Prayuth urges people to trust NCPO, tries to allay fears that junta may abuse its powers

General Prayuth Chan-ocha, head of the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), also asked for public trust in the military rulers, now that the provisional charter has been in effect since Tuesday.
He was obviously referring to the controversial Article 44 of the interim charter, which gives him a lot of power in his capacity as NCPO chief.
“No matter how much power the NCPO has, if the use of power is undertaken for the benefit of the people and the country, there should be no worries,” he said. “If people who run the country are not good, transparent or efficient, they can be replaced at any time. Please trust the NCPO for how it exercises its power,” he said, adding, “We have no desire to stay in power for a long time.”
The junta chief was speaking during his weekly programme “Returning Happiness to People in the Country”, which was broadcast on all TV stations. He said that over the past two months since seizing power on May 22, the NCPO had attempted to solve the country’s problems quickly, but that it had no intention of harming or destroying any person in particular. Prayuth called for cooperation from all parties involved, saying that the NCPO alone could not achieve the goal of achieving sweeping national reforms.
“We have learned some lessons and we don’t want past mistakes to happen again. We have to work together today so that we can progress tomorrow,” he said.

THE NATION