Although it was her first censure showdown, inexperienced Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who is notorious for her lack of communications skills, appeared extraordinarily confident during the no-confidence debate.
Unexpectedly, Yingluck was seen raising her hand seeking chances to explain her points several times during the three-day censure debate.
The showdown came to pass yesterday with Yingluck and three other censure targets surviving with overwhelming support from MPs.
Now, Yingluck can heave a sigh of relief after she alone faced grilling for two days - Monday and Tuesday.
The Democrat Party focused the attack on her because she is known for not having the skill to explain complicated issues.
But Yingluck apparently got herself well prepared for the censure showdown, and the man behind her success was none else but PM's secretary-general Suranand Vejjajiva.
The week before the censure debate, Yingluck told the Cabinet secretary-general to cancel the weekly Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. And late last week, Yingluck stayed late in her office at Government House for her coach, Suranand, to train her how to cope with the censure showdown.
She spent hours reading information prepared by Suranand. And when the Senate held a general debate against the government on Friday, Yingluck chose to spend the time studying the information prepared by Suranand, rather than attending the debate. Moreover, on Saturday, when the Pitak Siam held a rally, Yingluck stayed home to rehearse how to answer the opposition's questions.
To get Yingluck well prepared for the censure showdown, Suranand played the role of PM's manager by ordering all government agencies concerned to feed him all the required information. He also played the role of a personal tutor for the prime minister.
"Suranand ordered government agencies concerned to provide information on points the prime minister was expected to be attacked," a source from Suranand's team said. "He then summarised the information for the prime minister and made charts for her to use in the explanations.
"He also set up a war room at the Parliament during the debate. The war room was manned by officials from economic and security agencies who monitored the opposition's debates. The agencies provided the information to Suranand, [who in turn] would summarise it for the prime minister to respond to the opposition immediately."
Apart from requesting that all agencies provide the information, Suranand also ordered all staff instantly to disseminate the explanations by the prime minister. He ordered them to publish the information and charts on Facebook and the prime minister's Twitter pages and on the website of Government House.
"Everything must be done fast, instantly, so the opposition will not be able to take advantage of its information," the source quoted Suranand as ordering.
With all the information ready in her hands, Yingluck rose to defend herself now and then during the debate. She had more self-confidence and was not afraid to speak in the House of Representatives, although she apparently restricted the scope of her explanations to the information on the pieces of paper provided by her personal coach.
Although Suranand was successful in coaching the prime minister for the censure showdown, there was one thing he wanted but apparently did not get. He planned to announce the government's first-year achievements to overshadow the censure debate, but the media did not pay much attention to it.
He distributed copies of booklets of the government's achievements just two days before the censure debate, but it seemed the media ignored them.
The government published 250,000 copies of booklets of the achievements of the administration from August 23, 2011, to August 23 this year. It also published 5,000 copies of the full-version 520-page books.
Earlier, the government planned to deliver its first-year achievements to Parliament before the censure debate, but the books could not be published in time.
A Government House source said Suranand stole the show from PM's Office Minister Nivatthamrong Boonsongpaisal, who was supposed to be in charge of preparing the achievement statement. With Suranand's scrutiny, the book's initial 300 pages later expanded to 520, the source said.
And this served to prove that Suranand, who is close to Yingluck, has become the real powerful government manager.
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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2012/11/29/suranand-behind-pms-confidence-during-debate/
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