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Thai PM stakes political future on ending unrest

BANGKOK - Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told Thais to vote him out of office if he fails to end an Islamic insurgency in southern Thailand before the next polls in three years.


"I am taking all responsibility for everything that happens. I will supervise and closely instruct the military on how to put down the unrest in the south," he said on his weekly radio address.


"If I make mistakes, you should not vote for me in three years," he said.


Thaksin won a landslide re-election victory in February, allowing him to form the first elected single-party government in Thai history.


However, his party failed to win a single seat in the Muslim majority south, where the insurgency has raged since January 2004 in the provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala.


Thaksin spoke after a dramatic hostage-taking in the Narathiwat village of Tanyong Limo ended Wednesday with the beating deaths of two navy officers. Two suspects were arrested in connection with the killings late Friday. 


Eleven other warrants have been issued for other suspects as of Saturday morning, police said.


"The incident at Tanyong Limo made us realise that it's time to solve this problem once and for all. Those militants have no gratitude to their motherland, which has given them the freedom to practice any religious faith," the prime minister said.


Thaksin, who has faced criticism for heavy-handed tactics that have alienated Muslims, vowed to protect innocent Buddhists as well as Muslims while security forces hunt down the militants.


But he said Thailand would stop allowing Thais along the border to hold dual citizenship with Malaysia.


"I will coordinate with Malaysia's government to issue some other type of certificate for those who have to go to work in Malaysia, but they will not receive identification cards that allow them to cast their votes in both Thailand and Malaysia," he said.


More than 950 people have been killed in the unrest since January 2004. Analysts and authorities blame the violence on Islamic separatists, organized crime and local

AFP
24 Sept 2005