Prasong Soonsiri on protecting the monarchy and Privy Council
Prasong Soonsiri is reported in the Bangkok Post (31 March 2009: “PM told to show more leadership”).
When Prasong speaks about political events, it is usually worth considering his views, especially if he is criticising people. This is because he has been involved in a range of political campaigns over many years. Prasong has a short entry at Wikipedia that inadequately details his often murky political and security roles over many years, not least as head of the National Security Council. That entry finishes by noting that “Prasong was a central figure in the 19 September 2006 Thai military coup that overthrew Thaksin Shinawatra’s elected government. Prasong had developed plans for a military coup as early as July 2006. A palace insider and favorite of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Prasong was later appointed by the junta to the National Legislative Assembly.” Prasong has also been a strong supporter of the People’s Alliance for Democracy and a strong opponent of Thaksin Shinawatra.
In the Post report, Prasong is reported as feeling that “neither the government nor the army have done enough to protect the [privy] council.” Prasong is reported to have been speaking on Sondhi Limthongkul’s ASTV and he considers former Prime Minister Thaksin’s call to his supporters to “rise up against the government amounted to subversion of national security. He did not understand why the government and the army could stand idly by and do nothing to stop the ex-premier from defaming the Privy Council.”
Prasong is reported as claiming that the “government and the army were duty-bound under the constitution to protect the Privy Council and the monarchy, but have failed their duty miserably.”
Further, he warned the government that it “should not underestimate the protests by supporters of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship and urged the prime minister to show more courage and leadership in dealing with Thaksin and his supporters. He further advised the government to make better use of the state media to counter Thaksin’s propaganda machine.”
On Thaksin, Prasong wanted the “government revoke his passport and to try to jam his phone-in addresses.”
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