My sincere best wishes to Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung on his unenviable new assignment -- ordered by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to take charge of efforts to end the violent unrest in the three southernmost border provinces and four districts of Songkhla. Welcome to the deep South and good luck!
The outspoken Pheu Thai MP was instructed to explore ways to solve the problems in the far South and to work closely with the National Securiy Council and with Suranand Vejjajiva, secretary-general of the Prime Minister’s Office.
Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung (L) and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra (Photo by Apichart Jinakul)
This new job is a huge challenge for Mr Chalerm, who has already earned high marks for his role as the overlord of the drug suppression campaign that has netted millions of tablets of methamphetamine, or ya ba.
It is a tough and unenviable job with very little chance of success -- if the unabated violence despite the huge budget, about 170 billion baht so far, poured into the restive region over the past eight years is used as a measurement of success or failure.
I am totally at a loss to understand the rationale behind the prime minister’s decision to give the job to Mr Chalerm, or the decision to appoint Mr Suranand to oversee the situation in the far South in whatever capacity.
I have no doubt about Mr Chalerm’s capabilities, but I must question whether he is the right man for the job.
The deputy prime minister has not set foot in the three southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, or the four troubled districts of Songkhla, since he took office about a year ago, although he is in charge of the national police force. The farthest south he has ventured is Hat Yai, when he served as interior minister in the government of prime minister Samak Sundaravej about three years ago.
Five policemen were killed in an ambush by insurgents in Raman district of Yala last week and yet Mr Chalerm is yet to visit the region to boost the morale of the police who serve under his supervision down there. Nor has he bothered to visit families of the dead men to show his sympathy.
Last week in Pattaya, in responding to media questions about the transfer of his son, Duang Yubamrung, from the army to the metropolitan police as a shooting instructor, Mr Chalerm insisted the transfer was a normal event and in compliance with procedure.
However, he said he would have objected to the transfer had he been consulted first, because he didn’t want his son to be at risk to being transferred to the far South whenever there is a change of government, because police are more susceptible to transfer than army officers.
Given such background, it can be assumed that Mr Chalerm is not at all keen about going down to the far South either. Mr Suranand, too, is not an expert on the unrest in the dominantly Muslim far South.
Here is another question: how can they be successful, or achieve anything concrete, if they keep the task to themselves and the NSC without involving the military, which is the key player in the region?