progress Party calls for using more of it at home, to lower taxes and to spend more on infrastructure in a country almost entirely covered by mountains.
Analysts say that the Progress Party's surge in popularity is due in part to anti-immigrant sentiment, but that discontent with the current administration's use of oil money has been its main source of new voters in recent years.
"Those who think the oil fund and state surplus is being mishandled, you see that a lot of those people ... sympathise with" the Progress Party, said Marcus Buck, a political scientist at the University of Tromsoe.
Critics say that the party's proposed reforms are dangerous for Norway,particularly at a time when it is one of only a few countries to have escaped the global financial crisis largely unscathed, an outcome for which many credit the current government.
Mr Stoltenberg has called the Progress Party's proposals a "gamble" and referred to the party disparagingly as "an alternative to the safe, Norwegian model".
Ms Jensen's party has also run afoul of environmentalists and climate campaigners by calling for oil-drilling in the fjord-fringed coastline of northern Norway.
The Progress Party won a record 22%of the vote in 2005, finishing second behind Labour, and polls suggest an even stronger result is possible tomorrow.
A telephone poll of 1,734 voters published on Thursday by the commercial network TV2 showed the leftist bloc with 44.5% of the vote, with 33% going to Labour. The Progress Party held 23%support, and the three centre-right parties -the Conservatives, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals - a combined 29.5%.
The poll, conducted between Sept 7 and Sept 10 by the Gallup group, had a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points.
Such figures suggest the election will be followed by some tricky coalitionbuilding. While the Conservatives have shown a grudging willingness to join forces with Progress, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals have refused even to enter into dialogue with Ms Jensen's party. Meanwhile, Ms Jensen has made clear she will not back any government that doesn't include her party.
And polls leading up to tomorrow's national election in the oil-rich Nordic state of 4.8 million people show the leader of the right-wing Progress Party may have a shot at pursuing her dream of applying a free market overhaul to a society often called a socialist paradise.
The Progress Party is locked in a tight duel with Prime Minster Jens Stoltenberg's left-leaning Labour Party, Norway's dominant political force since World War Two.
A win for the bleached-blond 40-yearold Ms Jensen - who takes explicit inspiration from the former British prime minister - would represent a sea-change in Norwegian politics, traditionally a contest between socialists and a cluster of parties on the centre-right.
While those parties disagree about the level of taxation needed to sustain Norway's welfare state, the Progress Party challenges the Scandinavian welfare model altogether. It proposes reforms including increased privatisation of healthcare and education and using Norway's vast oil wealth to cut the country's famously high taxes.
In foreign policy, Progress is much more Israel-friendly than the current government, which in 2007 made Norway the first Western nation to recognise the Hamas-led Palestinian leadership.
It also has strong views on immigration,advocating higher demands onnewcomers to integrate into Norwegian society.
That has touched a nerve in Norway, whose immigrant population has skyrocketed by a factor of five since the Siv Jensen early 1970s. Today, immigrants make up over 10% of Norway's population and a quarter of Oslo's halfmillion citizens.
"We can't just take all the immigrants in," Anne-Marie Sellvang, a 70-year-old Progress Party supporter said."Many of them don't work, they come here without papers - I can't understand it."
In recent years the biggest groups of asylum-seekers have come from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and Eritrea.
The Progress Party uses less bombastic rhetoric than many other anti-immigrant groups in Europe, but party officials have raised eyebrows with suggestions that Norway move its cramped asylum centres
to Uganda and Tanzania.
"The Progress Party simply have no sense of how to build a multi-cultural Norway.They're against all foreigners,even though we work hard and pay our taxes just like Norwegians do," said Awadhi Abdi,47, a Somali bus driver,who was sitting at a cafe in Groenland, a largely immigrant neighbourhood ineastern Oslo.Ms Jensen appears to have toned down the immigration issue to keep it from overshadowing the party's economic platform, much of which rests on the assumption that Norway's massive oil wealth could be spent more wisely.
To avoid inflation, Norway sets aside much of the revenue from its North Sea oil and gas in a sovereign wealth fund,currently valued at more than two trillion kroner (11.4 trillion baht).
The Progress Party calls for using more of it at home, to lower taxes and to spend more on infrastructure in a country almost entirely covered by mountains.
Analysts say that the Progress Party's surge in popularity is due in part to anti-immigrant sentiment, but that discontent with the current administration's use of oil money has been its main source of new voters in recent years.
"Those who think the oil fund and state surplus is being mishandled, you see that a lot of those people ... sympathise with" the Progress Party, said Marcus Buck, a political scientist at the University of Tromsoe.
Critics say that the party's proposed reforms are dangerous for Norway,particularly at a time when it is one of only a few countries to have escaped the global financial crisis largely unscathed, an outcome for which many credit the current government.
