BANGKOK — Junta chairman and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has vowed to speak more cordially with the press in honor of the King of Thailand’s 87th birthday on Friday.

“To celebrate His Majesty the King’s 87^th birthday, I intend to work for the public and from now on I’ll stop being so angry and start speaking politely,” Gen. Prayuth told the press at the Government House yesterday. “I’m doing it now so you [reporters] should stop teasing me as well.”

Gen. Prayuth, the former army chief who seized power in a coup d’etat on 22 May, is known for his hostile exchanges with reporters, who he frequently reprimands for scrutinizing his administration.

When a reporter asked the junta chairman last week if the media is permitted to criticise him, Gen. Prayuth responded angrily, "What have I done wrong? Tell me!"

Since seizing power in May, Gen. Prayuth has dramatically curbed freedom of expression in Thailand by banning public protests and political activities of any kind. Last month, the army ordered a state-owned TV station to drop a talk show that was airing complaints from the public about the 22 May coup. 

Although Gen. Prayuth has stopped short of subjecting the press to full-scale censorship, he has repeatedly asked the media to “cooperate” with his government.

This afternoon, Gen. Prayuth personally met with dozens of newspaper editors, including the editor of Khaosod. Media executives have been summoned to meet with junta representatives several times since the coup, but this was the first time Gen. Prayuth himself was present for the talks.  

"The media has to assist me," Gen. Prayuth said last week, after chastising the press for their coverage of flash anti-coup protests staged by student activists in Bangkok and Khon Kaen.

"The media has two duties,” he continued. “One is to explain the situation and create understanding with the people, with some critical reporting and criticism. But you also have to support the missions of this government.” 

BANGKOK – A Koh Samui court has approved prosecutors' sixth request to extend the detention of two Burmese men accused of murdering British tourists in southern Thailand in September.

Police arrested Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo*, both 21-year-old Burmese migrants, on 3 October and accused them of murdering British tourists David Miller, 24, and Hannah Witheridge, 23, on the popular resort island of Koh Tao.

Despite police’s insistence that Zaw and Wai are linked to the murder through incontrovertible forensic evidence, the public prosecutor handling the case has repeatedly delayed indicting the two men, citing police’s "incomplete" case files.

The two men have had their detention extended six times since they were arrested, bringing their total number of days in prison up to 60. Under Thai laws, a suspect can be detained for up to 84 days before trial.

The public prosecutor reportedly attributed the delay of Zaw and Win’s indictment to the extensive amount of evidence and number of witnesses connected to the case.  

Andy Hall, a human rights activists who has helped organise the defendant's legal team, released a letter penned by Zaw and Win in court today. 

"We both wish to request anyone who perhaps can assist to be a witness in our case or has evidence about the crimes we are suspected of to urgently come forward and introduce yourselves to our lawyers and share your information with our defence team," the letter reads.

"This will really assist us in our defence and ensure justice is done for us, our family and the family of the victims. Please don't be scared to assist us at our time of need. May you all be happy. Thank you. Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo."

According to the suspects' lawayer, Nakhon Chompuchat, it has been difficult to convince witnesses to come forward. 

Chompuchat told the BBC he has been urging the friends that Witheridge and Miller were traveling in Thailand with share what they know about the night the pair was murdered. 

"Their friends should know many things about this to prove the true situation," he told the BBC. 

Police initially insisted that Zaw and Wai confessed to the murder, but the two suspects later recanted their confessions in the presence of lawyers.

The Burmese men told lawyers they were tortured by police into making the confessions, an allegation police have steadfastly denied.

Numerous human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, have criticised Thai police’s handling of the investigation and raised concerns that the two men are scapegoats.

In October, the United Kingdom dispatched a team of British police to Thailand to observe the investigation. A report on what the British detectives found has yet to be released.

Thai police came under an immense amount of pressure to find culprits behind the grisly murder, which authorities feared might damage the Kingdom’s already struggling tourism industry.

*In previous articles, Wai Phyo was incorrectly named as Win Zaw Htun. 

*In previous articles, Wai Phyo was incorrectly named as Win Zaw Htun. 

