Thai Premier hits out at junta leader

The Straits Times, February 14, 2007


BANGKOK - THAILAND'S army-installed Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont yesterday accused the junta leader of not doing enough to curb a separatist insurgency in the Muslim-majority south.

General Sonthi Boonyarataglin, who heads the junta and Thailand's main security organisation, had failed to improve the security situation in the southern provinces along the border with Malaysia, said Gen Surayud.

'I have assessed his work. It does not meet our expectations. He needs to do more,' the Premier, an ex-army chief, told reporters after a weekly Cabinet meeting.

He said the failure to improve security had doomed his own efforts to find a political solution to the conflict, which has killed 1,900 people over three years.

'Most villagers have no confidence that the government can help them,' he said.

The unusual public criticism from Gen Surayud against the man who appointed him as Premier came amid escalating violence in the region, with three people killed in attacks overnight.

After Gen Sonthi ousted then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a coup in September, hopes rose that he would be able to end the unrest.

Gen Sonthi is a Muslim himself, although he has little else in common with the ethnic Malay residents of southern Thailand.

He has taken control of Thailand's Internal Security Operation Command and assumed direct responsibility for security in the south.

But the violence has flared since the coup and two grisly beheadings were reported this month.

Gen Surayud has made resolving the conflict a top priority and has restored a key mediation centre while extending an offer to hold talks with the militants.

He has also worked to improve ties with Malaysia, which has been badly strained by the unrest.

His Malaysian counterpart left Bangkok early yesterday after a three-day visit aimed at finding solutions to the conflict.

After arriving in Kuala Lumpur, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi said Malaysia had offered to mediate in talks between Thailand and the Thai Muslim separatists.

He said Malaysia shared religious and cultural ties with the separatists and had the ability to act as mediator.

'We know the separatist groups, in the sense that they are Muslims of Malay descent and Malaysia has good relations with Thailand,' he said. He said Thailand would issue a formal request for Malaysia to act as mediator.