Mr Stoltenberg has called the Progress Party's proposals a "gamble" and referred to the party disparagingly as "an alternative to the safe, Norwegian model".
Ms Jensen's party has also run afoul of environmentalists and climate campaigners by calling for oil-drilling in the fjord-fringed coastline of northern Norway.
The Progress Party won a record 22%of the vote in 2005, finishing second behind Labour, and polls suggest an even stronger result is possible tomorrow.
A telephone poll of 1,734 voters published on Thursday by the commercial network TV2 showed the leftist bloc with 44.5% of the vote, with 33% going to Labour. The Progress Party held 23%support, and the three centre-right parties -the Conservatives, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals - a combined 29.5%.
The poll, conducted between Sept 7 and Sept 10 by the Gallup group, had a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points.
Such figures suggest the election will be followed by some tricky coalitionbuilding. While the Conservatives have shown a grudging willingness to join forces with Progress, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals have refused even to enter into dialogue with Ms Jensen's party. Meanwhile, Ms Jensen has made clear she will not back any government that doesn't include her party.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Will Japan finally get a Cabinet that makes policy?
TO APPRECIATE the potential for Japan's global role following the first change in more than half a century of its ruling party, we must remind ourselves what that role has been until now.
Economically, Japan was formidable, dominating the globalised economy and seriously challenging entire industrial sectors in the US and Europe. Also as a creditor nation, Japan gained an indirect but considerable political and strategic significance. But in the theatre of strategic moves and diplomacy, there has been an odd vacancy that Japan could, and in many eyes should, have filled. The world has long become used to what at first was considered a great anomaly of the globe's second largest industrial power not being a global political presence.
The Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan), which has just defeated the staid and internationally comatose LDP with 308 seats in the lower-house elections, intends to change this. Whether it can actually do so will depend on its ability to turn itself into a genuinely "ruling" party - something that will require much political imagination and wisdom for forging a cooperative relationship with bureaucrats, crucial support from the media and, probably, lots of luck. Many Japanese and foreign commentators remain very sceptical.
But it must be kept in mind that this party has wanted to do this for 16 years since their earlier failed attempt at creating a cabinet that functions like one and does not put signatures on what bureaucrats have compiled. The fact is that no Japanese PM or any faction hiding behind him or any council has so far constituted a forum to which other countries could turn. Even the Finance Ministry, powerful body that it always has been, was not an effective substitute for an actual policymaking body of the central government.
Japanese politicians have since the 1960s been in the business of power brokering rather than policymaking, which was left to government bureaucrats. Hence, the new government must create suitable institutions to deal with domestic as well as international matters practically from scratch. The party has already begun setting up a "National Strategy Office" as a policy coordinating center, which will be led by Kan Naoto, one of Japan's most capable politicians.
Rarely having experienced top-down political decision-making, Japan's elite among the parties, and especially the bureaucracy, the media and academia will have to get used to what may be called a revolutionary change in their environment. This will take some doing, and we must expect that for the first year, domestic issues will receive most attention as the incumbents consolidate their position.
But if Minshuto politicians are allowed to have their way, and can survive the attempts by bureaucrats to bring them down through trumped up scandals, we may get to know a different Japan. This will happen at a time when regional circumstances look more than ready for it.
Japan was able to build its economic miracle in the comfort of a strategic shelter. Besides providing military protection, the US also played the crucial role of "buyer of last resort" to keep Japan's immense production machinery humming. Until the credit crisis struck last year. The abrupt discontinuation of demand for Japanese goods has been a big blow to a system that was already showing some signs of exhaustion.
Since China gets all the attention when it comes to buying US debt, it has recently been forgotten that Japan is the biggest net lender to the US. Until China emerged as the next biggest buyer of US Treasuries half a decade ago, Japan had provided the main pillar of support for the dollar. It was Japan that initially taught Washington the possibility of having "deficits without tears". But the upward pressure on the yen is no longer something that Japanese business believes must be stopped at all costs. The fact that Japanese-owned dollars circulating in the US economy no longer guarantee American purchases in Japan has prompted a rethinking of priorities in the higher reaches of the Japanese business community.
The Minshuto wants to start other engines of economic growth besides the export sector. China is on the way to become Japan's No-1 trading partner, or has already done so, and the two countries have begun to work more closely together in other areas too, as in their agreement to promote a strengthening of Asian currency reserves.
Prominent members of the Minshuto are ready to take the idea of an Asean+3 (China, Japan and South Korea) seriously. This plan for formalising and deepening aspects of cooperation between the aforementioned nations stalled because of foot dragging in Tokyo. There are further prospects for better political relations with China; Yukio Hatoyama, the prime minister designate, has already made the symbolically important announcement that he will not be visiting the Yasukuni shrine (something that caused a significant crisis in Chinese-Japanese relations when Koizumi was Prime Minister).
