Christain Science Monitor – Yingluck’s Challenge

8 August 2011

5 August 2011 – SIU Director Kan Yuenyong was quoted by The Christian Science Monitor newspaper on Thai politics.

The article “Thailand’s first female leader takes helm of divided nation” by Simon Montlake is talking about Yingluck’s next challenge as the fist female PM.

Yingluck has never held public office and was virtually unknown before the election campaign. She previously served as an executive in Thaksin’s telecommunications group, which he sold to Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund in 2006.

Having helped elect the PTP, the red-shirt movement has an agenda that includes the freeing of scores of supporters jailed after the crackdown. Several red-shirt leaders charged for fomenting unrest were elected to parliament, and Thai newspapers have speculated that some may be rewarded with cabinet posts.

Keeping these factions happy will be another challenge for Yingluck, says Kan Yuenyong, director of Siam Intelligence Unit in Bangkok. Red shirt leaders have called for military and civilian leaders, including Mr. Abhisit, to be investigated over last year’s violence. “I think she can manage this in the short term, but in the long-term the red shirts will increasingly question why PTP isn’t doing more on the May clashes,” he says.