Pheu Thai gets a dose of 'attitude adjustment'

A group of Pheu Thai politicians was yesterday summoned for “attitude adjustment” after the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) believed their recent political comments may widen the political rift and cause damage to the country.
Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, the NCPO head, said people repeatedly summoned would face measures step by step – starting with banning travel out of the country, having their assets investigated and suspending their financial transactions.
Former foreign minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul was escorted by a military team into a vehicle while eating at a restaurant near Muang Thong Thani despite not receiving a summons.
He said the NCPO did not need to issue official summons to detain someone.
He said he did not want to make a mountain out of a molehill and had someone telephone the politicians in question to invite them to come for a talk.
After staging the coup last year, the NCPO broadcast the issuing of summonses.
Prayut did not rule out the possibility of some of the politicians who fronted the junta yesterday staying overnight, saying the security team would decide on a case by case basis if anyone needed to stay longer.
During a press conference, the PM became irritated and slammed the table and raised his voice. However he said he was not angry and was not intoxicated with power.
“What they [the politicians] said was aimed at pressuring me, correct? I have full power but they still challenge me. I have let it go till today because they have crossed the line,” he said.
Prayut said the NCPO would also invite former energy minister Pichai Naripthaphan to talk to the junta because of his comment against the administration.
“We had so many problems in the energy sector when he was a minister. Why didn’t he do anything?’’ he said.
Several Pheu Thai politicians, including Surapong, had made comments that upset Prayut after meeting Daniel Russel, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, on Monday.
Surapong had accompanied former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra to the meeting and later told Russel that Yingluck’s political fate would be no different from that of her brother Thaksin. He also said the introduction of martial law had blocked freedom.
Cherdchai Tantisirin, a former Pheu Thai party-list MP and red shirt, remarked that the impeachment of Yingluck was political and he called on the junta to lift martial law.
Cherdchai, his wife and other red-shirt leaders arrived at Khon Kaen’s Sripatcharin Army camp yesterday. They met with Khon Kaen Governor Colonel Prakij Tabtong and other military officials.
Cherdchai said he had made a forthright comment about Russel’s visit and he did not want it to provoke turmoil in Khon Kaen. “We put the matter to rest. I want no problem,’’ he said.
Former education minister Chaturon Chaisang admitted on social media that he was summoned to meet the junta at the First Army Area yesterday afternoon but he had no idea what the meeting was about.
Red Sunday Group leader Sombat Boonngam-anong said an Army officer rang him on Wednesday and told him the officer’s commander did not feel comfortable seeing him wearing a red shirt every Sunday.
Sombat, who is facing a military court trial for leading an anti-coup movement, tweeted yesterday that his red shirts contained the message “we are friends”.
Prayut said people should ask themselves if wearing red was appropriate, and he wanted to know what Sombat’s intention was.
“Why doesn’t Sombat campaign wearing yellow or sky blue? Why must it be red? You know the answer, so don’t just carelessly ask me,” he said.