Premier Thaksin stuns Suriya by revoking the plan for Skytrain-Subway nationalization

Mass Transit Nationalization Cancelled
Premier Thaksin stuns Suriya by revoking the plan for Skytrain-Subway nationalization - translated and summarized from Than Setthakij, November 4-6, 2004
Premier Thaksin has made Minister Suriya lose face by revoking the nationalization plan on the Skytrain-Subway Premier Thaksin tells OTP and MOTC that they should never apply the coercive measures to force the private sector to sell their stocks to the government. Otherwise, the government will have very a bad image with investors. The government will consider the nationalization only when both BMCL and BTSC have come up a consensus to sell their stock to the government--such as when they are in trouble.
This nationalization plan is just a proposal by MOTC, but not the central government. The government should never meddle with BTSC unless the company has committed a serious crime that hurts public interests. Same can be said about BMCL. The government should only exercise their rights to purchase 25% of BMCL stock instead. Other measures are the negotiation as well as the purchase of stocks from minor shareholders until the government becomes a major shareholder. Premier Thaksin has pointed out that the system can be expanded and a joint ticket can be implemented without the nationalization process. Even legal experts said the nationalization process has no law to back it up. OTP also said that they have never applied coercive measures on the private sector to sell stock. They are trying to negotiate with both companies though.
The system interaction can be the purchase of basic structure and keep the old concession holder or the new private concession holders. Another option is a joint venture between the public and private sectors to form a single operator without applying a nationalization process.
OTP and MOTC will have to review the plan if the government is not opting for nationalization. Same can be said about the joint ticket system.
It would violate the constitution if the government have come up with the law to apply only to a particular group of people or legal entity. Furthermore, it would be very unfair to use the money from nationwide taxpayers to nationalize both systems that please Bangkokians and Bangkok suburbians
The nationalization board also gets no clear sign from MOTC about the nationalization plan, dragging the project down further. The Board got more information form the media than from MOTC about the right price to purchase from both companies.
Minister Suriya felt so upset after getting the response from Premier Thaksin on Nationalization Plan that he refused to speak to the press. Super K [nickname of Kasem Jatikawanit, the Chairman of BTSC Board of Directors] also said that BTSC is not ready to negotiate with MOTC and they prefer to wait and see what the government is going to do next.