PM, govt 'driven by self-interest'

Launching the no-confidence debate in Parliament, Abhisit accused Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej of lacking historical knowledge, distorting the facts and falsely presenting information about Preah Vihear Temple, which could effect Thai sovereignty.

Abhisit, who outlined the opposition's strategy to attack the government, said in its first four months in power it had shown a lack effectiveness and vision in tackling the country's problems.

He said it had failed to tackle problems related to energy, food, poverty, the economy and inflation.

The Democrat leader blamed the government for letting the problems of the restive South persist and become worse.

Not only has the government failed to create unity, Samak himself also lacks maturity and his comments are causing even bigger rifts in the country, Abhisit said.

Abhisit said the government was not doing enough to give hope to the residents of the South and dismissed suggestions the situation was improving. The number of daily attacks might be declining, but they are more intense and areas are being hit that have not been attacked before.

Abhisit said the government's attempts to amend the Constitution for the sake of people whose political rights had been revoked was another cause for discontent.

Samak has refused to reshuffle the Cabinet even though some ministers are clearly unqualified, Abhisit said. Then there is the case of former PM's Office minister Jakrapob Penkair, who was accused of lese majeste and Samak did nothing until the problem became intolerable.

The Thai people could not trust the Samak government to run the country any longer, he said. It should have managed the oil situation better, and its measures such as green oil and purple oil were too little and too late.

Abhisit said the government should use state enterprises for the benefit of the people instead of allowing companies like PTT to continue with its profit-driven mode.

While the people are suffering from rising oil prices, PTT's profit of Bt100 billion per year came from a monopoly it should not have, he added.

The Opposition Leader said the government was administering the country on a day-by-day basis with little regard to the well-being of consumers and their energy needs.

Without clear policies, the Finance Ministry has blocked the development of proposals by the Energy Ministry on whether to promote E85, NGV, LPG and other kinds of fuel to handle future energy crises, he said.

He said this lack of clarity had made it difficult for the private sector, especially auto-makers, to come up with their own ideas and plans for energy conservation.

Lack of unity in the government is causing more problems, Abhisit said. The Commerce Ministry has lost the chance to help farmers. The commerce minister also lacked unity with his deputy and the prime minister, resulting in unclear measures.

Meanwhile, the PM and ministers in charge of the economy have no plans to try and reduce the people's burden, such as student tuition fees and senior citizens' expenses, by adding a mid-year budget to help them.

Abhisit said Samak had decided to delay a decision on the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority's leasing of 6,000 NGV buses for fear it would become a scandal in the censure debate.

Claiming the proposal was just a test of the waters is not true, he said, as it contained details of how the budget was calculated. While Samak had signed the proposal, the costs listed in the budget were far higher than they should be.