Thaksin To Follow Queen’s Advice On The South

[george]

Prime Minister to follow Queen’s advice on how to placate South

BANGKOK: -- Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said he would take the Queen’s words to the heart as guidance in resolving violent conflict in the three southern border provinces. He stood firm that the use of force is not the way to deal with the situation, even many officers had been attacked to date.

Mr Thaksin added that he would told bureaucrats working the local areas to be more proactive in responding to the people’s grievances and particularly to speed up paying compensation to those killed or injured in recent attacks.

Speaking to reporters ahead the annual assembly of his Thai Rak Thai Party, Prime Minister Thasksin praised Her Majesty Queen Sirikit for her concern about the situation in the southern border provinces.

In a rare nationally-televised broadcast on Saturday night, the Queen appealed to all parties to unite with a view to end unrest in the south.

“All Thai people should take the Queen’s words to the heart, by co-operating with the Thai authorities by passing along useful information,” the Prime Minister said.

Regarding the Queen’s remark that the use of force should not be the solution, Prime Minister Thaksin said officers have been patient in refraining from using force for the authorities are fully aware that retaliation by force would only aggravate the situation. “Some officers were murdered, others attacked, therefore officers did not initiate violence or use of force at all” he claimed.

Asked why no credible suspects responsible for causing all the unrest had been identified, Mr. Thaksin said the strong sense of kinship stopped people from telling the truth to the authorities, even though they knew that what their folks did was not right.

In addition to the Queen’s rare remark, the newly-appointed National Reconciliation Commission to solve problems in the south held their first meeting in the border province of Pattani. Among the issues raised by the local people joining the open debate was the call for an end to martial law that the central government in Bangkok imposed in the south. The local people said officers have used the Martial Law as a pretext to arrest people at will.

Mr Thaksin said officers applied Martial Law only very selectively.

--TNA 2005-04-24

[The_Eye_Of_Sauron]

Queen condemns southern 'brutes'

Her Majesty the Queen last night called on people not to sit still any longer but to unite and loudly condemn the ''brutes'' who have been killing innocents daily in the deep South.

This is the front page of the Bangkok Post today - a rather different emphasis.

(By the way: On a legal point. Is the PrimeMinister consititutionally obliged to do as the Queen says?)

[thai_norman]

Queen condemns southern 'brutes'

Her Majesty the Queen last night called on people not to sit still any longer but to unite and loudly condemn the ''brutes'' who have been killing innocents daily in the deep South.

This is the front page of the Bangkok Post today - a rather different emphasis.

(By the way: On a legal point. Is the PrimeMinister consititutionally obliged to do as the Queen says?)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i thought the brutes earlier in the year were thai military and police, 78 people was it that they suffocated to death?

[Ajarn]

That could be one of the points they're struggling with.. The lack of distinction between the good guys and the bad guys. Media reports don't always reflect the facts, either.

When Thaksin first became PM, the strategy in the South took a turn towards an 'eye for an eye' strategy. Hence, the missing lawyer, among many other examples...

[GoodHeart]

I watched nearly the whole speech live on the television. It was not a short speech at all. With my nit noy Thai vocabulary I had almost no conception of what she was speaking on and waited to read the newspapers' accounts.

OPPS! DON"T THINK I"M YELLING AT THIS POINT SINCE I JUST BY ACCIDENT HELD DOWN THE WINDOZE SHIFT KEY FOR TOO LONG

ANYWAY THE BANGKOK POST WRITER OUGHT TO BE WHIPPED WITH A WET NODDLE FOR THEIR STORY COVERING HER SPEECH IT TOLD ME NOTHING MORE THAN WHAT I INFERED ON MY OWN