Relations with Japan's largest neighbour, Russia, need urgent attention as well. Attempts to normalise and improve them stalled as a result of a government addicted to the status quo. Given time, a Minshuto government may well be the agent for what the world has been expecting in the way of Japan playing a positive regional role.
Should the previous hurdles be resolved, the DPJ will be able to fix its eyes on what is Japan's most problematic international relationship: the United States. Its problems are not caused by any mutual hostility - the trade and industrial "frictions" of a couple of decades ago or any recent deep disagreement. The problem is that the true nature of the relationship cannot be openly addressed. Japan has been, with regard to its international position, for all intents and purposes a protectorate of the US.
Some Minshuto politicians, including the prime-minister-to-be Yukio Hatoyama, have emphasised the need for Japan to become less dependent on the US and work toward a more equal relationship. Washington, which has long taken Japan for granted, has already made clear that renegotiation of already reached agreements with the outgoing government is out of the question. How this will be resolved will be seen as a first test of the Hatoyama government.
Economically, Japan was formidable, dominating the globalised economy and seriously challenging entire industrial sectors in the US and Europe. Also as a creditor nation, Japan gained an indirect but considerable political and strategic significance. But in the theatre of strategic moves and diplomacy, there has been an odd vacancy that Japan could, and in many eyes should, have filled. The world has long become used to what at first was considered a great anomaly of the globe's second largest industrial power not being a global political presence.
The Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan), which has just defeated the staid and internationally comatose LDP with 308 seats in the lower-house elections, intends to change this. Whether it can actually do so will depend on its ability to turn itself into a genuinely "ruling" party - something that will require much political imagination and wisdom for forging a cooperative relationship with bureaucrats, crucial support from the media and, probably, lots of luck. Many Japanese and foreign commentators remain very sceptical.
But it must be kept in mind that this party has wanted to do this for 16 years since their earlier failed attempt at creating a cabinet that functions like one and does not put signatures on what bureaucrats have compiled. The fact is that no Japanese PM or any faction hiding behind him or any council has so far constituted a forum to which other countries could turn. Even the Finance Ministry, powerful body that it always has been, was not an effective substitute for an actual policymaking body of the central government.
Japanese politicians have since the 1960s been in the business of power brokering rather than policymaking, which was left to government bureaucrats. Hence, the new government must create suitable institutions to deal with domestic as well as international matters practically from scratch. The party has already begun setting up a "National Strategy Office" as a policy coordinating center, which will be led by Kan Naoto, one of Japan's most capable politicians.
Rarely having experienced top-down political decision-making, Japan's elite among the parties, and especially the bureaucracy, the media and academia will have to get used to what may be called a revolutionary change in their environment. This will take some doing, and we must expect that for the first year, domestic issues will receive most attention as the incumbents consolidate their position.
But if Minshuto politicians are allowed to have their way, and can survive the attempts by bureaucrats to bring them down through trumped up scandals, we may get to know a different Japan. This will happen at a time when regional circumstances look more than ready for it.
Japan was able to build its economic miracle in the comfort of a strategic shelter. Besides providing military protection, the US also played the crucial role of "buyer of last resort" to keep Japan's immense production machinery humming. Until the credit crisis struck last year. The abrupt discontinuation of demand for Japanese goods has been a big blow to a system that was already showing some signs of exhaustion.
Since China gets all the attention when it comes to buying US debt, it has recently been forgotten that Japan is the biggest net lender to the US. Until China emerged as the next biggest buyer of US Treasuries half a decade ago, Japan had provided the main pillar of support for the dollar. It was Japan that initially taught Washington the possibility of having "deficits without tears". But the upward pressure on the yen is no longer something that Japanese business believes must be stopped at all costs. The fact that Japanese-owned dollars circulating in the US economy no longer guarantee American purchases in Japan has prompted a rethinking of priorities in the higher reaches of the Japanese business community.
The Minshuto wants to start other engines of economic growth besides the export sector. China is on the way to become Japan's No-1 trading partner, or has already done so, and the two countries have begun to work more closely together in other areas too, as in their agreement to promote a strengthening of Asian currency reserves.
Prominent members of the Minshuto are ready to take the idea of an Asean+3 (China, Japan and South Korea) seriously. This plan for formalising and deepening aspects of cooperation between the aforementioned nations stalled because of foot dragging in Tokyo. There are further prospects for better political relations with China; Yukio Hatoyama, the prime minister designate, has already made the symbolically important announcement that he will not be visiting the Yasukuni shrine (something that caused a significant crisis in Chinese-Japanese relations when Koizumi was Prime Minister).
