AMBASSADOR DISCUSSES POLICE CHIEF BATTLE AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BANGKOK 002625

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS, NSC FOR WALTON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/13/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM TH
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR DISCUSSES POLICE CHIEF BATTLE AND
DEMOCRAT PARTY POLITICS WITH FORMER PRIME MINISTER CHUAN
LEEKPAI

REF: A. BANGKOK 2597 (ENVIRONMENTALISTS VERSUS
INDUSTRIALISTS)

B. BANGKOK 2549 (CHARTER CHANGE)

C. BANGKOK 2125 (POLICE CHIEF BATTLE)

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Classified By: AMBASSADOR ERIC G. JOHN, REASON: 1.4 (B) AND (D).

SUMMARY AND COMMENT
--------------


1. (C) Summary: On October 13, the Ambassador met with Chuan
Leekpai, a two-time former Prime Minister and senior
statesmen within the ruling Democrat party. Chuan told the
Ambassador he believed PM Abhisit would stick to his
principles -- and not back down in his support of Police
General Prateep -- in resolving the ongoing Police Chief
controversy. Chuan also expressed regret that Niphon
Promphan, a former Secretary-General for Prime Minister
Abhisit and a trusted advisor to the Crown Prince, had
resigned as Secretary General. According to Chuan, Deputy
Prime Minister Suthep was not always as supportive of the
Prime Minister as Chuan would like him to be.


2. (C) On the subject of the constitutional reform efforts
under way in Parliament, Chuan told the Ambassador the
opposition Puea Thai party was only interested in paving the
way for Thaksin's return. Chuan did not see any realistic
avenue for Thaksin's imminent return to Thailand, and argued
that the Abhisit government had made great strides correcting
many of the problems Thaksin had created, particularly in the
area of press freedom. The Ambassador detailed for Chuan
U.S assistance work in terms of promoting good governance and
supporting the Thai judiciary. Chuan told the Ambassador he
thought the Map Tha Phut verdict would likely be overturned
on appeal (see para 15).


3. (C) Comment: Chuan was relaxed and seemed as sharp and
insightful as ever. We found Chuan's willingness to touch on
tensions between the PM and DPM Suthep to be revealing.
Though many of our Democrat contacts in Parliament have
assured us that Niphon Promphan's resignation represented
little more than an inconvenient speed bump for the party, it
was clear from Chuan's discussion of the resignation and
issues between the PM and DPM Suthep that the party is still
contending with a host of internal issues. While we believe
the PM will be able to weather these internal Democrat party
disagreements, as we saw with the Niphon resignation, from
time to time they will likely break out into full public
view. End Summary and Comment.


POLICE CHIEF ISSUE
--------------


4. (C) The Ambassador, accompanied by Acting Polcouns, began
the meeting by asking for Chuan's thoughts on the
long-simmering feud over the next Police Chief (REF C).
Chuan told the Ambassador that he expected PM Abhisit to
"remain true to himself" as the drama over the Police Chief
continued to unfold, adding that Abhisit would weigh long and
short-term interests in deciding what would be best for the
country. Hinting indirectly at the Crown Prince's
widely-publicized attempts to influence the decision, Chuan
told the Ambassador that the Prime Minister would act in the
people's best interests only, and would not be influenced by
outside parties.


5. (C) Noting that the Police Chief issue had forced the PM
to make difficult decisions, the Ambassador asked whether the
exhaustive domestic media coverage of the Police Chief issue
had exacerbated problems for Abhisit. Chuan agreed that it
had, but underscored his belief that Abhisit had shown
leadership on the issue and would ultimately prevail.
According to Chuan, if Abhisit were not a firm and principled

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leader, he would have buckled in the face of the pressure to
appoint a different candidate a long time ago. Abhisit
placed the country above all other interests.

INTRA-PARTY FEUDING
--------------


6. (C) Turning to the subject of Niphon Promphan's recent
decision to step down as Secretary General, Chuan told the
Ambassador that he had personally intervened in an effort to
prevent Niphon from resigning. Characterizing Niphon as an
"honest broker," Chuan said that it would be difficult to
replace him. When the Ambassador noted speculation that
Deputy Prime Minister Korbsak -- who has worked closely and
effectively with the Embassy on a range of economic issues --
was poised to be tapped for the job, Chuan said that Korbsak
had established himself as an authority on economic matters,
both in the government and formerly as a member of the
opposition.


7. (C) Chuan also expressed regret that Deputy Prime Minister
Suthep and Prime Minister Abhisit had clashed at times.
Chuan had worked to persuade Suthep to support the Prime
Minister across the board, but his efforts had not always
been completely successful. The Police Chief issue and
Niphon's resignation were symptomatic of a certain level of
dysfunction between the Prime Minister and the Deputy that
Chuan had worked to rectify.

