Prayuth pledges to restore democracy, says constitution overhaul needed

BANGKOK — Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha hailed the performance of his military government yesterday, and said a much-criticised overhaul of the constitution was needed to pull Thailand out of years of political crisis.

In a televised speech to mark six months since a military-appointed legislature chose him as Prime Minister, Mr Prayuth said his government was sticking to its plans to restore democratic rule and that the generals were not abusing their power.

“All the time frames that I had set out, I’ve never deviated from them,” said Mr Prayuth, who led a coup last May to oust the Yingluck Shinawatra government after six months of street protests. “I don’t want to stay in power. ... I’ve never received any benefits, only some compliments and much criticism,” he said.

He also complained how his hard work was underappreciated, but insisted he would not give up. “The more you criticise me, the more I do and the stricter I am with laws,” he said. In an outburst last month, he had said he would probably just “execute” journalists who did not report the truth.

Mr Prayuth has come under fire from rights groups and the United Nations for using military courts, threatening opponents and the media, and allowing detentions without charge. Martial law was replaced this month with Article 44 of the junta’s interim constitution, which critics say is more authoritarian.

He rejected that criticism and said the law was necessary for bureaucratic expediency. Foreign governments, he said, understood Thailand’s predicament.

“They’re not worried,” he said in his 90-minute speech. “They just want us to hold elections quickly.”

Elections originally slated for this year have been pushed back to 2016 while junta-picked representatives draft a new constitution, which Mr Prayuth said needed to be reworked.

“Do you want to go back to the same place?” he said, referring to a decade-long political crisis. “If you don’t want to go back, the constitution must have some specific changes.”

Thailand’s intractable conflict broadly pits a royalist establishment backed by the military against the political machine of Yingluck’s brother, self-exiled tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra, whose populist parties have won every election since 2001 on massive rural support.

In a thinly veiled swipe at Mr Thaksin, Mr Prayuth said that his government was trying to maintain peace despite resistance at home and abroad.

“I’m here to fix problems. I don’t want to hurt anyone. I cannot hurt Thailand,” he said. “Ask someone outside the country how much longer will they keep hurting Thailand.” AGENCIES