Relations with Japan's largest neighbour, Russia, need urgent attention as well. Attempts to normalise and improve them stalled as a result of a government addicted to the status quo. Given time, a Minshuto government may well be the agent for what the world has been expecting in the way of Japan playing a positive regional role.
Should the previous hurdles be resolved, the DPJ will be able to fix its eyes on what is Japan's most problematic international relationship: the United States. Its problems are not caused by any mutual hostility - the trade and industrial "frictions" of a couple of decades ago or any recent deep disagreement. The problem is that the true nature of the relationship cannot be openly addressed. Japan has been, with regard to its international position, for all intents and purposes a protectorate of the US.
Some Minshuto politicians, including the prime-minister-to-be Yukio Hatoyama, have emphasised the need for Japan to become less dependent on the US and work toward a more equal relationship. Washington, which has long taken Japan for granted, has already made clear that renegotiation of already reached agreements with the outgoing government is out of the question. How this will be resolved will be seen as a first test of the Hatoyama government.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
NLD hopeful for Suu Kyi's release after appeal made
The party of Burma opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said yesterday it was hopeful that she would be unconditionally released after a court agreed to hear an appeal against her recent conviction.
Lawyers for the Nobel laureate and the country's ruling junta are due to present legal arguments on Sept 18, after Mrs Suu Kyi challenged last month's guilty verdict for sheltering an American man who swam to her lakeside home.
The regime has ordered her to spend another 18 months under house arrest,softening the original sentence of three years' hard labour. But the order still keeps her off the political scene during elections scheduled for 2010.
"There could be changes as the court has accepted our appeal," said Nyan Win, her lawyer and a spokesman for her National League for Democracy (NLD), referring to Rangoon divisional court's decision on Friday to hear the case."We are hoping for her unconditional release, which is also what we wanted," he said.
"We will meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi this week after we get permission from the authorities. We need to get last instructions from her for the final arguments," Nyan Win said. Daw is a term of respect in Burmese.
The appeal would focus on the fact that a 1974 constitution under which the 64-year-old was originally detained had been superseded by a new constitution approved last year, her lawyers have said.
The guilty verdict sparked international outrage and the imposition of further sanctions against Burma's powerful generals, who have already kept Mrs Suu Kyi locked up for 14 of the past 20 years.
Mrs Suu Kyi insisted on her innocence during the trial held at Rangoon's notorious Insein Prison, saying that she allowed US military veteran John Yettaw to stay for two nights at her home because he was ill.
Mr Yettaw was sentenced to seven years' hard labour for the stunt in early May, but was freed after a visit by US Senator Jim Webb last month on what the military regime said were compassionate grounds because of health problems.
The move raised expectations of a possible thaw in the tense relations between Burma and the United States.
Meanwhile, the NLD called on the ruling junta yesterday to allow it to reopen its branch offices, which would be crucial for taking part in next year's planned national elections.
The NLD issued a statement saying the party had sent a letter to junta chairman Senior General Than Shwe on Friday noting that the party is a legally registered organisation but that its local offices had been sealed and its activities restricted by the government.
Lawyers for the Nobel laureate and the country's ruling junta are due to present legal arguments on Sept 18, after Mrs Suu Kyi challenged last month's guilty verdict for sheltering an American man who swam to her lakeside home.
The regime has ordered her to spend another 18 months under house arrest,softening the original sentence of three years' hard labour. But the order still keeps her off the political scene during elections scheduled for 2010.
"There could be changes as the court has accepted our appeal," said Nyan Win, her lawyer and a spokesman for her National League for Democracy (NLD), referring to Rangoon divisional court's decision on Friday to hear the case."We are hoping for her unconditional release, which is also what we wanted," he said.
"We will meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi this week after we get permission from the authorities. We need to get last instructions from her for the final arguments," Nyan Win said. Daw is a term of respect in Burmese.
The appeal would focus on the fact that a 1974 constitution under which the 64-year-old was originally detained had been superseded by a new constitution approved last year, her lawyers have said.
The guilty verdict sparked international outrage and the imposition of further sanctions against Burma's powerful generals, who have already kept Mrs Suu Kyi locked up for 14 of the past 20 years.
Mrs Suu Kyi insisted on her innocence during the trial held at Rangoon's notorious Insein Prison, saying that she allowed US military veteran John Yettaw to stay for two nights at her home because he was ill.
Mr Yettaw was sentenced to seven years' hard labour for the stunt in early May, but was freed after a visit by US Senator Jim Webb last month on what the military regime said were compassionate grounds because of health problems.
