Sondhi: Says PM [Abhisit Vejjajiva] is ‘acting like a child’

Sondhi calls on PM to sack Patcharawat
PM accused of being 'weak and immature'

Writer: MANOP THIP-OSOD AND THANIDA TANSUBHAPOL
Published: 30/07/2009
Bangkok Post

Sondhi Limthongkul has taken Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to task for failing to dismiss national police chief Patcharawat Wongsuwon.

Mr Sondhi's People's Alliance for Democracy blames Pol Gen Patcharawat for the slow progress in the investigation into the attempted murder of Mr Sondhi on April 17.

Mr Sondhi yesterday told reporters that if the police could not arrest a suspect in the attempted murder of a person of his profile, the nation might be in trouble.

He said Mr Abhisit and other people in important positions could also become assassination targets.

The PAD leader criticised Mr Abhisit for lacking the maturity of a leader by failing to remove Pol Gen Patcharawat as police chief.

If the prime minister decided not to transfer Pol Gen Patcharawat to strike a compromise with the military and political groups, the decision would probably backfire on his future, Mr Sondhi said.

"Mr Abhisit acts like a child who has no leadership at all," he said.

Mr Sondhi also questioned why Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, who supervises national security, did not support the removal of Pol Gen Patcharawat.

He said Mr Suthep knew well that police had remained idle while red shirt demonstrators stormed the venue of the the Asean summit in Pattaya in April, forcing its postponement.

Mr Sondhi said the team assigned to kill him in Bangkok consisted of 13 officers from the special operations unit Task Force 90 in Lop Buri and one policeman.

The murder attempt was a collaboration between the military and the Department of Special Investigation, he alleged.

PAD coordinator Suriyasai Katasila said his group feared the Sondhi case was being deliberately delayed while scapegoats were being sought.

The alliance believed the investigation was being manipulated.

He said the PAD had hoped Mr Abhisit would help remove obstacles in the investigation.

But it could well turn out Mr Suthep himself was the obstacle, he said.

PAD spokesman Panthep Puapongpan yesterday also urged the government to put up a fight against Cambodia's attempt to claim petroleum deposits worth 4trillion baht in the Gulf of Thailand near Koh Kud in Trat province.

He said Cambodia based its claim on a map attached to a joint communique signed by convicted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra with Phnom Penh on June 19, 2001.

The PAD found that instead of the entire deposits belonging to Thailand, they have now become part of an overlapping territory which Cambodia could claim.

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya yesterday defended Mr Suthep's role in the Thai-Cambodian Joint Technical Committee on Maritime.

He said Mr Suthep had what it takes to defend the national interest.