The violence escalated in the far South after security forces killed four innocent Malay Muslims in Nong Chik of Pattani in late January. In Ayutthaya province, totally unexpected flooding in Sena and Pak Hai districts caused panic in the riverside communities. Politically, the country appears to be heading for more conflict as the drive for constitutional amendment has started in earnest.
A powerful car bomb exploded in front of the Pattani provincial health office on Thursday, killing one passer-by and injuring 13 others, the latest in a series of attacks in the province since the killing of four innocent Muslim villagers by paramilitary rangers in Nong Chik district on Jan 29.
The bomb was hidden in a stolen Isuzu pick-up truck and it was believed detonated remotely by insurgents in the close vicinity to the health office, which was crowded with many people at the time.
A car bomb kills one and injures 13 people in downtown Pattani on Feb 9, 2012. (Photo REUTERS)
The dead victim was identified as Manit Uma, 64. Among the injured was a two-year old girl who was wounded by bomb shrapnel.
Police said that a pick-up truck belonging to provincial deputy governor Lertkiat Wongpothinan was parked not far away from the bomb-laden truck, but the deputy governor was not at the health office at the time of the explosion. Police said Lertkiat might have been the intended target.
Earlier in the morning, insurgents in Bacho district of Narathiwat detonated a bomb as six soldiers assigned to provide protection to teachers were passing on three motorcycles. Two members of the patrol were wounded.
The same evening, in Sai Buri district of Pattani, a Malay Muslim was shot dead by assailants traveling in a pick-up truck. The motive of the murder is still under investigation.
In the wake of the killing of the four villagers in Nong Chik, Democrat MP for Yala Abdul Karim Tengrakina demanded that troops attached to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd army regions should all be withdrawn from the restive South and replaced by troops who are native to the southernmost provinces. The region is under the 4th Army.
There are also renewed calls for the replacement of paramilitary forces in the region with regular troops to ease public resentment and mistrust of the rangers. However, these demands have been rejected by the army, which plans to send more rangers down there to relieve regular troops of their role in combating the insurgency.
On Tuesday, the cabinet approved the formation of a super committee tasked with formulating water resources management and flood prevention policies. The committee, officially known as the National Water Resources and Flood Policy Committee, is headed by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. It will be assisted by the Strategic Formulation Committee for Water Resources Management, which will serve as the advisory body.
Another panel to be headed by a cabinet minister appointed by the prime minister was also set up to implement the policies laid down by Prime Minister Yingluck’s committee.
As head of the new super committee, the prime minister plans to tour several northern and central provinces located along the Chao Phraya river this weekend to observe flood prevention readiness.
An old man walks on a makeshift wooden plank used as a walkway over flooded ground on Feb 8, 2012 after a flash flood in tambon Nom Kho of Sena district, Ayutthaya. (Photo by Sunthorn Pongpao)
However in Sena and Pak Hai districts of Ayutthaya, the flood returned to the riverside communities this week as the Chao Phraya and Noi rivers unexpectedly overflowed their banks.
Residents were caught off-guard by the unseasonal flood, less than two months after last year’s big flood finally receded. It was not known what actually caused the flooding as all agencies concerned with water resources management gave conflicting statements, shunting to blame off to others.
On the political front, the campaign for the rewriting of the Constitution has heated up with both the Pheu Thai Party and its ally, the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), submitting separate draft amendments to the parliamentary office. Both drafts provide for setting up a constitution drafting assembly (CDA) to rewrite the charter. They differ on the number of charter writers and how they are to be selected.
The Pheu Thai’s version calls for 99 members of the CDA with 77 elected, one in each province, plus another 22 to be chosen from academia and other fields of expertise. The UDD calls for 100 CDA members, all of them to be elected and with larger provinces having more representatives than smaller provinces.
The Chartthaipattana Party plans to file its own draft amendment with the parliament next week, the main opposition party, the Democrats, have rejected charter amendment.
Pheu Thai party-list MP Jatuporn Prompan (Photo by Pattanapong Hirunard)
As the campaign for the change of the lese majeste law, or Article 112 of the Criminal Code, was raging, Pheu Thai list-MP Jatuporn Prompan caused a big stir by claiming that there might be a coup between now and April using the lese majeste law controversy as a pretext. He urged red-shirt followers to return to the streets in a show of force to deter the unnamed conspirators.
Mr Jatuporn claimed that news of the coup plot was passed to his associates by a US intelligence officer, but would not be more specific. The US embassy in Bangkok has denied the US has any information about a planned coup.
Mr Jatuporn's mouthing off annoyed the army chief, Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha, who was, throughout the week, bombarded by questions about it by reporters. He categorically denied there was any such plot - as he has done many times.
Defence Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat suggested Mr Jatuporn should stop repeatedly stirring up fears of a coup and keep his mouth shut.
