Thai PM insists on necessity of special law

BANGKOK, November 20 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha, who is also Chief of the army-led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), insists that a special law remains necessary to ensure national progress. In his lecture for students at the National Defence College in Bangkok on Thursday, General Prayut stressed that he is not enjoying exercising much power, but a special law is considered necessary for the time being. General Prayut apparently responded to calls for an end to the imposition of the martial law that the NCPO has enforced since days before its military intervention on May 22, 2014. When asked if and how much his national reform intention should be successful and what should obstruct it, the prime minister replied different opinions are the obstacle and sovereignty is the only solution. The prime minister said he is a democratic soldier who cannot tolerate the failure of the nation, but understanding and tolerating those with different opinions demonstrated peacefully. Five students of Khon Kaen University wore black shirts with anti-coup messages and showing a three-finger salute, a symbolic gesture against the May 22 military takeover, to the Thai premier while he was about to give a speech at the Khon Kaen Provincial Hall in the Thai Northeast on Wednesday to launch a campaign to assist drought victims and to inspect water management projects in the region. The prime minister acknowledged that ideological difference in Thailand has resulted from inequality and poverty and his government is addressing the problem to prevent anyone from using people to create disunity in the nation. The Thai premier also promised that he will not intervene in the ongoing drafting of the country's new Constitution and national reform brainstorming, assessing that reform guidelines should be concluded within a year for the next elected Thai government to implement. (TNA)