The move raised expectations of a possible thaw in the tense relations between Burma and the United States.
Meanwhile, the NLD called on the ruling junta yesterday to allow it to reopen its branch offices, which would be crucial for taking part in next year's planned national elections.
The NLD issued a statement saying the party had sent a letter to junta chairman Senior General Than Shwe on Friday noting that the party is a legally registered organisation but that its local offices had been sealed and its activities restricted by the government.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
HOUSE TO DEBATE ON AMENDMENTS
The House of Representatives is likely to convene next week to discuss constitutional amendments proposed by the parliamentary committee for political reconciliation.
Chinnaworn Boonyakiet, the coalition chief whip, said the government whips had yesterday voted in support of holding a meeting to debate the panel's proposal that calls for six changes in the charter.
Coalition whip, Democrat Chinnaworn, said he expects the session to last for two days and that it is aimed at hearing comments from MPs on a matter that has become the subject of public debate. He said there would be no voting at the end of the general debate.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday the Cabinet would decide today on whether such a general debate was necessary, and if it was, the Cabinet would request the House speaker to include the topic in the House agenda.
"Personally I want the meeting to take place between September 16 and 18," he said, adding that House Speaker Chai Chidchob would be the one setting the final date for the debate.
When asked about clauses that should be amended, the PM said he agreed a change be made to Article 190, which requires parliamentary endorsement of international treaties. However, he warned that parliamentarians supporting certain changes proposed by the panel could be deemed as violating the Constitution in acting for their own benefit.
Abhisit said before the Constitution is amended, parliamentarians should first be able to provide satisfactory explanations about the need for these changes.
Some 10 MPs and senators yesterday presented a draft constitutional amendment along with a list of 152 parliamentarians who are its proponents to Senate Speaker Prasopsuk Boondet, who is also deputy Parliament president.
Prasopsuk said he would refer the matter to Chai, who is the Parliament president, for further action.
Senator Prasit Pothasuthon, one of the proponents, said the draft only covered the six points mentioned in the reconciliation panel's report submitted to the PM and the House speaker two months ago.
MP Somkiat Soralum from the Puea Pandin Party, who is another proponent of the draft, said yesterday that more than 10 other senators and MPs had signed to support the draft but later withdrew their names due to fear the move might be in violation of the Constitution.
Of the 152 proponents, 64 are senators - most of them elected - and 88 are MPs, of which 80 come from the opposition Pheu Thai Party.
Chinnaworn Boonyakiet, the coalition chief whip, said the government whips had yesterday voted in support of holding a meeting to debate the panel's proposal that calls for six changes in the charter.
Coalition whip, Democrat Chinnaworn, said he expects the session to last for two days and that it is aimed at hearing comments from MPs on a matter that has become the subject of public debate. He said there would be no voting at the end of the general debate.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday the Cabinet would decide today on whether such a general debate was necessary, and if it was, the Cabinet would request the House speaker to include the topic in the House agenda.
"Personally I want the meeting to take place between September 16 and 18," he said, adding that House Speaker Chai Chidchob would be the one setting the final date for the debate.
When asked about clauses that should be amended, the PM said he agreed a change be made to Article 190, which requires parliamentary endorsement of international treaties. However, he warned that parliamentarians supporting certain changes proposed by the panel could be deemed as violating the Constitution in acting for their own benefit.
Abhisit said before the Constitution is amended, parliamentarians should first be able to provide satisfactory explanations about the need for these changes.
Some 10 MPs and senators yesterday presented a draft constitutional amendment along with a list of 152 parliamentarians who are its proponents to Senate Speaker Prasopsuk Boondet, who is also deputy Parliament president.
Prasopsuk said he would refer the matter to Chai, who is the Parliament president, for further action.
Senator Prasit Pothasuthon, one of the proponents, said the draft only covered the six points mentioned in the reconciliation panel's report submitted to the PM and the House speaker two months ago.
MP Somkiat Soralum from the Puea Pandin Party, who is another proponent of the draft, said yesterday that more than 10 other senators and MPs had signed to support the draft but later withdrew their names due to fear the move might be in violation of the Constitution.
Of the 152 proponents, 64 are senators - most of them elected - and 88 are MPs, of which 80 come from the opposition Pheu Thai Party.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Charter debate fires up
The ruling Democrat Party is in conflict with its coalition partners over the electoral system despite an agreement to only seek amendments to provisions to the constitution seen as "less controversial".
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday said a meeting of the two houses of parliament had to be convened to debate the proposals.
He said the plan to amend the charter would be brought up for discussion at a cabinet meeting tomorrow.
"The debate on the proposals would give each party a chance to find common ground on how to proceed," Mr Abhisit said.
