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Thailand Council of Ministers
The cabinet, the center of Thai political power, consisted of
forty-four members, including the prime minister, deputy prime
ministers, ministers, and deputy ministers. Individually and
collectively the members were accountable to the House of
Representatives and had to retain its confidence. The cabinet was
required to resign en masse if a no-confidence motion against it
was passed by the House. The four-party coalition cabinet formed
in August 1986 had no civil servants or active-duty military
officers. Under the Constitution, cabinet members were not
allowed to hold political posts as part of an effort to
strengthen the political party system.
Under the customary rules of parliamentary government,
Thailand could have a prime minister whose party or electoral
alliance had earned the mandate of this office outright by
winning a majority of seats in the House of Representatives.
Whether or not anyone would command a majority in the next
election was uncertain, given the highly fragmented political
party system. In any case, a public opinion survey conducted in
March 1987 by the Social Research Institute of Chulalongkorn
University showed that 91 percent of those interviewed in Bangkok
favored an elected prime minister. For a requirement that the
prime minister be elected, however, the Constitution would have
to be amended. In 1987 the Royal Command appointing the prime
minister had to be countersigned by the president of the National
Assembly, the leader of the military-dominated Senate, who had
the power to block the installation of anyone unacceptable to the
military establishment. Until the basic law is revised, the
selection of the prime minister will continue to be determined by
behind-the-scenes power brokers, including the military
(especially the army), the monarchy, and leaders of various
political parties representing business groups.
The prime minister held the real powers of appointment and
removal, which he exercised in the name of the king. He
countersigned royal decrees and wielded a wide range of executive
powers, including the power to declare a national emergency to
ensure "national or public safety or national economic security
or to avert public calamity." The legality of an emergency decree
had to be validated by the next session of the National Assembly.
The prime minister could also proclaim or lift martial law,
declare war with the advice and consent of parliament, and
conclude peace treaties, armistices, and other treaties--all in
the king's name.
As of mid-1987, the executive branch had thirteen ministerial
portfolios: agriculture and cooperatives; commerce;
communications; defense; education; finance; foreign affairs;
industry; interior; justice; public health; science, technology,
and energy; and university affairs. The heads of these ministries
(except for justice; science, technology, and energy; and
university affairs) were aided by one or more cabinet-rank deputy
ministers. Each ministry was divided into departments, divisions,
and sections. Traditionally, the ministries of defense, interior,
and finance were regarded as the most desirable by aspiring
politicians and generals. In the 1980s, the ministries of
agriculture and cooperatives, industry, and communications grew
in stature as the economic value of resources steadily increased.
In 1987 the Office of the Prime Minister continued to be the
nerve center of the government. With the assistance of several
cabinet-rank ministers attached to the office and of the
Secretariat of the Prime Minister, this office monitored,
coordinated, and supervised the activities of all government
agencies and state enterprises. The secretariat was headed by a
cabinet-rank secretary general, who supervised the work of
sixteen agencies attached to the prime minister's office. Among
these agencies were the Bureau of the Budget, the National
Security Council, the Department of Central Intelligence, the
Civil Service Commission, and the National Economic and Social
Development Board. In August 1986, the secretary general was also
placed in charge of a new unit called the National Operations
Center established in the Office of the Prime Minister to provide
essential data for efficient decision making. Specifically, the
task of the National Operations Center was to handle crisis
management, cope with threats to internal and external security,
and keep the prime minister informed of public sentiment
throughout the country.
Outside the regular administrative structure, but subject to
its control and supervision, approximately sixty-eight state
enterprises were engaged as of 1987 in commercial and economic
activities of major importance. In these enterprises, the
government was either the sole owner or the dominant partner.
Managed by senior civil servants, retired military officers, or
politicians, the state enterprises permitted a major government
role in virtually every facet of the economic life of the
country. In fiscal year
(
FY--see Glossary) 1986, their total
budget was 9 percent more than the total budget of the government
and accounted for 65 percent of external public debt. The
inefficiency of these enterprises continued to affect the
government's fiscal stability. Privatization of the enterprises
was listed as one of the ten major programs of the country's
Sixth Economic Development Plan, for 1987-91
(see Public Finance
, ch. 3).
Data as of September 1987
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