By SUPALAK GANJANAKHUNDEE
THE NATION
Published on November 22, 2009
The Thai news media's go-to guy for information about the current row with Cambodia isn't a career diplomat but one of those rare politicos who most people feel they can trust.
Chavanond Intarakomalyasut accepts all reporters' phone calls, whether the questions are about the perils of Phnom Penh or any other issue involving the government or opposition.
He's secretary to Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, and speaks on his behalf and sometimes for the ministry itself in the absence of the customary spokesman, Information Department Director General Wimon Kidchob, a civil servant.
Chavanond is a political appointee of the ruling Democrats, who have him assisting the minister in running foreign affairs.
The assistance takes many forms. Chavanond both helps organise routine programmes and serves as a buffer against opposition attacks on the minister.
Kasit is outspoken in his own right, and as such a ready target. Chavanond takes some of the political bullets so that Kasit can get on with more important work.
"As secretary and spokesman, it's my duty to defend him," he says. "And when the ministry's civil-servant spokesman is not in a position to speak, it becomes my job."
Chavanond was never trained in political communications. He earned a BA in business management at Mahidol University, then attended Yale to extend his master's degree in economics and environmental-resource management.
Originally a planner at the National Economic and Social Development Board, Chavanond handled the think tank's agriculture policy for six years before trying to jump into politics.
He says he learned much at the agency about the country's development and realised he could help more as a politician.
It wasn't unfamiliar territory. His grandfather, Yos Intarakomalyasut, represented Nakhon Ratchasima province in Parliament more than half a century ago, and in 1986 his father Manasak was elected to the post.
"I chose the Democrats," Chavanond says, "because I have faith in the party and admire Abhisit Vejjajiva. He's really my inspiration."
In 2004, at age 30, he contested Bangkok's Chatuchak constituency, but Thaksin Shinawatra's Thai Rak Thai Party was then at the peak of its power.
Defeated at the polls, Chavanond returned to the civil service, this time at the Ministry of Natural Resources, and put his college education to good use.
At the same time he worked part-time for the party, and when Abhisit led the Democrats to power a year ago, he selected staff members to fill political positions at the ministries.
Chavanond became Kasit's secretary at the Foreign Ministry, initially assigned - because of his dual education in economics and the environment - to handle foreign policy on climate change.
He helped the minister prepare papers and a political stance on the issue for presentation at international forums.
Then came Preah Vihear.
Kasit tasked Chavanond with overseeing the complicated dispute over the old Hindu temple on the Cambodian border after the Democrats and People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) objected to Phnom Penh's plan to list it as a World Heritage site.
The PAD demanded that the government take harsh action against Cambodia. It fell to Chavanond to explain the ministry's view and cool things down. He spent a great deal of time researching the temple's history, the vicissitudes of the boundary demarcation and Thailand's relations with its Khmer neighbour.
Cambodia hasn't stopped being a source of grievances since, and Chavanond has kept on top of them all.
Thai reporters have found that the government's spokespeople are the first to speak but often the last to know exactly what's going on. Chavanond is different.
As a secretary to the minister, Chavanond is part of the inner circle, allowed to sit in on the decision-making process at the ministry. He has access to all the pertinent information before he speaks out in public.
And he offers a guarantee: what he tells the public is always based on fact.
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