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Published on February 7, 2008

Call it a slap in the face or a deliberate challenge to the average Thai citizen's sense of propriety, but the fact that some of the 111 former Thai Rak Thai Party executives banned from politics for five years by the Constitution Court have managed to put their wives, brothers and cronies in the new Cabinet represents nothing less than an outright, inexcusable insult to the nation's intelligence.

Samak may have been trying to drive down public expectations of his Cabinet by admitting that he wasn't in a position to cobble together a better Council of Ministers due to the inherent limitations of a six-party coalition government.

The Nation

But that doesn't absolve him from bearing the responsibility of offering his services as a democratically elected prime minister who will get the country back on track after the September 2006 coup and on the road to economic recovery.

It's bad enough that the new premier has a full-time job trying to convince the rest of the country and the world that he is for real - and that he is not just a puppet or a nominee of ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

It doesn't help the current prime minister's credibility either that critics have been speculating that he is only a seat-warmer - and have been calling Somchai Wongsawasdi, Thaksin's brother-in-law and a deputy premier in the new Cabinet, a "prime minister in waiting".

Samak has been sending out confusing signals on the perceived longevity of his own tenure. He first said that he had only a specific mission to accomplish as the country's chief executive.

But then he changed tack, telling coalition partners that the new government should work at staying for its full term.

A few days after that, he declared that his term would be "at least four years, and at most eight years".

Over the weekend, however, the new premier said the new constitution needed to be amended because it was biased against politicians.

Then, as if hitting on a new realisation, he added: "And once the constitution is amended, it's only fair that a new election should be held."

If Samak's intention was to confuse and confound his political foes, he has succeeded admirably. But if he wants to recover some of his lost credibility - which is a must if he is to continue in office - then his flip-flops will only further undermine his dream of going down in history as a man of real political achievement.

The composition of his Cabinet has already put a big dent in his grasp on political power.

"It's not a pretty thing. In fact, it's a bit ugly," the People Power Party leader admitted to reporters. If he was sincerely apologetic about the despicable composition of the new Cabinet, he didn't show it.

In fact, one could sense that Samak was simply trying to confirm the claim he had made on the day he was named prime minister: that he knows every little trick in the political game.

The premier cited one glaring example of how he failed to get his way when naming a deputy finance minister from the Puea Pandaen Party, a coalition partner:

"They wanted Pairoj Suwannachawi's wife as deputy finance minister. I told them that I preferred Khun Jaturon Chaisaeng's younger brother instead, because the elder brother was good at working out budgetary numbers. But they wouldn't budge. And I couldn't get it my way."

Samak can't expect to get everything his way, of course. But voters have every right to expect a much more acceptable Cabinet line-up. After all, they didn't cast their ballots on December 23 to put 233 People Power members into the 480-member House - making the party the single largest in Parliament - for nothing.

By thrusting upon us a Grade-B Cabinet, the new prime minister is turning us all into second-class citizens.