Political Conflict Likely Motive For Songkhla Mayor's Slaying: Police

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Political conflict likely motive: Police

SUPITCHA RATTANA,

SANTIPHAB RAMASUT

THE NATION

Internal conflicts could be blamed for Songkhla mayor's slaying: officials

SONGKHLA: -- An investigation into Wednesday night's daring assassination of Nakhon Songkhla Municipality Mayor Peera Tantiseranee, 53, in front of a Muang Songkhla restaurant has turned up circumstantial evidence pointing to local political conflicts as the most likely motive.

Peera was shot dead by two gunmen riding in a pick-up truck. An M16 rifle and a carbine were used in the attack, officials said.

Peera's administration had not been running smoothly recently, due to internal conflicts that led to the resignation of four deputy mayors and the suspension of eight officials. He was also facing problems relating to his removal of a sign promoting the construction of a cable-car project, as well as opposition to a private company's storage and transport of radioactive substances.

The internal conflicts within the Peera administration had brought about the resignation of his deputies Somchai Mekha-apirak and Wisal Kiatpaibul. The former was a classmate of Peera's at Mahavachiravudh School and a close friend. Peera and Somchai reportedly fell out over solutions to coastal erosion at Samira Beach, leading to Somchai's transfer and subsequent resignation.

On September 24, five more executives resigned on grounds that they could no longer stand the internal conflicts. They were deputy mayor Charan Bilpat; deputy mayor Somkiat Kimakhom; mayoral adviser Tos Ritthirong; mayoral adviser Juangjan Hiransalee; and the mayor's secretary, Suthon Thiebthong. At the time, Peera took the five resignations as an expression of a difference of opinion, but was confident he could lead the team through the crisis. He also said he would seek another term as mayor in the next election.

Two days after the resignations, however, another problem arose, when 200 protesters and a former municipality administration team that had worked for Peera's rival rallied outside Songkhla City Hall to protest an alleged lack of transparency in the April 22 municipal election.

Peera's straightforward personality - he said it was "better to be broken than to bend" - is seen as having contributed to bringing the hostile climate to near boiling point. The sense of competition was intensified by the fact that Peera had only about a year left to serve in his four-year term.

Another possible motive was the dispute over the provincial administration organisation's project to construct a cable car across Songkhla Lake. Signs backing the project erected at Laem Son On were removed on Peera's orders on grounds that they were installed without permission and violated his policy of protecting this natural heritage area. Many Songkhla residents praised Peera as an environmentalist mayor who, since he took office on November 1, 2009, had promoted Songkhla as a "Green Economy in the Context of Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication" and implemented the Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development and a policy of environmental governance.

Given his interest in protecting the environment, some believe Peera's slaying may have been prompted by a dispute over a private company's storage of a radioactive substance in Muang Songkhla, but since the problem emerged only a month ago, this is considered unlikely.

Somchai said he didn't think Peera's shooting was related to the mass resignation of city executives, as they had remained friends, while the suspension of senior officials could have been resolved in court.

Fifty police officers and security volunteers were dispatched to search three sites in Songkhla's Muang district for suspects in Peera's slaying. The sites were the parking lot of the Samira radio station, where a suspicious pick-up truck was found; the apartment of Peera's political rival, Kitti Chuchuay; and another suspect's home.

The pickup truck, reportedly smuggled from Malaysia, carried fake licence plates and contained some documents belonging to possible suspects, along with 11 Krathom leaves and energy drinks. Police checked four other vehicles in the parking lot and found a magazine loaded with 14 bullets and two cellphones in a Toyota Altis sedan.

Police confirmed two gunmen and a driver were involved in the attack.

-- The Nation 2012-11-09

[skorchio]

If the Mayor was practicing what he preached, he sounds like a standup guy, who isn't standing up any more, because he stood up. Amazing Thailand!!

[asiawatcher]

It is too easy to blame this on insurgents. This guy actually was helping and by the sounds of this execution, it was political. I hope they catch the people behind it and make an example of them.

[clockman]

Following Buddhist tenents, In disputes use a M16