Ex-Thai education minister stands firm against coup

BANGKOK, May 27 (TNA) - Former Thai education minister Chaturon Chaisang, who is a key figure of the Pheu Thai Party, has stood firm against the country's military coup, before letting soldiers arrest him as ordered by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). Chaturon, who had refused to turn himself to the NCPO over the past six days, after the military coup was announced on May 22, told his firm stance at a press conference held at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand at the Maneeya Center in Bangkok on Tuesday, attended by Thai and foreign reporters. Chaturon opined that the military coup could not solve conflicts in a society, but it would only worsen them because it was non-democratic and unacceptable to the global community and most Thai people. In response to a claim the Thai society has faced so great conflicts, violence and damage that Royal Thai Armed Forces chiefs must impose the martial law and then stage the coup, Chaturon said Royal Thai Armed Forces chiefs actually had another option from the start, by cooperating with the government to guarantee fair law enforcement for all parties, which could contain the domestic situation and would not lead to an excuse for the May 22 coup. The ex-Thai education minister explained that he did not turn himself in to the NCPO as summoned because he did not accept a coup, but he would let the NCPO detain him and he would defend himself with the rights he deserved. After finishing his press conference, soldiers brought the ex-Thai education minister from the foreign correspondents' club to report himself to the coup council, as ordered, and he did not resist. (TNA)