Thai army pledges restraint - Thailand

Thai army pledges restraint  - Thailand

Samak’s emergency decree puts Bangkok’s security under general 

By Nirmal Ghosh, Thailand Correspondent 
  
‘Our methods will be to improve understanding among Thais and make everyone aware that there can still be a peaceful solution through negotiations,’ Gen Anupong said yesterday. — PHOTO: AP

BANGKOK: Thailand’s powerful army chief yesterday assumed charge for security in Bangkok under emergency powers invoked by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, after a bloody overnight clash between pro- and anti-government groups left at least one person dead and dozens injured.
But it was clear that in Thailand’s charged political environment, the army would have to walk a thin line to manage both apprehensions and expectations.

Under the state of emergency, public gatherings of more than five people are banned, government buildings are off limits, and restrictions are imposed on media reports that ‘undermine public security’.

At a press conference yesterday afternoon, General Anupong Paochinda said the army would exercise restraint, deploy unarmed soldiers, and focus on preventing a repeat of the violence.

But he said it was not the army’s responsibility to end the occupation of Government House by the anti-government People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a group formed in 2005 to campaign against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was eventually ousted in a military coup the following year.

The PAD stormed onto the scene again this year after a general election swept Mr Samak and his People’s Power Party (PPP) and other allies into office. The PAD derided Mr Samak as a Thaksin puppet, a charge the Prime Minister has denied vehemently.

‘Our methods will be to improve understanding among Thais and make everyone aware that there can still be a peaceful solution through negotiations,’ Gen Anupong said yesterday.

He also discounted all possibility of a military coup, saying that this ‘will create a lot more problems’.

Mr Samak, in announcing the state of emergency during a nationally televised news conference at Supreme Command headquarters, gave no timeframe for how long it would stay in effect but said it would be over ‘moderately quickly’.

‘I did it to solve the problems of the country,’ the Prime Minister said.

‘I had no other choice. The softest means available was an emergency decree to end the situation using the law.’

As the prospect of a repeat of the violence receded during the course of the day, the army’s presence was hardly visible in the troubled area around Government House.

Pro-government protesters, loosely identified as the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), withdrew from the previous night’s confrontational position and were dispersing from their rallying point at Sanam Luang, some 2km from Government House.

The opposition group remained defiant. At Government House, PAD co-leader Sondhi Limthongkul denied responsibility for the violence of the previous night, saying the government had hired thugs to attack his ‘non-violent’ group.

Another PAD leader, Mr Piphop Thongchai, told reporters that he was ready to negotiate with the army, but the demands that Mr Samak and his government resign would not change.

Separately yesterday, the Election Commission said it would recommend to the Constitutional Court that the PPP be dissolved for electoral fraud committed in the December 2007 election by executive committee member Yongyuth Tiyapairat.

The case may take weeks to be heard and decided upon, but it piled more pressure on Mr Samak in the midst of the deadlock in the stand-off with the PAD.

Adding to the government’s woes, 43 state unions with about 200,000 members have threatened to go on strike starting today to support the protesters. A top union official spoke of disruptions to train, bus and air services as well as cuts in electricity and water supply to some government buildings.

Source : Straits Times - 03 Sept 2008

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