BANGKOK: The leader of a protest group trying to overthrow Thailand’s government said yesterday the prime minister should either step down or be forced out, and his movement would then need around a year to push through reforms.
Suthep Thaugsuban, a lawmaker who resigned from parliament to lead the protest, and his allies have spoken of a volunteer police force, decentralisation of power and electoral reform - but apart from that have been noticeably short on specifics.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has called an election for Feb 2 in an effort to end the street protests but Suthep, knowing that allies of Yingluck’s brother, ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, would probably win any election, wants an unelected “people’s council” to take over.
Presenting his ideas to the media, protest leader Suthep said he would meet military chiefs today to discuss his strategy, but he rejected any idea of cutting a deal with Yingluck, who heads a caretaker government now that the king has endorsed the election date.
Yingluck said she will hold a forum tomorrow to discuss reforms but says they can only be drawn up and implemented after the election.
Thailand’s eight-year political conflict centres on Thaksin, a former telecommunications tycoon popular among the rural poor because of policies pursued when he was in power and carried on by governments allied to him when he was ousted.
Thaksin, who lives in self-exile to escape a jail sentence for abuse of power, gained an unassailable mandate that he used to advance the interests of big companies, including his own. He has dismissed the graft charges as politically motivated. Ranged against him are a royalist establishment that feels threatened by his rise and, in the past, the military.
Reuters
