ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

By AMBIKA AHUJA / AP WRITER | BANGKOK — Thailand's new prime minister promised on Wednesday to put together a competent cabinet to revive the country's economy battered by months of violent anti-government protests.

Abhisit Vejjajiva—the 44-year-old, Oxford-educated opposition leader—was voted by Parliament to be the country's prime minister on Monday. He is the first leader of a civilian government formed by an opponent of exiled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who has loomed over Thai politics since he was ousted by a military coup in 2006.

"I will do my best to put the right man in the right job," Abhisit told reporters. "I will choose competent individuals to revive the country."

The U.K.-born prime minister faces the difficult task of unifying a country torn apart by months of violent anti-government protests culminating in a siege of Bangkok's two airports —demonstrations that battered the key tourism industry just as the global economy was slipping into crisis.

The economic slowdown could push Thailand's economy into recession, some economists warn. The previous government forecast a contraction of up to 1 percent in the first quarter of 2009 and zero growth in the second quarter.

Democrat Party Secretary-General Suthep Thuagsuban said the economic team is likely to be led by Abhisit who has a strong economic background.

"The new premier will be visiting leaders of the private sector today to discuss ways to boost investors' confidence and revive the economy," Suthep said.

Abhisit will meet with representatives of the agriculture sector, tourism industry and the industrial sector, Suthep said.

The Chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries, Santi Vilassakdanont, said that investor confidence should revive with Abhisit at the helm.

"His rivals are unlikely to be able to do much to cause instability right now with many of (Thaksin's) former allies supporting the new government."

Some Cabinet seats are expected to go to lawmakers who used to be trusted allies of Thaksin. A group of former Thaksins's supporters, led by Newin Chidchob—once one of the ex-premier's closest allies—switched their allegiance during Monday's vote, giving Abhisit a thin majority in Parliament.

Abhisit, who was expected to be endorsed later on Wednesday by the constitutional monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyade, is likely to struggle to heal the rift between the middle class that is his base and the rural poor who backed Thaksin.

From a wealthy family of Thai-Chinese origin, Abhisit was educated at Eton and Oxford, where he earned an honors degree in philosophy, politics and economics. His first name means "privilege" in Thai and his friends call him by his foreign nickname, Mark.

He joined the country's oldest party, the Democrats, in 1992 and rose in the party ranks and in popularity, especially among the educated in Bangkok who took to his clean record, polite demeanor, articulate if somewhat bland speeches and movie-star looks.

The Democrats had been in opposition since 2001, when Thaksin, a former telecommunications tycoon, first took power.

Military leaders ousted Thaksin in September 2006, accusing him of corruption, keeping him in exile and controlling the country for an interim period until elections in December 2007 brought Thaksin's allies back into power.

He returned to Thailand in February 2008 to face corruption charges but later fled into exile again, and was convicted in absentia. However, he still enjoys significant support among Thailand's rural masses.