BANGKOK – A high-ranking army commander has insisted that student activists who staged a flash protest in front of Thailand’s military ruler last month were paid to disrupt the event by politicians.

"Some student groups have connections to political groups," said Lt.Gen. Kampanat Ruddit, commander of the 1st Region Army.

"For example, the Khon Kaen students,” he said, referring to the five student activists who interrupted a speech by Prime Minister and junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha in Khon Kaen province on 19 November to raise the "three-finger salute." Security officers promptly detained the five students for flashing the anti-coup gesture, which is banned under the junta's rule.

“My intelligence units have told me that they were paid to compete for space in the media with the Prime Minister," Lt.Gen. Kampanat was quoted as saying by Matichon today. "They were paid for about 50,000 baht by certain politicians in the region."

 
Student activists in Khon Kaen interrupt PM Prayuth Chan-ocha on 19 November to flash an anti-coup salute.

He did not provide any further evidence to back up the assertion, which was not the first unsubstantiated and bizarre allegation the Thai military has made regarding the anti-coup movement. In late May, the military claimed that an "impostor" hi-jacked an army jeep near an anti-coup protest in Bangkok and used it to denounce protesters as "scums."

Lt.Gen. Kampanat also dismissed calls from human rights organisations to repeal martial law, which the junta imposed over the entire nation in May 2014. According to Lt.Gen. Kampanat, security officers need the law to respond to any anti-coup protests quickly. 

"Furthermore, the martial law is not dangerous to good people at all," Lt.Gen. Kampanat said.

BANGKOK — Thai Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha and his counterpart in Malaysia have set conditions for potential Malaysian-brokered peace talks between Thai authorities and Muslim insurgents in Thailand’s southern border provinces.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Thai PM Prayuth Chan-ocha met for bilateral talks in Malaysia on 1 Dec 2014. 

The insurgent groups who have been launching deadly attacks on civilians and security forces in southern Thailand must first honour a ceasefire, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak told the press after his bilateral meeting with Thai PM Gen. Prayuth in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

In addition, all militant groups involved in the insurgency must be represented at the talks and unite around a shared set of demands, Najib said.

“In other words, all the parties must agree to a list of demands or requests that they should put forward to the Thai government and that would be the basis of starting the actual substantive negotiations with the Thai government,” he was quoted as saying by The Star.

Gen. Prayuth also stressed yesterday that the new round of peace talks will differ from the former government’s effort, which focused on only one of the rebel groups operating in what is known as Thailand's 'Deep South.'

Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's government carried out several ground-breaking “peace dialogues” with one militant group in 2013, but the process was derailed after six months of anti-government protests debilitated the central government and paved the way for the military coup led by Gen. Prayuth.

Gen. Prayuth has refused to provide a timeline for his administration's talks, and it remains unclear whether insurgent groups in the south will agree to the ambitions conditions he and Prime Minister Najib have set.

Just yesterday, security officers found dozens of banners across the southern provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat, that read: "Is it appropriate to negotiate with the coup government? There is no guarantee for sincerity."

More than 6,000 people — mostly civilians — have died in near-daily violence that has plagued Thailand’s Deep South since 2004. The attacks have been launched by a number of shadowy militant groups seeking to revive the independent sultanate of Pattani that was incorporated into modern Thailand in the early 20th century.

In contrast to the rest of country, where the vast majority of Thais are Buddhist, the Deep South is dominated by Muslims who speak a Malaysian dialect and often do not consider themselves Thai.  

Yesterday was Gen. Prayuth's first official visit to Malaysia since he was voted into the premiership by a junta-appointed parliament on 25 August. His arrival was met with protests led by political and human rights activists in front of Thailand's embassy in Malaysia. 

The protesters held a banner that read "Dictator not Welcome," and also denounced Prime Minister Najib Razak for inviting the Thai junta chairman.

"The reception for Prayuth is an act that recognizes and lends legitimacy to the illegal government in Thailand which grabbed power through a military coup and suppression of democracy since May this year, " the protesters said in a statement.

Read more:
Southern 'Separatist Banners' Dismiss Peace Talks
Protesters Denounce Thai Premier's Visit to Malaysia
179th Teacher Murdered In Restive South