• 
• 

Published on March 4, 2008

 The issues may be one day late, but it's the angle and the perspective in the news stories that count as these articles will give you a glimpse of what the top Thai newspapers think.

Let's start with the issues of the day. Of course, most headlines in Thai newspapers dealt with the Senate election on Sunday. Krungthep Thurakij's editorial expressed its disappointment with the low voter turnout at the polls.

Krungthep Thurakij attributed this low turnout to the fact that the public has lost its trust in the Senate because some senators in the past had turned out to be puppets of political parties.

Therefore, new senators should restore public trust by serving the public interest without allowing political interference. Otherwise, the Senate will be shamefully dubbed as "the slavery house" again.

Most Thai newspapers  carried commentaries on the Bank of Thailand's abrupt decision to end capital controls. The burning question is : what's next?

Thai Rath columnist Lom Pleantis offered an optimistic outlook. He said that from now on, the Finance Ministry and the central bank should be able to better manage currencies due to the effectiveness of the Bank of Thailand Act and the Public Debt Management Act, which came into effect yesterday.

 Lom Pleanthis' optimism came after he talked with Bank of Thailand Governor Tarisa Watanagase.

 Tarisa said that the baht should not rise much against the US dollar after the capital control cancellation because the market had already absorbed the news for some time, reflected in the baht's rise to Bt31 to the dollar before the controls were removed.

Besides, the Bank of Thailand will have more flexibility in managing the baht due to the newly enacted Bank of Thailand Act. "Not many people know that from now on the Bank of Thailand and the Finance Ministry will be better equipped to stabilise the Thai baht," Lom wrote.

Thai Post columnist Veera Mantrongthreecheep, on the other hand, questioned the Bank of Thailand's motives. Citing the Chinese idiom "Shed no tears until seeing the coffin" in his opening paragraph, he asked whether the central bank had actually seen the coffin or whether someone had just drawn a picture of a coffin to scare central bankers.

Veera said the Bank of Thailand's reasons for ending the capital controls were not convincing.

For instance, according to Veera the central bank claimed that the economy had already picked up in the fourth quarter. Veera said he wasn't convinced of this.

Besides, he questioned the effectiveness of the measures, which had been in place since December 18, 2006.

Veera compared the baht level before the controls of Bt35 to Bt36 to the dollar to the recent levels of Bt31. He argued the baht should have been around Bt34 to the dollar with the capital controls.

Manager led with the headline "Expect Tarisa to be sacked: a sacrifice of the 30-per cent capital controls."

The secondary headline said, "Thaksin's order to appoint Thirachai [Phuvanatnaranubala, the Securities and Exchange Commission secretary-general]". Our readers can check Manager for the full story.

Matichon's business commentary section devoted an entire page to the same issue with the headline: "BOT's cancellation of the capital controls: was the timing right or were there unseen influences?" The report said: "Both the decisions to impose and revoke the capital controls happened when there was a change of power in the government."

Matichon said that although political parties promised to cancel the controls as part of their political campaigns, Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee later dodged the question of whether the government would end the controls.

The paper said the timing of the announcement was surprising.

"If the central bank said it lifted the controls because of the improved economic situation in the fourth quarter, why didn't it lift the ban earlier?"

"Thus, the central bank should explain the justification behind the ban. Otherwise, what the central bank did would contradict its actions. Then, there would be questions of whether the BOT acted because of other reasons."

The paper said there's risk  ahead because it is not certain how much more foreign capital would flow into the region.

Besides, the decision to end the controls coincided with the thunderous reshuffling of top officials at other agencies including the Department of Special Investigation, the Royal Thai Police, the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation and the Public Relations Department.

"The timing was coincidental and society began debating whether the central bank these days is no longer an 'elitist' institution that's beyond the political influence," the paper wrote.

Compiled by Jeerawat Na Thalang

The Nation