National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) opinion poll on Sunday shows that more than 63% of people are not satisfied with the acting PM’s performance and comes six days after he was pictured, apparently asleep, at a meeting on Monday in Krabi although he has stoutly refuted the claim.
The brutal murder of three high school students in Krabi last Tuesday was on the minds of protest groups who, on Friday, submitted a letter to security authorities in the province which is to be forwarded as a matter of urgency to acting Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan even as a police crackdown and raids on 20 locations in a northern area of Krabi took place hours later resulting in eleven arrests. The submission to General Prawit comes as a national poll on Sunday showed a negative response to his short time at the helm of government with over 80% of the public clamouring for a General Election in Thailand.
On Friday, the 9th of September, approximately 200 people gathered at the government building responsible for administration and security affairs in the centre of Krabi to send an ultimatum to the Prime Minister’s Office concerning the chronic situation in the province with drugs.
The people who took part in the protest were all dressed in black and handed a letter addressed to the Prime Minister in Bangkok calling for urgent action on the situation within the next 15 days failing which they proposed to launch an all-out protest and rally to bring national and international attention to the situation.
Deputation handed letter over to a local security officer in Krabi to be presented to acting Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan on the drugs threat
A deputation representing the protesters was led by Mr Mano Kruekaew, the Kamnan of Krabi Soi subdistrict, who handed a letter to Colonel Sombat Suebtuam, the Deputy Chief of Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) in Krabi.
Colonel Sombat promised that the letter would be sent immediately for the urgent attention of Acting Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan in Bangkok who has, for a long time, had special responsibility for security matters even before his elevation on August 24th to temporary leadership of the Prime Minister’s Office.
The letter submitted for the attention of authorities in Bangkok warned that there appeared to be a lack of urgency and determination in dealing with the drugs epidemic in Krabi which is leading to the loss of innocent lives.
General Prawit, in Krabi last Monday, appeared to fall asleep at a meeting of land and water agencies in the province but refuted the claims on Tuesday
The demands being sent to acting Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan come as the Constitutional Court continues to review the case of Prime Minister Prayut Chan ocha but with opinion polls showing a lacklustre or even negative response from the public towards the 77-year-old deputy prime minister and key cabinet colleague of General Prayut who took up leadership of the kingdom’s government at the end of August.
At a recent meeting in Krabi, on Monday last, of land and water agencies, General Prawit was pictured after falling asleep although his office later denied that the acting PM was asleep.
The general is reported to have played a video at the meeting of the cabinet last Tuesday to prove his point despite photographs which emerged of the acting PM slouched and with his eyes closed.
Letter to Acting PM gave a 15-day ultimatum in advance of protests over a deteriorating security situation in Krabi from drug addiction and violence
The protest submission on Friday called for urgent action within 15 days to allay the public’s concerns in relation to the illegal drugs scourge in Krabi to avoid a planned all-out protest.
It made three key suggestions to the government.
The first was a call for stronger sentences and penalties for those involved in drug dealing and more vigilant efforts by law enforcement which the letter described as weak or indecisive at this time.
The second called for local committees of enforcement and action to deal with the drug menace including longer detention periods for those with drug habits and more demanding certification requirements before people, still suffering from addiction problems, are re-released into the community.
Proposal to ‘cleanse’ the province through widespread rehabilitative detention of drug addicts by local committees and action against corrupt officials
This proposal called for an urgent campaign to be launched to ‘cleanse’ the community of people with drug addiction issues through rehabilitative detention and more involvement of local people in the law enforcement battle against drugs through local action committees.
The third proposal called for an internal probe of all officials working in government and security services to root out corruption suggesting that some officials are active in the sale of drugs or facilitating those who promote the menace in society.
On the same day, as the strong local protest was made in central Krabi, police in Plai Phraya district in the north of the coastal province launched an operation titled ‘Plai Phraya Romyen, Pracha Ruam Jai to Prevent Drugs’ involving 100 police officers and raids on 20 separate locations led by Mr Nirut Din Daeng, the district chief.
Feelings running high after murder of 3 school students last Tuesday by a crazed small businessman, high on methamphetamine pills after a road crash
Feelings in the holiday province are running extremely high following a string of murders driven by people high on drugs including the brutal slaying of three High School students, two eighteen-year-old girls and a boy, in the early hours of last Tuesday morning, the 6th December.
They were gunned down by a small business owner who admitted to police that he had taken two crystal methamphetamine tablets before being involved in a road traffic accident with the victims riding a motorbike on their way from a sleepover in one house to another.
Black-hearted road rage act wiped out 3 young lives in Krabi on Tuesday morning in seconds, killer arrested
Later, on Tuesday, Khao Phanom police in Krabi had to respond to an emergency in the cells of the local police station where the killer was being held on murder charges after he began to throw a fit and went berserk due to the influence of the deadly drugs he had taken.
Police in northern area of Krabi launched a crackdown on Friday which saw 11 people arrested and drugs seized at 20 different locations in Plai Phraya
The raids on Friday saw 1,167 crystal methamphetamine pills being seized as well as 8 grams of ice and 5 artificial long guns.
Eleven people were arrested including three who were already the subject of arrest warrants logged with Plai Phraya Police Station
Mr Nirut, after the operation, explained that it was necessitated by the increased violence associated with the drug epidemic in his district of Krabi.
He said officials were seeing many more drug addicts as well as drug dealers, including increased incidents of users developing dangerous hallucinations and causing injuries and even fatalities to others, including tragic occurrences within families.
He explained that law enforcement must now continue to crack down on this menace and threat by increasing the intensity of such activity leading to more arrests and prosecutions.
Poll spells bad news for General Prawit after only two weeks as acting PM with over 63% of the public dissatisfied with him in his newly elevated role
A National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) poll published on Sunday with 1,312 respondents, showed that 63.72% of the public were dissatisfied with acting PM General Prawit who is the leader of the Palang Pracharat Party in parliament but who is not an MP and has never been elected to public office despite being at the helm of government since the 2014 coup.
A significant 41.46% of people are very dissatisfied with General Prawit over the last two weeks since he assumed the government leadership role while an additional 22.26% were moderately dissatisfied.
In addition to this, a huge majority, 80.34% said they wish to see a General Election and the dissolution of the House of Representatives although this would plunge the kingdom right now into political chaos since the country’s new election laws are before the Constitutional Court and later must be promulgated to provide a clear basis for the next poll.
Another strong majority of 58.92% said it would be inappropriate for the caretaker PM to attempt to mount a cabinet reshuffle at this time.
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Criminal charges likely against student leaders as mysterious ‘People’s Party’ plaque goes missing
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