Candidates would change security bill

General news - Friday December 14, 2007

Candidates would change security bill

WASSANA NANUAM

Pattani _ Election candidates in the three strife-torn border provinces say they would find a way to amend the much-criticised security bill if it is passed into law. The candidates argued the bill, now before the National Legislative Assembly, gave the military sweeping power at the expense of accountability.

Muk Sulaiman, People Power party candidate in constituency 2 of Pattani, said that people in the deep South lived in fear.

Mr Muk, also a core figure of the Wadah faction of the party, was speaking at a seminar on devising a national policy for peace in the South, held by the Thai Journalists Association yesterday.Mr Muk said it was inconceivable that the bill could be accepted for deliberation by the NLA when it gave those in power a licence to kill.

He said if the bill was passed, he would push for changes.

Meanwhile, Waemahadi Wae-dao, deputy leader of the Puea Pandin party and candidate in constituency 1 of Narathiwat, said his policy was not to rely on the military to restore peace. Instead, he would emphasise the deployment of village defence units and cut military spending.

He advocated autonomy for the three southern provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani, which in his view was the only way to quell the unrest.

Democrat deputy secretary-general Niphon Boonyamanee said the imposition of an emergency decree was enough to deal with the southern situation without the internal security bill to augment the power of the authorities even more. A deputy prime minister or a minister would be assigned sole responsibility to tackle the southern problem. The three provinces would also be upgraded to a special development zone

Bangkok Post