During his 20-minute talk, every few minutes the audience erupted with laughter.

Sitthichai started with the wry observation that the ICT industry is a mess.

Up on the podium, giving the big picture of the industry landscape - in which the National Telecommunications Commission plays a supervisory role - he commented on its independence: "The NTC is so independent that they don't even listen to the government's policy." The audience warmed to that.

When it came to explaining infrastructure and legal problems in the business, he said with a shrug: "Operators complain, but they sure make money. That's a fact of life." More laughter.

After a month in office, he also demonstrated that he understood the conflicts between the state-owned operators TOT and CAT Telecom. While showing charts of the fibre-optic infrastructure owned by the two companies, one of which used metres and the other kilometres to measure networks, he remarked: "Look. They even measure wires differently."

When asked how he could solve the ongoing problems, he said in a burst of candour: "Seriously, I'm aware of the problems." Then, raising his eyebrows as if he were angry with the questioner, he added, "but I'm not God".

Surely, given the complexity of the problems, only a supreme being could solve them all in a year, but the impression the audience took home that day was that this minister had been wasting an opportunity with his career as an academic. Even the greatest comedian on television couldn't have drawn as much laughter between commercial breaks as Sitthichai did on Friday.

achara_d@nationgroup.com