Natthawut must not neglect duties as minister
If Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra had not appointed Nalinee Taveesin as a PM's Office minister in last month's Cabinet reshuffle, red-shirt leader Natthawut Saikua would have been the most criticised new member of the ministerial line-up.
The public and the media have paid more attention to Nalinee, a businesswoman who is on a US blacklist for her business connections with the Zimbabwean regime, than they have to Natthawut.
Natthawut, as a representative of the red shirts, received the reward of a Cabinet post after fighting the cause of their leader, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
In fact, the ruling party had wanted to appoint him a minister when Yingluck became premier, but at that time public sentiment did not seem to welcome any red-shirt protester becoming a Cabinet member.
With less pressure from the public and the media six months on, Natthawut apparently feels relieved and has coped with the new position quite well, despite still being in the spotlight.
On the day of his first Cabinet meeting at Government House, he was mobbed by the media before and after the proceedings. Moreover, he answered all questions when confronted by the media.
“He came to work very early. I saw him keeping busy with reading documents. I think he did good homework,” said Thitima Chaisaeng , the PM’s deputy secretary-general and acting government spokeswoman.
Despite his eloquence on the movement’s stage, the red-shirt heartthrob prefers to listen than to speak in Cabinet meetings, said a fellow minister, who asked not to be named. Most of his opinions are about politics or parliamentary matters, the colleague added.
So far, Natthawut’s manner has quite impressed other ministers. However, while the youngest newcomer has apparently tried to portray himself a good boy to veteran Cabinet colleagues during meetings, Natthawut seems to be disappointing in his role as a deputy agriculture minister.
Although he said he was keen on the job he had been assigned because he came from a farmer’s family, his most outstanding performance since taking up the post has been to keep himself busy welcoming visitors.
As a red-shirt leader, many of the movement’s supporters have come to see him at his office at the Agriculture Ministry, which has left him with little time to perform his main functions.
“Even the media have to join a long queue in order to interview him. We have to wait to see him after he finishes meeting with his red-shirt supporters,” said a journalist based at the ministry.
“There is almost no room to sit in his office, because it is occupied by visitors of Natthawut and Aree [Krinara, secretary to Natthawut and former red-shirt guard],” said an official at the ministry.
Moreover, the area in front of his room and the ministry’s cafeteria are normally full of red-shirt supporters, and the parking lots are also full.
“We came to support and take care of him. We were afraid that he would be bullied,” said a female member of his fan club.
Natthawut and Aree also have about 20 men in black suits as their guards.
“We are quite scared. We hardly go to the cafeteria because his men are often seen there,” said another ministry official.
Natthawut hardly uses or assigns ministry officials to perform tasks but has his own staff, another Agriculture Ministry official said, adding that the new minister “may not trust us”.
He also often misses meetings at the ministry, citing that he has to attend a political class arranged by the Election Commission Office. This means that his major tasks are attending Cabinet and parliament meetings.
Perhaps it is time for Natthawut to take stock of the situation after having been a minister for almost a month. If he chooses to continue to cling to or seek to please his supporters, he will surely fail to deliver the required ministerial performance.
If he fails to achieve, he will only be remembered as a red-shirt leader, and not as a minister.
