Muslim Violence Dents Thaksin Popularity-poll

[george]

Muslim south violence dents Thai PM popularity-poll

BANGKOK: -- The Thai government's failure to quell violence in the Muslim south has dented Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's popularity, a poll said on Sunday.

Support for his 38-month-old government fell to 58.8 percent at the start of this month according to Assumption University's survey of 1,387 people in Bangkok. This compared with an approval rating of 66.9 percent in February.

A nationwide survey by the university showed Thaksin's popularity reached a peak of 71.9 percent in May 2001.

Among five negative incidents that hurt the government's image, the poll said its mishandling of the restive south received the highest dissatisfaction rating with 85.1 percent of respondents

At least 60 people have been killed in the three southernmost provinces of this mostly Buddhist country since January.

Thai security officials blame Muslim separatists, renegade officials, local mafias and politicians for the violence since January 4 when four soldiers were killed and almost 400 guns stolen in a raid on an army camp in Narathiwat province, near the border with Malaysia.

But some top Thai security officials, including one of Thaksin's security advisers, said they suspected the local separatists might have received support from Jemaah Islamiah, the al Qaeda-linked regional militant group blamed for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed more than 200 people.

On Saturday a bomb exploded at the residence of Bannang Sata district chief, 1,200 km (750 miles) south of Bangkok, but no one was hurt, police said.

--Reuters 2004-04-04