Sudarat Keyuraphan

Sudarat Keyuraphan (2016)

Sudarat Keyuraphan ( Thai สุดา รัตน์ เก ยุ รา พันธุ์ , pronunciation: [sùʔdaːrát keːjúʔraːpʰan] ; * May 1, 1961 in Bangkok ) is a Thai politician. She was a co-founder and senior member of the Thai-Rak-Thai Party , Minister of Health and Agriculture in the governments of Thaksin Shinawatra . She is the top candidate of the Pheu-Thai party in the 2019 general election .

life and career

Sudarat is the daughter of the politician Somphon Keyuraphan, who was a member of parliament for a constituency in Nakhon Ratchasima province in the 1960s and 1970s . She attended St. Joseph Catholic Convention School in Bangkok. She then studied Commerce and Accounting at Chulalongkorn University (Bachelor) and Business Administration at the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration (Master). She is married to real estate entrepreneur Somyos Leelapunyalert and they have three children. Since she was awarded the Order of Chula Chom Klao in 2005 , Sudarat has been addressed with the honorary title Khun Ying (roughly comparable to the title Ladyin Great Britain). She received her PhD in 2018 from the Buddhist Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University with a thesis on "integrative Buddhist methods for resolving conflicts in current Thai politics".

Sudarat went into politics in 1991 and joined the Palang Dharma Party , which stood up for Buddhist values ​​and against corruption. The following year she was elected to the Thai parliament as a representative of a constituency in the north of Bangkok. After the early elections in September 1992 (after Black May ), she became deputy government spokeswoman for the Chuan Leekpai cabinet . In 1994 Sudarat became general secretary of the Palang Dharma party, she was the first female general secretary of a Thai party. She became Deputy Minister of Transport in October 1994 and remained so until the Palang Dharma Party left the ruling coalition in May 1995. In the new election that was triggered, she was able to defend her parliamentary seat. In the government of Banharn Silpa-archa she was then Deputy Minister of the Interior, again as the first woman in this office. In May 1996, like the rest of the Palang Dharma Party government, she resigned. In the early elections, the Palang Dharma party, which was now led by the extremely wealthy IT and telecommunications entrepreneur Thaksin Shinawatra , suffered a heavy defeat. Sudarat was the only member re-elected, after which the party disbanded.

Sudarat was one of the founding members of the Thaksin-initiated Thai-Rak-Thai Party (TRT) in 1998 and became its vice-chairman. The TRT won the 2001 parliamentary elections like a landslide, Sudarat was elected sixth on the TRT party list. She served as Minister of Health in the government of Thaksin Shinawatra for the next four years. Sudarat was counted in the government to the "inner circle" around Thaksin. She was responsible for the introduction of general health insurance by the TRT government (so-called 30 baht program: patients only had to pay a deductible of 30 baht per doctor visit). After the re-election of the TRT, Sudarat became Minister of Agriculture. In the coup in September 2006 , she lost her government office. Subsequently, the “constitutional court” set up by the putschists pronounced a five-year ban on political office against Sudarat - like all other leading members of the TRT.

During the military dictatorship of Prayut Chan-o-cha , Sudarat joined the opposition Pheu-Thai Party (a successor organization to the dissolved TRT) in 2018 and was nominated by them as the top candidate for the 2019 parliamentary election.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Pasuk Phongpaichit, Chris Baker: Thaksin. The Business of Politics in Thailand. NIAS Press, Copenhagen 2004, p. 275, fn. 5.
2. ↑ คุณหญิง สุดา รัตน์ รับ ปริญญา เอก พุทธ ศาสตร ดุษฎีบัณฑิต ม จร. [Khun Ying Sudarat Rap Parinya Ek Phutthasat Dutsadi Bandit Mo Cho Ro; Khun Ying Sudarat Receives PhD in Buddhist Studies from MCU]. In: Thai Rath (online), May 13, 2018.
3. ↑ Kazuki Iwanaga: Women in Thai Politics. In: Women's Political Participation and Representation in Asia. Obstacles and Challenges. NIAS Press, Copenhagen 2008, pp. 173-209, at p. 194.
4. ↑ Pasuk Phongpaichit, Chris Baker: Thaksin. The Business of Politics in Thailand. NIAS Press, Copenhagen 2004, p. 55.
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Gerald W. Fry, Gayla S. Nieminen, Harold E. Smith: Historical Dictionary of Thailand. 3rd edition, Scarecrow Press, Lanham MD / Plymouth 2013, p. 389, entry Sudarat Keyuraphan .
6. ↑ Pasuk Phongpaichit, Chris Baker: Thaksin. The Business of Politics in Thailand. NIAS Press, Copenhagen 2004, p. 71.
7. ↑ Pasuk Phongpaichit, Chris Baker: Thaksin. The Business of Politics in Thailand. NIAS Press, Copenhagen 2004, p. 92.
8. ↑ Nattaya Chetchotiros, Aekarach Sattaburuth: Pheu Thai deploys big gun trio. In: Bangkok Post (online), November 27, 2018.

Note on Thai names : This article addresses people by their first name.