BANGKOK, Nov 2 – Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra delegated responsibilities to her newly-appointed deputy premiers and ministers at the first meeting of the newly-reshuffled cabinet, with national security affairs to be her own direct concern.
Ms Yingluck said that she will supervise overall aspects of the defence ministry’s work, while the newly-established Committee to Mobilise Policy and Strategy to Solve Problems in the Southern Border Provinces will be tasked to tackle the insurgency in that region.
Deputy premier Chalerm Yubamrung, supervising the interior ministry and the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre (SBPAC), will oversee development work in the far South.
She said Deputy Premier Pongthep Thepkanchana will be in charge of legal issues and conflicts.
The Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), chaired by the premier herself, will also work with the army chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha and concerned agencies under the defence ministry to solve the violence in the region.
The premier said no deputy minister will be assigned to directly supervise the problem of the deep South, but the established Committee to Mobilise Policy and Strategy to Solve Problems in the Southern Border Provinces will be in charge of it and she will supervise overall aspects.
Ms Yingluck said Gen Yuthasak Sasiprapa, earlier removed from the deputy prime ministerial post, will be re-appointed as an advisor to the prime minister and will work with the newly-established committee on the deep South.
The cabinet today also appointed former executive of the defunct Thai Rak Thai Party Tossaporn Serirak as new government spokesman replacing Sansanee Nakpong, promoted to the post of Minister Attached to the Prime Minister’s Office.
