Monday, February 1, 2010

Banharn to Abhisit: Be a bit more broad-minded (whatever that means...)


Banharn Silpa-archa, the "owner" of Chat Thai Pattana Party, has been in the news lately for engineering the charter amendment to make for a single-constituencies system.

But when he appeared on TV this morning, Banharn wanted to make sure that he didn't draw too much attention of the Election Commission because he is still on the five-year ban from politics and is not supposed to be involved in any political activity.

First, he said, he was the "pillar" of the party. Then, he changed tack, saying he was "only an adviser."

Asked to comment on PM Abhisit Vejjajiva's personality, Banharn said:

"At his age, he could be my grandson. I am his father's friend. I think he is very smart and intelligent. But I would like him to be a little bit more broad-minded, not narrow-minded...."

He then insisted that despite the differences over the proposed constitutional changes between the coalition parnters and the PM's Democrat Party, "the coalition government will survive. In fact, it may even live out the full term."

In other words, Banharn said the proposed charter amendment movement would be treated as a separate issue from the coalition's survival.

That means whatever you hear about the coalition partners' being mad at the Democrats, they still want to remain in power. A new election is the last thing they want.

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