Temple ceremony pulls in 30,000 people

Premier turns up to 'regain strength'

Sumet Wannapreuk, Khon Kaen

About 30,000 people turned out at a temple ceremony where 1,107 monks chanted prayers to ward off bad luck for Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

In the face of vocal criticism of the ceremony, the provincial administration had said the rite was not meant to help Mr Thaksin dodge disaster, but to spare Thailand from any catastrophe.

Mr Thaksin will give a 20-minute closing statement at his hidden assets trial in the Constitutional Court on Monday. He will lose the job if the court finds he deliberately concealed his ownership of shares worth billions of baht in a 1997 ministerial assets declaration.

Many local people viewed the ceremony as simply a tactic to increase the public standing of Deputy Prime Minister Suvit Khunkitti and Thai Rak Thai MPs representing Khon Kaen.

"This was just a game played out by politicians, and religion was used as a front," one person said. Many others, however, regarded the ceremony as auspicious for the province.

Mr Thaksin stopped in Khon Kaen on his return from Laos to preside over the ceremony, held at Wat Nong Waeng in Muang district by the provincial administration and the Khon Kaen chamber of commerce. It cost an estimated one million baht.

The premier had lunch at a local restaurant owned by Mr Suvit's father, Vichian Khunkitti, before going to the temple. The ceremony began at 2.19pm and lasted 50 minutes.

Mr Thaksin then gave a 10-minute speech assuring the people that all of his election pledges would be fulfilled, no matter what happened to him.

The premier said he had already confounded critics who said the policies would never materialise because they required a lot of money. "I can now prove that I can do it, without having to spend too much money," he said.

The prime minister said he would continue his fight against poverty.

"Financial institutions have lots of money, but the people are suffering a financial drought.

"I will lay down a pipe from where 600 billion baht is stored and send 300 billion baht to our people," Mr Thaksin said.

Mr Thaksin said the ceremony had helped boost his morale.

"I am here today to regain my strength," he said.