The reason is clear: he will no longer serve as chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries, one of the country's largest private institutions and a major player in the economy.

Given the grand scale of the federation's membership, Praphad in recent months has been one of the hottest commodities in town. He has been chased after for comments on the political turmoil, the spike in oil prices and now the strong baht. Who could better represent the business community than this man?

But this week he relieves himself of his duties as chairman, as the federation's committees convene today to select his successor. Likely candidates include Santi Vilassakdanon and Kiatpong Noichaiboon.

Asked what he wanted to do after stepping down, Praphad said with a grin: "I have my own business to watch over."

Indeed, every Thai company has a long list of things it must do to make a profit right now. But Praphad, starting today, is no longer responsible for making comments that represent every other member of the federation as well. From now on he can focus on his own affairs.

Given so many problems on the horizon, we can't see why he should not be relieved.

Weird and wired

BankThai has introduced a new money-transfer service. In English, the service is beautifully named "Wire @t Wish".

But probably because it is not a very easy name for its general customers to pronounce correctly, the bank launched a contest to name the service in Thai, and the winning Thai name was Oone Load.

Some Thais who do not have any experience with the language spoken in the Northeast may not quite understand what the Thai name really means.

While "Oone" is equivalent to "transfer", what does "Load" really mean?

Isaan people, however, will instantly recognise it. If you tell a friend "Hed ['Do'] Load", you are telling him/her to go ahead with his/her plan. If you tell a child "Pai ['Go'] Load" when he/she divulges a plan to study overseas, it means a recommendation to go ahead.

It is quite surprising that a northeastern word was picked for a hi-tech service like a money transfer. As far as I know, BankThai's president Phirasilp Suphapholsiri was not born in Isaan.

achara_d@nationgroup.com