Abhisit Too Nice To Lead?

Atiya Achakulwisut in Bangkok Post:

Political pundits are in agreement that PM Abhisit’s failure to get his nominee for the police chief position, Pol Gen Prateep Tunprasert, endorsed by the Royal Thai Police board was a slap in the face. Actually, make it a total of five smacks if you count the five votes against his one and only choice, including one insider strike from his own interior minister.

…

Is our Oxford-educated, upper class, cultured PM suffering from the same trap of being “too nice” to win a cut-throat game like Wimbledon’s Colt?

Well, is he really?

If we focus only on the Police Chief debacle, it indeed looks like a major embarrassment for Abhisit. His failure to push through the appointment of his preferred candidate as the new Police Chief can be viewed as a sign of weakness. Had it happened in the early months of his premiership, we could have already written him off as another pretty face whose lack of experience and decisiveness made him crumble under the pressure of the cut-throat world of politics.

Yet, if we take into account the April red-shirt riot, then in my opinion Abhisit has already proved that he is more than just a pretty face. For all his other flaws, it cannot be denied that in such a tough situation the PM showed the ability to make swift decisions to put down the insurgency. True, the government itself was partly to blame for underestimating the red shirts’ capability and allowing the situation to escalate, but Abhisit thoroughly deserved credit as he managed to get the Army firmly on his side as part of the government’s effort to restore order. While I do not entirely agree with the crackdown, the fact that Abhisit was able to be in command, having survived an (alleged) attempt on his life, is enough to prove that he has the necessary leadership quality to lead the country.

For Atiya and others who still doubt Abhisit’s ability to lead as he struggles to impose his authority over the police top brass, rather than asking whether he is too nice to be a leader, a more appropriate question would be “Where is the Abhisit of old, the man who prevailed over the Song Kran riot?”

Related posts (automatically generated):

1. “When Abhisit Looks in the Mirror, He Will See Thaksin.”
2. Abhisit Faces Foreign Diplomats
3. ‘Watermelon’ Soldiers
4. Banyan on the Latest Situation
5. Petition to Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, Regarding the Violence in Thailand