THAILAND UPDATE OCTOBER 19: IT'S BETTER TO BE GOOD

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 006398

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PACOM FOR FPA HUSO
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/18/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM TH
SUBJECT: THAILAND UPDATE OCTOBER 19: IT'S BETTER TO BE GOOD
THAN TO BE CLEVER


Classified By: DCM Alexander A. Arvizu reason 1.4 (b) (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: There is a vigorous debate over the choice
of president of the new assembly, which will begin work next
week. Several members of the cabinet are advocating
"anti-vice" measures, including raising the drinking age to
25 and ending the national lottery, as well as introducing a
strong ethics and morality component into the national
curriculum. Thai Rak Thai (TRT) continues to shrink, with the
southern-based Wadah faction resigning. They may join forces
with northeastern-based former TRT MPs and former PM General
Chavalit to recreate the New Aspiration Party. The National
Counter-Corruption Commission (NCCC) has received assets
declarations from all the former Cabinet ministers including
former PM Thaksin and will examine them for evidence of
ill-gotten gains. End summary.

ASSEMBLY CHAIR CONTROVERSY CONTINUES
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2. (SBU) Everyone is kibitzing over the selection of the
President of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA),which
will hold its ceremonial opening ceremony on Friday, October
20 and begin work in earnest on October 24. The early
front-runner, noted jurist Meechai Ruchupan, has been widely
criticized for his previous service to the 1991 coup
committee and to former PM Thaksin. Some NLA members are
saying publicly that the president does not have to be a
jurist, just a good leader, in an effort to undercut
Meechai's main credential. The ABAC Poll Centre reported
that the most popular candidate (30 percent) for the post was
former interior minister Purachai Piumsombum, famous for his
zealous efforts to stamp out vice in Bangkok. Purachai was a
close associate of Thaksin and leading TRT member, until he
took a break from politics in 2005 "to spend more time with
his family" in New Zealand. As Interior Minister in 2001, he
launched a "social order" campaign that included earlier
closing times for bars and other efforts to clean up
Bangkok's picturesque nightlife -- popular moves with at
least part of the citizenry that is culturally conservative.
Meechai came second in the ABAC with 19.5 percent. Prasong
Soonsiri, the controversial former National Security Council
SecGen and veteran of the 1992 democracy movement, is also in
the race. Both print and broadcast media are covering the
debate extensively.

MORE ON VICE
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3. (SBU) Vice is clearly one of the preoccupations of the
interim government. The health minister pushed through a ban
on alcohol advertisements and tried to institute a rise in
the drinking age to 25. The minister appears to have won the
battle on the advertising ban (although it may cost some
30,000 jobs, according to industry sources). The cabinet did
not agree to raise the drinking age, and the issue will be
studied further. Poloff spoke to some university students
this week who were sanguine over military coup but very
concerned about the rise in the drinking age -- and these
were Muslim students attending an iftar.


4. (SBU) The education ministry is also on board. PAO met
with the ministry's Permsec this week, who emphasized the
need for "morality and ethics" to be included in the new
national curriculum being developed. She underscored the
importance of teaching kids to be "good people" before
teaching them to be "competent" -- reversing the order of
priorities under Thaksin, she said.


5. (SBU) The government is also debating what to do about the
national lottery. On the one hand, some are arguing for
ending the lottery, since people who cannot afford it are
seduced into gambling by the allure of the big jackpots. On
the other hand, some argue that the criminals running the
underground lottery will be the main beneficiary if the state
lottery ends. A possible middle ground is to continue the
lottery but eliminate the largest jackpots. Thaksin
championed the national lottery as a revenue source for the

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government that would also hurt the criminal class by
eliminating the draw of the underground lottery. However, he
is accused of misusing the lottery proceeds as a slush fund,
yet another issue on the long list of transgressions to be
investigated by the interim government. Like the ban on
alcohol ads, the lottery decision also has revenue
implications.


6. (C) Comment: While it's easy to laugh about a 'morality
campaign,' question of ethics and how to maintain them is in
many ways cuts to the heart of the political crisis that led
to Thaksin's ouster. The commitment to morality and the
"sufficiency economy" championed by King Bhumiphol and now by
the interim government signals a direct repudiation of
"Thaksinomics" and the culture of corruption that came along
with it. Some elements of this policy may be very popular,
as Thailand's image as haven for sex tourists and reprobates
is offensive to many Thais. Parents are especially worried
about the temptations that their children face in
free-wheeling Bangkok. If the government goes too far,
however, it will only reinforce concerns that it is
paternalistic and economically naive. End comment.

CHAVALIT REDUX?
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7. (U) Thai Rak Thai (TRT) lost seven more members, as the
Wadah faction announced its resignation from Thai Rak Thai.
Wadah included TRT MPs from the South, all of whom had lost
their seats in the 2005 election. Some Wadah members said
that they would consult with former TRT MPs from the
northeast to see if they might all approach former PM General
Chavalit Yongchaiyudh about reconstituting his New Aspiration
Party (NAP),which had been folded into TRT.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
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8. (C) All the members of the former cabinet, including
Thaksin, have turned in their assets declarations to the
National Counter-Corruption Commission (NCCC),which will
examine them for evidence of ill-gotten gains. The NCCC was
one of the independent watchdog bodies that had been
neutralized during the Thaksin administration. The previous
members of the NCCC had all lost their jobs after they voted
themselves an unauthorized pay raise in May, 2005. The
previous Senate had been unable to choose a new commission,
resulting in an enormous backlog of unexamined cases of
alleged official corruption. The coup makers revived the
NCCC in the immediate aftermath of the coup. The NCCC
spokesman said that the commission would make public the
declarations within one month.


9. (U) Thaksin's wife Pojaman returned to Thailand from
London on October 18. She was reportedly accompanied by two
of her children as well as close Thaksin advisor Pansak
Vinyaratn.
BOYCE