Thaksin Shinawatra has accused “smart and able’’ elements within the Pheu Thai Party of doing nothing to help his younger sister Yingluck Shinawatra and her caretaker government during what he described as a “tough situation”, a party source said on Monday.
A pro-government supporter passes t-shirts with portraits of caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her self-exiled brother Thaksin at the gate of the National Anti-Corruption Commission office. (AP file photo)
Thaksin made the comments when he met a group of Pheu Thai members and caretaker cabinet ministers last weekend in Beijing, the source said.
The deposed prime minister said the government’s critics were clever but a group of “smart and able’’ Pheu Thai Party members have not come to the government’s defence.
“The party has a lot of smart people, but they don’t dare to fight. Those who look good don’t come out to fight, while those who come out to fight don’t look quite so good,’’ Thaksin said.
“There are few people who are sincere. These [smart and able] people are trying to trick me because they see the prime minister as a weak person and they want to stay around.
“The prime minister’s aides aren’t good at politics and she doesn’t want the people I send her. I feel sympathy for her and don’t want to boss her around.
“Those in Thailand, they can’t live up to my expectations.”
According to the source, the ex-premier also did not rule out the possibility that the Feb 2 general election could be scrapped, because the House could not be convened within 30 days of the vote.
Meanwhile, National Security Council chief Lt Gen Paradorn Pattanatabut said a proposal to lift the emergency decree will be forwarded to Ms Yingluck for approval this week.
The Centre for Maintaining Peace and Order (CMPO) headed by Chalerm Yubamrung agreed during its meeting last Friday that the decree should be revoked. The prime minister will be asked to enforce the Internal Security Act (ISA) instead, he said.
“We’re waiting for a final assessment from a committee. After that I will submit the proposal to lift the decree to the prime minister, which should be done this week,” he said.
He said the decision was based on three factors — the merging of the rally stages, the Civil Court’s ruling on the decree and the call for the decree’s revocation by seven key private sector organisations and business leaders.
The emergency decree was imposed for 60 days until March 22 to give the government powers to handle anti-government protests by the People’s Democratic Reform Committee.
It is in effect in Bangkok, Nonthaburi and parts of Pathum Thani and Samut Prakan provinces.
Mr Chalerm, the CMPO director, said it is up to the prime minister to decide whether to replace the emergency decree with the ISA. If the ISA is enforced, the Justice Ministry and the police will take charge.
According to Mr Chalerm, due to the Civil Court ruling banning the CMPO from enforcing orders, the emergency law is useless.
He believed there would be problems if pending decisions by the National Anti-Corruption Commission and the Constitution Court were seen by some people as being unjust to the Pheu Thai Party.