Thailand's Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej started delivering the coalition government's policy address to the Parliament Monday morning, two weeks after his cabinet took office on Feb. 6.
Samak started reading the policy address to Members of Parliament, as well as members of National Legislative Assembly (NLA), who acted as senators, at 9:45 a.m. (0245GMT) Monday morning before the sitting Parliament kicked off a three-day parliament debate.
The NLA is the junta-appointed interim legislative body in Thailand after the Sept. 19 coup in 2006 ousted the administration of Thaksin Shinawatra. It is expected to fade out soon as the general election on Dec. 23, 2007 has produced the 480 MPs in House of Representatives, while the election and selection of 150 senators are set to be completed next month.
Samak and other government MPs are to be involved on the defensive side during the three-day debate on the government policy address, started from Monday immediately after Samak delivered the address.
The only opposition party sitting in the parliament – Democrat Party, which earlier announced a shadow cabinet, has fielded 50 MPs to grill the government on the policies.
The coalition government of six parties, led by Samak's People Power Party (PPP), is expected to honor their pledge during the election campaign by resurrecting with some adjustments, the populist economic policies implemented during the ousted Thaksin administration, which earned the Thaksin government staunch support among the country's majority grass-root people both in rural and urban areas.
The policies focused on providing cheap housing and debt moratorium for the poor, village funds and agricultural subsidies to promote rural economy. Samak has also vowed to increase investment in infrastructure and mega-projects in urban areas in a bid to stimulate the recent stagnant economy.
Source: Xinhua
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