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Chettha embracing a political caree



Subject: Chettha embracing a political career 

                                                            
                                        October 25, 1998 


 Chettha embracing a political career

 Why has Gen Chettha Thanajaro, who once held the most powerful
 Army post, settled for an Interior post many deem below his honour
 and dignity? Or has the former military strongman been duped by
 experienced politicians? political magazines asked.

 The unblemished former Army chief shouldn't have settled for an aide
 to Maj-Gen Sanan Kachornprasart, deputy prime minister and also
 Interior chief, said Siam Rath.

 Gen Chettha wasn't shy admitting he was at first wary of politics. "I
 once said to myself politics wasn't for me, and that I wouldn't be able
 to cope with experienced and well-trained politicians," the weekly
 quoted the former Army boss as saying.

 Speculation was ripe that Pol Lt-Col Thaksin Shinawatra was
 prepared to make the general his Thai Rak Thai deputy leader. On the
 other hand, the Democrat Party was wooing him.

 "I have a long experience in drug suppression", he said. "Being an
 assistant to Maj-Gen Sanan doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to join
 the Democrats."

 But it is now certain the former Army chief is embracing a political
 career. He has just resigned as chairman of the Thai Military Bank's
 board of directors, sacrificing 10 million baht annually in salary. 

 "Banking and politics are incompatible. So I've stepped down as
 chairman of the board," Siam Rath quoted him as saying, adding the
 top general is no longer at the helm of the Olympic Committee of
 Thailand.

 Like Gen Wattanachai Wuthisiri, Gen Chettha may have learnt the
 hard way it takes time to grow in the Democrat hierarchical ladder of
 success. Or perhaps the knowledgeable general is testing the waters
 before deciding to formally join a political party to pursue his political
 goals, the weekly theorised.

 Should Gen Wattanachai decide against quitting politics as he once
 threatened to do, Gen Chettha would probably be destined for the
 deputy defence post.

 "The former army chief has fallen from heaven," Than Weekly Review
 bluntly put it in its lead story.

 But with the Democrat leader doubling as premier and Defence chief,
 it would become increasingly true that the coveted military post would
 continue to be used to lure prospective candidates for the party list in a
 fast approaching general election. 

                                                       
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 Last Modified: Sun, Oct 25, 1998
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