BANGKOK, Nov 20 – Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, chief of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), said a special law is necessary to ensure national progress and that different opinions were blocking national reform for the time being.
In his lecture to students at the National Defence College this morning, Gen Prayut said “I am not enjoying exercising a great deal of power but a special law is necessary.”
He apparently was responding to calls to end the imposition of martial law that the military applied days before the NCPO seized power on May 22.
In the session he was asked if and how much his national reform move will succeed and what obstructs it. Gen Prayut replied that different opinions were the obstacle and that sovereignty was the only solution.
“Six months before the power seizure, budgets could not be spent and everything was stalled. I am a democratic soldier but I cannot tolerate the failure of the country,” Gen Prayut said.
He said he understood and tolerated those who had different opinions, and promised that he would not intervene in the drafting of the new constitution and national reform brainstorming.
Reform guidelines will conclude in a year for the next government to implement, but he warned that mistrust posed problems to reform efforts.
Gen Prayut said that conflicts in Thailand resulted from inequality and poverty and the government was solving them to prevent anyone from using people to create disunity.
