Thai PM looks for harmony amid post-coup rifts

BANGKOK, Oct 2: Thailand's new prime minister started work today with pledges to focus on national reconciliation and ''people's happiness'' in the wake of last month's military coup against Thaksin Shinawatra.

After a blessing ceremony with a senior monk, retired general and devout Buddhist Surayud Chulanont moved into the Government House offices that have been empty since the September 19 putsch, Thailand's 18th in seven decades of democracy.

In a hint of the troubles that might lie ahead for the respected former army chief, foreign investors sold off Thai shares on fears he will be a puppet of the military, who remain in the fray as a Council for National Security (CNS).

However, the baht, which fell to a 6-1/2-week low after billionaire telecoms tycoon Thaksin was deposed, held steady despite comments from Surayud that suggested a focus on healing social division before boosting economic growth.

''I don't think it will affect the market that badly but it is going to make people think twice before putting money into Thailand because they don't know him, and that is a problem,'' said Marco Sucharitkul of JP Morgan in Bangkok.

Surayud said his one-year tenure, which is meant to keep the country ticking over while a new constitution is drawn up, would focus on a ''self-sufficiency'' economic model espoused by revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej after the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

''We won't concentrate so much on the GDP numbers. We would rather look into the indicators of people's happiness and prosperity,'' he told a news conference shortly after being sworn in yesterday.

After a 10-minute meeting with Surayud, central bank governor Pridiyathorn Devakula said he had agreed to take an ''appropriate'' post in the new cabinet, but did not give details.

TANKS GONE, ARMY STILL THERE

Surayud's line-up, which should be revealed in a week, is sure to be scrutinised by investors wanting to see how serious he is about the economy -- and foreign governments and rights groups wanting to see how free he is of army interference.

The US ambassador was among his first official visitors.

The tanks returned to barracks within minutes of the stop-gap constitution being announced, but the coup leaders under army chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin are still very much in the fray.

As CNS president, Sonthi has the power to hire and fire governments and will appoint members of the 2,000-strong People's Assembly that will start work on a new long-term constitution.

The army will also vet the final draft of the constitution before it is submitted to a national referendum in about nine months, according to the generals' ''roadmap to democracy''.

Sonthi has tried to assuage fears about military meddling, telling Reuters the CNS would play a role only in security matters, such as tackling an insurgency in the Muslim far south where over 1,700 people have been killed since 2004.

''I can assure you it is impossible that we will control the government,'' he said. ''We will be the government's tool to keep peace.'' Thaksin, the winner of election landslides in 2001 and 2005, is now an exile in London and his Thai Rak Thai (TRT), or Thais Love Thais, party appears to be coming apart at the seams with the resignation of at least 70 of its members today.

REUTERS