Yingluck calls for govt to be given a chance

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday urged the country to let her government show what it can do, expressing confidence that the administration would get a good score.

"We just need the chance to work. It is like doing a test. No one would say that everyone must do the test 100 per cent correctly. But I believe I will pass all the subjects," Yingluck said.

"We will not be discouraged. We are determined to bring happiness to the people. We will not administer politics, but will work to bring back happiness for Thais and the country," she said after thanking the participants in the policy debate.

The declaration of Cabinet policy to the Senate-House joint session reached an end yesterday after the session was abruptly adjourned the previous night. Only after the policy statement is delivered to Parliament and questioned by lawmakers can the government start working. The opposition chief whip wrapped up the debate by saying the policies contrasted with what was said during the Pheu Thai Party's election campaign.

On the other hand, Yingluck said her government was honest and loyal to democracy as well as the monarchy.

"Importantly, the government's policies were drafted with the people's interest in mind. No proposed policy is distorted or deceptive, as you [parliamentarians] said. There is no reason for the government, which came from the people, to be dishonest to the people.

"We have to do what we said to the people during the campaign. But we gave priority to the results to be delivered in the policy drafting or presentation, not to literary interpretation.

"We focused on the ends, not the means, as we were not the government yet," she said. "The phrase in the policy calling for a minimum daily income of Bt300 for workers has the same meaning as what we said during the election campaign. The wording was selected so that all state and private employees are covered."

The government is willing to give advice to and cooperate to help businesses that cannot adjust to the higher daily income, she said.

The opposition has argued that the Thai word for "income" now being used by the government may imply that the daily Bt300 includes benefits as well as cash, which is different from the implication during the campaign of a "wage" of Bt300 plus benefits.

Yingluck said the government was sincere and determined to press ahead with its policies. The Bt15,000 minimum salary for university graduates, which the Pheu Thai Party said would be made available immediately, will start with state officials as soon as the 2012 budget is in effect, she said.

The government will strive to ensure reconciliation, but will not interfere in the work of the National Truth for Reconciliation Committee, she said.

"On Japan granting a visa for Thaksin, I had no mandate at that time. And it was the right of the Japanese government [to decide]. I affirm to you again the government is determined to push for all policies proposed," she said.

When the meeting was called to order in the afternoon, it took more than an hour before the legislators started discussing the policies. MPs and senators pointed at House Speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont, who comes from the Pheu Thai Party, as the person who caused the meeting to adjourn on Wednesday night.

Jurin Laksanawisit, the opposition chief whip, blamed government MPs for not keeping their word and preventing other MPs and senators from speaking when they still had time left. Somsak should review his role as many felt he was biased, he said.

Abhisit said he raised his hand to propose a solution on Wednesday night but Somsak ignored him.

Senator Somchai Sawangkarn said Somsak should enforce meeting regulations and MPs and senators should set a good example. Senators said the government and opposition MPs should recognise the importance of senators, not just see them as bodies needed for a quorum.

After quarrelling between government and opposition MPs went too far, Somsak called for a break. Pheu Thai MP Prasert Chantararuang-thong proposed that the assembly be closed but a Democrat MP requested for the meeting to resume.

Somsak asked for a vote, but the meeting was adjourned because it was short of a quorum.