New Thai premier unveils cabinet

Thailand's new prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva unveiled his cabinet yesterday aimed at building reconciliation and reviving the economy, but the ministerial line-up has already stoked tensions.
The cabinet list was announced after King Bhumibol Adulyadej signed a royal command approving the ministers, five days after Abhisit won a parliamentary vote to bring a coalition led by the Democrat Party into power.
Heading the economic team is finance minister Korn Chatikavanij, an Oxford contemporary of 44-year-old Abhisit who worked for investment bank JPMorgan Chase.
But the list has already hit a snag with some ministers criticised as inexperienced and inappropriate.
New foreign minister Kasit Piromya was a vocal supporter of a protest group that seized Bangkok's airports earlier this month, causing some of the massive economic damage that Abhisit has vowed to mend.
Abhisit has vowed to restore stability and reach out to his foes after six months of protests against the previous government, which peaked with the airport protests.
The Democrat leader's nomination came after the ruling People Power Party -- backed by ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra -- was dissolved by a court, forcing ex-PM Somchai Wongsawat and his cabinet from office.
Abhisit was voted in by parliament on December 15 with the help of defecting lawmakers, and was forced to pick many non-Democrat MPs for top cabinet jobs to appease his hastily-formed coalition, angering some party veterans.
Business leaders on Friday said they were disappointed by the choices for industry and commerce, in a blow to Abhisit's vow to tackle the lacklustre economy, which is also suffering from the global financial crisis.
Local media have said the grumbles prompted a last minute switch to Charnchai Chairungruang as industry minister. But Pornthiwa Nakasai, the commerce minister criticised as a sop to a coalition party, remains the same.
One of the first tasks of the new cabinet will be boosting confidence in the economy, which the previous finance minister said could grow by as little as two percent next year because of the protests.
Since May, Thailand has been beset by increasingly disruptive protests by the royalist People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD).
The PAD accused the now-defunct PPP of being disloyal to the monarchy and of running Thailand on behalf of Thaksin, who was ousted in a coup in September 2006 and now lives in exile abroad to escape corruption charges.
PAD protests reached their peak at the end of November when thousands of its supporters occupied Bangkok's two main airports for about a week, stranding up to 350,000 passengers and causing massive economic damage.
The group only ended its siege after the PPP was dissolved over vote fraud charges related to elections it won one year ago, allowing the Democrats to win over former PPP lawmakers and small parties to form the government.
Abhisit's government faces not only infighting among the shaky coalition, but protests from supporters of the previous government voted in last December, who feel they have been robbed of their democratic rights.
The pro-Thaksin "Red Shirts" -- so called because of the scarlet clothes they wear -- have vowed to rally on December 28 and then move to parliament when Abhisit gives his first policy address later that week.
The urbane Abhisit, who is known to friends by the western name Mark, has repeatedly failed to connect to Thaksin's support base among the poor, and came a distant second to the PPP in the 2007 elections.
Thaksin, meanwhile, infuriated elements of the old elite in the palace, military and bureaucracy -- the PAD's core support base -- who saw his popularity as a drain on their power.