New Thai cabinet off limits to Red Shirts

BANGKOK: The victorious Puea Thai party will not appoint Red Shirt leaders as cabinet ministers as the incoming Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, negotiates the make-up of Thailand's new coalition government with the country's minor parties, party sources say.
The party, backed by mass Red Shirt support, is treading warily to avoid upsetting Thailand's powerful military or Bangkok's government and business elite who are reeling from Puea Thai's landslide win in Sunday's poll.
The Red Shirts, a movement of mostly rural and urban poor, have been at the centre of Thailand's six-year political crisis.

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Treading warily ... Red Shirt leaders will not be appointed as cabinet ministers according to the Puea Thai party. Photo: Getty Images

Dozens of their leaders were jailed after a brutal crackdown on protests in April and May last year that left 91 people dead.
The military has vowed not to meddle in the election result but has used its influence to keep the exiled billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra from office in the past.
Thaksin, a divisive figure loathed and feared by many of Bangkok's old-money elite, is the older brother of Ms Yingluck, 44, who is about to become Thailand's first female prime minister.
Puea Thai (For Thais) is set to consolidate its power by joining with four other parties to have 299 seats in Thailand's 500-seat parliament.
According to Thai media reports, the legislative agenda of the new government will include an amnesty for Thaksin over a 2008 conviction for corruption for which he was sentenced to two years' jail.
However, in interviews from his base in Dubai, Thaksin has said he will not return to Thailand if it is going to stoke new violence.
The Bangkok Post quoted a Puea Thai source as saying the party would have to wait for the right timing to pass the amnesty legislation.
The party would not rush to bring Thaksin back, the source was quoted as saying.
Ms Yingluck, a political novice who electrified slick campaign rallies, has promised to foster reconciliation in the bitterly divided country.
She said her first urgent mission would be to establish a new truth and reconciliation commission.
Her second would be to honour King Bhumibol on his 84th birthday.
But before she makes any overtures to the many enemies of the Thaksin camp she needs to oversee intense negotiations for ministries in the government.
Puea Thai is made up of a diverse group of people who differ on how the party should govern Thailand.
One of the most divisive issues is whether Thaksin should be allowed to return to the country.
Analysts say his return would be a potential flashpoint for renewed violence.


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