He said he had raised the matter with House Speaker Chai Chidchob and he had agreed it was possible to convene a joint session to discuss the proposed constitution amendments.
A highly placed source in the gov-ernment said many key members of the Democrat Party wanted to keep a key feature of the 2007 constitution,the electoral system featuring multiseat constituencies for MPs, intact.
But the other member parties of the coalition wanted to revert to a singleseat system. The parties argued that if the multi-member constituencies remained in place, the opposition Puea Thai Party would continue to dominate and make a clean sweep in the Northeast.
They said the single-seat constituencies system, in which a constituency becomes smaller with just one MP seat contested, would give them a chance to win more seats and defeat Puea Thai in the region.
The key figures pushing for change are from the Bhumjaithai Party which has high hopes at the next election in the Northeast.
The source said DeputyPrime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban had convinced Mr Abhisit to agree with the coalition parties on the issue. Mr Suthep reportedly met twice with influential politicians who are de facto leaders of coalition parties such as Banharn Silpa-archa, Newin Chidchob and Somsak Thepsuthin to discuss the proposed amendments.
The source said coalition parties wanted the electoral system changed as quickly as possible because they were not confident of the political situation in the months ahead. There might be too many political problems and the prime minister might opt to dissolve the House.
Coalition parties have also agreed to amend Article 190 which requires parliamentary approval for international agreements. The article has been criticised by some politicians for stalling trade contracts.
But they would stay away from some problematic provisions for the time being.
One of the most controversial provisions is Article 273, which deals with the dissolution of parties and withdrawal of the election rights of party executives.
Mr Abhisit said now was the time to continue the work of the parliamentary committee on reconciliation, political reform and constitutional amendment.
The panel, chaired by Nonthaburi senator Direk Thungfang, came up with proposals after spending 45 days studying amendments.
He said amendments to the consti-tution were possible as long as the changes would benefit the country and not just serve some vested interests.
Somsak Prissananantakul, a banned member of the dissolved Chart Thai Party, has confirmed that coalition government parties had agreed with the plan to amend Article 190 and to switch back to the single-seat constituency system.
Mr Somsak is among de facto leaders of the coalition parties who met at the home of Suwat Liptapanlop, a key leader of the Ruamjaithai Chart Pattana Party, to discuss the charter amendments. Mr Suwat is known to be the de facto leader of a faction inside the Ruamjaithai Chart Pattana.
Mr Somsak said the leaders had agreed the two provisions were less controversial.
Puea Pandin secretary-general Chaiyos Jiramethakorn said the party supported the plan to amend Article 190 and the electoral system.
He said Puea Pandin believed Article 237 was highly controversial and should be put to a referendum.
Puea Thai deputy leader Plodprasop Suraswadi said it would be better to rewrite the whole constitution.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday said a meeting of the two houses of parliament had to be convened to debate the proposals.
He said the plan to amend the charter would be brought up for discussion at a cabinet meeting tomorrow.
"The debate on the proposals would give each party a chance to find common ground on how to proceed," Mr Abhisit said.
He said he had raised the matter with House Speaker Chai Chidchob and he had agreed it was possible to convene a joint session to discuss the proposed constitution amendments.
A highly placed source in the gov-ernment said many key members of the Democrat Party wanted to keep a key feature of the 2007 constitution,the electoral system featuring multiseat constituencies for MPs, intact.
But the other member parties of the coalition wanted to revert to a singleseat system. The parties argued that if the multi-member constituencies remained in place, the opposition Puea Thai Party would continue to dominate and make a clean sweep in the Northeast.
They said the single-seat constituencies system, in which a constituency becomes smaller with just one MP seat contested, would give them a chance to win more seats and defeat Puea Thai in the region.
The key figures pushing for change are from the Bhumjaithai Party which has high hopes at the next election in the Northeast.
The source said DeputyPrime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban had convinced Mr Abhisit to agree with the coalition parties on the issue. Mr Suthep reportedly met twice with influential politicians who are de facto leaders of coalition parties such as Banharn Silpa-archa, Newin Chidchob and Somsak Thepsuthin to discuss the proposed amendments.
The source said coalition parties wanted the electoral system changed as quickly as possible because they were not confident of the political situation in the months ahead. There might be too many political problems and the prime minister might opt to dissolve the House.
Coalition parties have also agreed to amend Article 190 which requires parliamentary approval for international agreements. The article has been criticised by some politicians for stalling trade contracts.
But they would stay away from some problematic provisions for the time being.
One of the most controversial provisions is Article 273, which deals with the dissolution of parties and withdrawal of the election rights of party executives.
Mr Abhisit said now was the time to continue the work of the parliamentary committee on reconciliation, political reform and constitutional amendment.