CONSTITUTION
--------------


8. (C) The Ambassador asked Chuan for his thoughts on ongoing
efforts to reform the 2007 Constitution (REF B),noting PM
Abhisit's public comments that he would drop his
Constitutional reform efforts in the face of continued
opposition from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD),
aka "the yellow-shirts," and the Puea Thai party. According
to Chuan, agreeing on a path forward to revise the
Constitution would be exceedingly difficult as the government
and the opposition Puea Thai party really only agreed on two
items: a proposal to specify the types of international
agreements which require prior parliamentary approval, as
well as a proposal to allow members of parliament (MPs) to
concurrently hold positions within the government.


9. (C) On other issues of note, including a proposal to
return to an MP election system in which a single candidate
would represent a single constituency, the Democrat party and
Puea Thai were at loggerheads. According to Chuan, the
Democrats opposed a return to the single candidate/single
constituency system as vote buying was a major problem with
such a system. Chuan believed another proposal -- which
would ban candidates found guilty of electoral fraud and
party executives found guilty of collusion without dissolving
the party -- should in theory enjoy support from all parties,
though it currently had little traction. In lamenting the
slow overall progress on the constitutional reform effort,
Chuan put the blame squarely on the Puea Thai party's
shoulders. According to Chuan, Puea Thai was only truly
interested in revising the Constitution to allow Thaksin to
return without facing jail time. The party cared very little
about anything else.

THAKSIN AND HIS LEGACY
--------------


10. (C) On the subject of Thaksin, the Ambassador asked Chuan
whether he believed there was any viable path forward for his
return to Thailand, noting the many obstacles seemingly
preventing such a return. Chuan agreed that Thaksin's
fugitive legal status and insistence on avoiding jail time
made the prospect of his return unlikely anytime soon. He
characterized it as a "complicated" situation.

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11. (C) Turning to Thaksin's mixed legacy as a Prime
Minister, Chuan asserted that under Prime Minister Abhisit
and the Democrat party leadership, there had been a surge in
media freedom. Thaksin had imposed severe limits on the
press and under Abhisit's leadership the landscape for
journalists in Thailand had changed dramatically.
Furthermore, PM Abhisit had made great strides in tackling
corruption in the Thai media and had increased accountability
overall, two major improvements compared to the Thaksin
administration.

GOOD GOVERNANCE ASSISTANCE
--------------


12. (C) The Ambassador told Chuan that while the United
States had confidence in the strength and maturation of
democratic institutions in Thailand, corruption remained a
serious concern. With that in mind, the United States looked
forward to continuing its close collaboration with the RTG
and would expand its assistance efforts with an eye on
promoting good governance. Chuan shared the Ambassador's
concerns with the impact of corruption in Thailand and
inquired about the specifics of Mission's good governance
work. After the Ambassador outlined the details of the
programming, noting partnership with the independent agencies
involved with government oversight as well as civil society
groups, Chuan expressed his appreciation for USG assistance
programming and noted that the objectives were in line with
RTG goals.

THE JUDICIARY AND MAP THA PHUT
--------------


13. (C) Turning to the subject of the judiciary, the
Ambassador noted that in Thailand, judges moved to the bench
much faster than in many other legal systems. As a result,
judges often lacked valuable experience and the requisite
training needed to serve as an effective judge. Noting his
own legal background and training, Chuan agreed that judges
moved to the bench too quickly in some instances and conceded
that the system still required improvement. The Thai people
still had great confidence in the judiciary, however, and
Chuan stated that the vetting process for judges was
extremely rigorous.


14. (C) According to Chuan, the entire judicial branch had
made great strides since Thaksin's departure. Judges now
made decisions based on the evidence at hand, and corruption
was much less of a concern at all levels. There was still a
question of how best to balance judicial autonomy with
oversight, but overall, there was no question that conditions
throughout the legal system had greatly improved.


15. (C) Chuan told the Ambassador that the one notable
exception to what was an otherwise rigorous nationwide
selection process for judges was at the Administrative Court
level. The Administrative Courts had a different selection
process in place for judges and as a result, the quality of
the judges was uneven. The verdict in the Map Ta Phut
Industrial area case was an unfortunate illustration of this,
though Chuan was personally optimistic that the ruling would
be overturned on appeal. To the extent that one could take
anything positive away from the Map Ta Phut ruling, Chuan
believed that it least it demonstrated to the world that
Thailand was committed to protecting the environment.

LEGAL TRAINING
--------------


16. (C) The Ambassador noted that -- in addition to its Good
Governance programming -- the USG also worked with the RTG on
judicial training. Mission conducted police and prosecutor
workshops and collaborated with other training opportunities.

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Chuan expressed appreciation for the training and asked
whether the United States would be able to assist with
evidence collection and forensics work. The Ambassador
informed Chuan that the United State States already
collaborated in this area throughout the country, noting for
example the assistance the USG had provided to investigators
in the South charged with investigating violent attacks.
(Note: Mission will follow-up with a letter to Chuan
detailing all aspects of Mission's law enforcement and
judicial training efforts. End Note.)



JOHN