Soldiers can act against encroachers, Prayut says

PRIME MINISTER Prayut Chan-o-cha has said that Article 44 will allow soldiers to work with police and forestry officials in cracking down on those encroaching on forests and forest reserves.

“It is the Thai New Year now, but many [people] may not be happy because there are corrupt people who have broken the law and encroached upon forests,’’ Prayut said yesterday, after Government House officials organised a merit-making ceremony on the occasion of Songkran for the PM and his wife Naraporn.

Prayut said he had signed an order under Article 44 on Wednesday in an attempt to solve the forest encroachment problem. Military officials can give orders to police or act on behalf of police officers in cases of shortage of police or forestry officials.

The military officials are empowered as police and would take recourse to regulations of police and related laws on forests and natural resources to carry out their duties in solving the problem of forest encroachment, he said.

“We use Article 44 to speed things up because the state agencies cannot carry out this responsibility, as they do not have enough people or their efforts to solve problems are stuck in red tape. The mission’s success depends on whether the public and concerned officials cooperate,’’ he said.

In Phetchabun, under a joint police, military and state officials operations to crack down on forest encroachment late last month, more than 10,000 rai (1,600 hectares) of land, that was a water source, was seized from encroachers believed to be local administrative executives.

They had felled trees and paved the vast land into a rubber plantation, which was about two years old.

Regarding Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s recent visit to Thailand, Prayut said the two countries had signed several agreements for cooperation on trade and investment.

“Every country has invested in Thailand – the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France. Whatever they say, we listen. Whatever they want to say, we still keep the same ties with them. We have never downgraded relationships with anyone but only strengthened [them]. Any country that has downgraded the relationship with us has acted on its own. Tomorrow is another day. We do our best today,’’ he said.

“We are an independent and politically neutral country. We support every country in the world. We do not aim to fight anyone; we are just a small country,’’ he said.

Prayut said people should not worry about Article 44 because he had never thought of exercising power against innocent people.

The PM called on the media to exercise judgement in news coverage because it was an important mechanism that helped keep the country safe and sound.

He said the public received 60 per cent of its information from the media. 

“Sometimes some issues are not significant. Please refrain from presenting news in a way that causes divisiveness,” he said.