The panel, chaired by Nonthaburi senator Direk Thungfang, came up with proposals after spending 45 days studying amendments.
He said amendments to the consti-tution were possible as long as the changes would benefit the country and not just serve some vested interests.
Somsak Prissananantakul, a banned member of the dissolved Chart Thai Party, has confirmed that coalition government parties had agreed with the plan to amend Article 190 and to switch back to the single-seat constituency system.
Mr Somsak is among de facto leaders of the coalition parties who met at the home of Suwat Liptapanlop, a key leader of the Ruamjaithai Chart Pattana Party, to discuss the charter amendments. Mr Suwat is known to be the de facto leader of a faction inside the Ruamjaithai Chart Pattana.
Mr Somsak said the leaders had agreed the two provisions were less controversial.
Puea Pandin secretary-general Chaiyos Jiramethakorn said the party supported the plan to amend Article 190 and the electoral system.
He said Puea Pandin believed Article 237 was highly controversial and should be put to a referendum.
Puea Thai deputy leader Plodprasop Suraswadi said it would be better to rewrite the whole constitution.
OPPOSITION WON'T JOIN MADAGASCAR UNITY GOVERNMENT
Madagascars opposition movements refused to join Andry Rajoelinas unity government yesterday and warned the island nation was heading towards a dangerous situation.
Mr Rajoelina, who seized power in a March coup, declared on Friday he would head the transition and ordered his prime minister to form a government of national unity and restore constitutional order after months of turmoil.
Of course we will not participate in this government. We reject it, said Emmanuel Rakotovahiny, a senior member of ex-president Albert Zafys delegation.
The country is moving towards a dangerous situation where there may never be peace, he added.
Madagascars four power brokers Messrs Rajoelina, Zafy and former presidents Marc Ravalomanana and Didier Ratsiraka signed a power-sharin g accord last month but have been deadlocked since on who should take key posts. Under the agreement, the four rivals must pick a consensus government,sharing the posts of president, vicepresident, prime minister, and 28 other ministers, among the four parties.
In a signed statement posted on the popular blog site Sobika, the Ratsiraka movement said Mr Rajoelina had violated the deal by appointing himself and his prime minister to the two key posts.
[Andry Rajoelina] has flagrantly contradicted what was agreed at Maputo ...the Ratsiraka movement, and all those who support it, reject this decision of Mr Rajoelina, a statement from the Ratsiraka movement declared.
Mr Rajoelina, a former mayor of Antananarivo, led deadly street protests that toppled Mr Ravalomanana, with help from dissident military officers. He has refused to give up control of the president and prime ministers posts.
A senior Ravalomanana ally, Fetison Andrianirina, called yesterday for the international community to intervene.
To unilaterally set up a government was not part of the Maputo deal. Its a form of dictatorship theyre establishing,Mr Andrianirina said.
Mr Rajoelina, who seized power in a March coup, declared on Friday he would head the transition and ordered his prime minister to form a government of national unity and restore constitutional order after months of turmoil.
Of course we will not participate in this government. We reject it, said Emmanuel Rakotovahiny, a senior member of ex-president Albert Zafys delegation.
The country is moving towards a dangerous situation where there may never be peace, he added.
Madagascars four power brokers Messrs Rajoelina, Zafy and former presidents Marc Ravalomanana and Didier Ratsiraka signed a power-sharin g accord last month but have been deadlocked since on who should take key posts. Under the agreement, the four rivals must pick a consensus government,sharing the posts of president, vicepresident, prime minister, and 28 other ministers, among the four parties.
In a signed statement posted on the popular blog site Sobika, the Ratsiraka movement said Mr Rajoelina had violated the deal by appointing himself and his prime minister to the two key posts.
[Andry Rajoelina] has flagrantly contradicted what was agreed at Maputo ...the Ratsiraka movement, and all those who support it, reject this decision of Mr Rajoelina, a statement from the Ratsiraka movement declared.
Mr Rajoelina, a former mayor of Antananarivo, led deadly street protests that toppled Mr Ravalomanana, with help from dissident military officers. He has refused to give up control of the president and prime ministers posts.
A senior Ravalomanana ally, Fetison Andrianirina, called yesterday for the international community to intervene.
To unilaterally set up a government was not part of the Maputo deal. Its a form of dictatorship theyre establishing,Mr Andrianirina said.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Iran gets first female minister
Parliament yesterday approved Iran's first woman minister,backed a relative novice as oil minister and installed as defence minister a man wanted by Argentina for an attack on a Jewish centre in 1994.
Deputies rejected three of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's proposed new 21-member cabinet, which followed the hardliner's re-election in a disputed June election, the speaker announced.
