Saturday, September 13, 2008

Cooking Bad for Your Career?

The Thai constitutional court has ruled that Prime Minister Samak was ineligible to hold the PM post and has dissolved his leadership and cabinet. What did PM Samak do to incur the wrath of the Thai court? He simply cooked.

Actually, he did a bit more than cook. PM Samak is quite well known here in the Kingdom for his cooking prowess. Prior to becoming PM, he was hosting a cooking show on one of the Thai TV channels. He continued the weekly show after assuming the PM duties.

The problem is that the Thai constitution states that the PM may not have any employment outside the government. Since the television station paid PM Samak a salary for his show, the court ruled that he had outside employment. Instead of allowing him to correct that by resigning from the show, they invalidated his government, requiring Parliament to chose a new PM and cabinet.

The Thai court ruling did not necessarily mean a permanent end to Samak's role as PM. He was not punished or banned from Parliment, and indeed still held his seat. He could simply resign from the television station and the MP's could once again vote him as PM. This would essentially make the Thai court's ruling moot. At first, it appeared that this is exactly what would happen. After the ruling, key PPP (People's Power Party) members indicated that they would support PM's Samak's return to power.

Unfortunately for PM Samak, things are not always as they appear in Thai politics. Within a few days, support for PM Samak had evaporated, and it became clear that he would not be PM. He resigned from the head of the PPP party.

Perhaps what is the most interesting is that former PM Thaksin, who many claim is pulling the strings for the PPP, supported Samak's return as PM. Its not clear whether Thaksin's influence has waned after his flight to England to avoid prosecution, or whether he really supported Samak.

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