Minister must quit over blackouts: poll

Of the 2,075 respondents, 55.7 per cent said the energy minister should be held responsible for the embarrassing power outage. They said he must also take responsibility for the damage to electricity appliances caused by many blackouts. Another 37 per cent said it should be the Cabinet’s responsibility, about 11 per cent said government agencies were to blame while one per cent said the people should take responsibility.

More than 82 per cent of respondents said the blackout affected foreigners’ confidence in Thailand, but 17.5 per cent said they did not think so.

Assumption University’s Abac Poll released the survey results saying about one-third of respondents thought the whole Cabinet must take responsibility for the incident. Seven per cent of respondents said government agencies should be held responsible for the incident while 2.2 per cent said it was the people’s own responsibility.

The survey was conducted among people aged 18 and above in 17 provinces of all regions, between Wednesday and Friday. Some of the respondents live in the southern provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla. 

About 60 per cent of the respondents said they were worried about crime, terrorism and other safety problems in the South after the blackout; 31.6 per cent said they felt the same before and after the incident; while about 8 per cent of respondents said they felt nothing.

However, about 4 out of 5 people said they were confident related agencies would be able to improve Thailand’s electricity system before the Asean Economic Community while the others said they did not believe so. 

Abac Poll assistant director Puntharee Isarangkul na Ayutthaya said the blackout only occurred in one region but caused a lot of damage to individuals, people’s lives, electricity appliances and had great impact on trade and services, including restaurants, factories and hotels as well as tourism. 

The government should take urgent measures to regain the confidence of investors, and to prepare for the Asean community, she said. 

Meanwhile, Pheu Thai deputy spokesman Anusorn Iamsa-ard said the opposition Democrat Party should not call for Pongsak’s resignation, as the power outage was an accident.