The outcome of parliament's voting signalled a limited setback for Mr Ahmadinejad, who had four of his firstchoice nominees rejected by the assembly in 2005.
The June presidential poll, which was followed by huge opposition protests,plunged Iran into its deepest internal crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and exposed deepening divisions in its ruling elite. The legislature is dominated by conservatives, but some of Mr Ahmadinejad's supporters have abandoned him since the election. But crucially for Mr Ahmadinejad, heavyweight nominees including the oil, defence,intelligence, interior, economy and foreign ministers were all approved by MPs.
"A new era of constructive cooperation between parliament and government started today,"Mr Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by official media Ahmadinejad shortly before the vote result was announced.
The nomination of Ahmad Vahidi as defence minister has been condemned by Argentina, which accuses him of involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish centre that killed 85 people. Teheran has repeatedly denied any link to the attack.
Mr Vahidi received the highest number of votes in favour of all nominees,227 out of 286 members of parliament present, in a show of defiance.
Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi received the lowest number of votes of
the approved ministers,147.
Like several other nominees, Mr Mirkazemi, who was commerce minister in Mr Ahmadinejad's outgoing government, had been criticised for lack of experience.
He faces the challenge of boosting oil and gas output under US and UN sanctions,imposed because of a dispute over Iran's nuclear programme.In 2005,Mr Ahmadinejad failed to get his first three choices for oil minister appointed due to parliamentary opposition.
The three nominees who were rejected this time were the proposed energy, welfare and education ministers.
Of three nominated female ministers,only Health Minister Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi was approved. She will become the Islamic Republic's first female minister. Mr Ahmadinejad has three months to propose new candidates to replace those voted down by the 290-seat parliament. Despite the rejection of some ministers, the cabinet can still start working and Mr Ahmadinejad has scheduled its first meeting for Sunday.
The president's moderate foes say the June 12 election was rigged to secure his re-election and regard the government as illegitimate. The authorities deny the vote was fraudulent.
Meanwhile, an ally of Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has said 72 people were killed in the street protests that erupted after the disputed June presidential election, a reformist website reported yesterday.
The death toll provided by Alireza Hosseini Beheshti showed an increase of three compared to an estimate he gave on Aug 11. The authorities say at least 26 people were killed and members of the pro-government Islamic Basij militia were among the dead.
Deputies rejected three of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's proposed new 21-member cabinet, which followed the hardliner's re-election in a disputed June election, the speaker announced.
The outcome of parliament's voting signalled a limited setback for Mr Ahmadinejad, who had four of his firstchoice nominees rejected by the assembly in 2005.
The June presidential poll, which was followed by huge opposition protests,plunged Iran into its deepest internal crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and exposed deepening divisions in its ruling elite. The legislature is dominated by conservatives, but some of Mr Ahmadinejad's supporters have abandoned him since the election. But crucially for Mr Ahmadinejad, heavyweight nominees including the oil, defence,intelligence, interior, economy and foreign ministers were all approved by MPs.
"A new era of constructive cooperation between parliament and government started today,"Mr Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by official media Ahmadinejad shortly before the vote result was announced.
The nomination of Ahmad Vahidi as defence minister has been condemned by Argentina, which accuses him of involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish centre that killed 85 people. Teheran has repeatedly denied any link to the attack.
Mr Vahidi received the highest number of votes in favour of all nominees,227 out of 286 members of parliament present, in a show of defiance.
Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi received the lowest number of votes of
the approved ministers,147.
Like several other nominees, Mr Mirkazemi, who was commerce minister in Mr Ahmadinejad's outgoing government, had been criticised for lack of experience.
He faces the challenge of boosting oil and gas output under US and UN sanctions,imposed because of a dispute over Iran's nuclear programme.In 2005,Mr Ahmadinejad failed to get his first three choices for oil minister appointed due to parliamentary opposition.
The three nominees who were rejected this time were the proposed energy, welfare and education ministers.
Of three nominated female ministers,only Health Minister Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi was approved. She will become the Islamic Republic's first female minister. Mr Ahmadinejad has three months to propose new candidates to replace those voted down by the 290-seat parliament. Despite the rejection of some ministers, the cabinet can still start working and Mr Ahmadinejad has scheduled its first meeting for Sunday.
The president's moderate foes say the June 12 election was rigged to secure his re-election and regard the government as illegitimate. The authorities deny the vote was fraudulent.
Meanwhile, an ally of Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has said 72 people were killed in the street protests that erupted after the disputed June presidential election, a reformist website reported yesterday.
The death toll provided by Alireza Hosseini Beheshti showed an increase of three compared to an estimate he gave on Aug 11. The authorities say at least 26 people were killed and members of the pro-government Islamic Basij militia were among the dead.
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