0		Government, Economic, Team

I have a post on the new Cabinet coming, but this part of the post got too large and it is interesting in itself and deserves its own post. It was widely speculated that for the government's economic team (Finance and Commerce Ministers) that we would get 1-2 technocrats. With the release of the new cabinet, we find out that the Finance Minister remains the same and the former Public Health Minister becomes the Commerce Minister so no technocrats for either position.

Bloomberg has the details:

Samak transferred Commerce Minister Mingkwan Sangsuwan to the Industry Ministry, while Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee kept his position, according to a statement from the Royal Palace in Bangkok today. Chaiya Sasomsup, who was forced to step down as health minister after the Constitutional Court said he failed properly to disclose assets, replaces Mingkwan.
...
``We are in need of a capable economic team,'' said Ekachai Chongvisal, who helps oversee $2.3 billion at Tisco Asset Management Co. in Bangkok, before the announcement today. ``The problem with the government at the moment is that there seems to be a lot of talk and not much action, so whoever comes in must push forward.''

Surapong, the finance minister, faced pressure to resign after a court ruled July 28 that the former premier's administration illegally created a lottery. Surapong was one of three ministers who also served in Thaksin's administration. The others are Labor Minister Uraiwan Thienthong and Deputy Transport Minister Anurak Jureemart, who also stayed in cabinet.

`Not Budging'

``The three ministers have said they're not budging, so Samak would need a lot of courage to actually replace them,'' said Prudhisan Jumbala, a political science lecturer at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

BP: It is a bit surprising that a technocrat hasn't been moved to at least Finance. The analyst's comments about Samak needing courage to replace them are interesting as Samak announced this morning, as reported in Thai Rath, the establishment of a 5 member committee to provide economic advice to the PM. Samak announced it will be headed by Dr. Veerapong Ramangkul,
a former Finance Minister, well-respected technocrat, and he was even a member of the CNS NLA. It was initially speculated that Dr. Veerapong would be Commerce Minister, but this hasn't come to be.

Also, as part of the committee is Dr. Narongchai Akrasanee - his profile is very technocratic and establishment:

Dr. Narongchai Akrasanee, former Minister of Commerce and Senator of Thailand, and former member of APEC Eminent Persons Group and APEC Business Advisory Council is Chairman of Seranee Holdings Co., Ltd., his family owned investment holdings company with investment in property, hospitality, financial services and knowledge businesses. He is also a Director of Thailand Development Research Institute, Mekong Institute, an Honorary Advisor to the Fiscal Policy Research Institute and Vice Chairman of the Executive Board of Industrial Finance Corporation of Thailand (IFCT). Concurrently he serves as an Advisor to Minister of Finance, the Thailand Representative on the ASEM Task Force, and Chairman of the Follow-up Committee on FTA.

Dr. Narongchai has been an active participant at international seminars and conferences on international economic affairs and sub regional / regional economic cooperation including GMS, ASEAN, EAEC, APEC, WTO, etc.

In the past Dr. Narongchai served as an advisor to several Prime Ministers of Thailand, a director of a number of publicly listed companies and as a consultant to ADB, the World Bank, UNDP, the Ford Foundation etc. Dr. Narongchai obtained B.Ec. degree with Honors from University of Western Australia under Colombo Plan Scholarship, and M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from the Johns Hopkins University under the Rockefeller Foundation Scholarship. He was also President of Schiller Stamford International University during 2000-2003. He spent many years teaching economics at Thammasat University, where he served as Dean of the Faculty of Economics in 1974.

Another member, Kanit Sangsubhan:

...Director of the Fiscal Policy Research Institute (FPRI) of the Ministry of Finance in Thailand. He served as the Director of the Overall Planning Division at the National Economic and Social Development Board from 1996 to 1999. He also served as an advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce Supachai Panitchpakdi from 1994 to 1996, and as an expert to the Standing Committee on Economics of the House of Representatives in the Parliament of Thailand from 1996 to 1997. He later joined the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) in Tokyo as a visiting scholar from 1999 to 2000. He joined the FPRI in 2000 and is now serving as Director and Honorable Advisor for Thailand Investment Service Center. Since 2004, he has been assigned as a Director of Dhanarak Asset Development Board and Member of the Advisory Board for ADBI. He has a bachelor's and a master's degree in economics from Thammasat University in Bangkok and a doctorate in economics from the University of Toronto.

BP: Doesn't this read like a very technocratic orientated Board? Anyone know the other two names? I wonder if Samak is taking on more of the economic role to force Surapong out - he might be forced out if the Council of State rules against him given the Court's acceptance of the lottery case. Then again, many of these committee members have extensive financial holdings and being part of the committee avoids having to dissolve all financial holdings which is almost in effect what they would have to do as Ministers under the new constitution, so having the ear of the increasingly dominant PM might make them almost as, if not more, powerful.