A trip by former army chief Gen Apirat Kongsompong, and chief of the Thai defence forces, Gen Chalermpol Srisawat, to a Malaysian island on May 5-7 was about peace efforts in the deep South and had nothing to do with national politics, a source said yesterday.
The visit took place a week before the May 14 general election but did not have any political implications, and it had nothing to do with a so-called secret deal to form a coalition government, the source said. The source added the pair did not meet a former prime minister, believed to be Thaksin Shinawatra, as suggested by some reports circulating in social media.
"There's an attempt to link the visit to politics. There are rumours about Gen Apirat, but he chooses to stay silent," the source said. "That he keeps quiet doesn't mean there are grounds to those rumours."
Instead, the source said that Gen Apirat and Gen Chalermpol were part of a delegation to Langkawi island to meet key insurgent members to support peace initiatives in the southernmost provinces.