Red-shirt leaders detained
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Jatuporn and Nuttawut 'invited for talks' while on their way to Rajabhakti Park
The pair were apprehended at the Mahachai Mueang Mai Market in Samut Sakhon yesterday morning as the prominent reds were on their way to the site.
“It’s on grounds of national security,” Justice Minister General Paiboon Koomchaya said yesterday in his capacity as the legal chief of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).
Two more red-shirt leaders, Somwang Asrasee and Thanawut Wichaidit, were also arrested by security officials later yesterday at a petrol station in Ratchaburi. They were taken to an unnamed military camp in the province.
Defence Ministry’s spokesman Maj General Kongcheep Tantrawanich said separately the military move was necessary – otherwise supporters of the two red-shirt leaders might clash with their opponents.
He also explained that Jatuporn and Nuttawut were just “invited” for talks to create a better understanding.
“But we can’t tell the location and the length of the talks,” he said.
While the government has seen the red-shirt leaders’ move as an effort to politicise the scandal, other reds feel such harsh operations only underline the alleged irregularities in the Rajabhakti Park project.
At the centre of the scandal is Deputy Defence Minister General Udomdej Sitabutr, who retired as Army chief just two months ago.
Funded mainly by about Bt1 billion in donations, the park project developed a grand park in Hua Hin and erected huge statues of seven former Thai kings under the Army’s supervision. The park is also on Army land.
Udomdej chairs the Rajabhakti Park Foundation that sprang into existence in mid-September.
The scandal has hampered the image of the NCPO, which staged the 2014 coup with a vow to reform the country for the better. One of its main missions, the NCPO announced, was to eradicate corruption.
“By arresting Jatuporn and Nuttawut, public doubts will grow,” said Kokaew Pikulthong, a leader of the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD).
Kokaew, also a former Pheu Thai MP, urged NCPO chief and PM General Prayut Chan-o-cha to order the immediate and unconditional release of both Jatuporn and Nuttawut.
“The NCPO and government should also fully disclose the Rajabhakti Park project’s information, and appoint outsiders to a panel probing this project,” he said.
At the same time, he urged UDD supporters to remain calm and to refrain from carrying out activities that could be deemed as violating the law.
“Those activities won’t do anything good to yourselves and the country,” Kokaew said. He promised that he himself would press hard for the release of Jatuporn and Nuttawut.
Other key red-shirts Veerakarn Musigapong and Thida Thavornseth are set to lodge a complaint with the government complaint centre today.
Worachai Hema, a former Pheu Thai MP, said the government was acting suspiciously in detaining Jatuporn and Nuttawut.
“It raises doubts that the government perhaps wants to protect its members or to hide its own corrupt practice,” he said.
Nuttawut earlier in the day gave an interview to media at the Mahachai Mueang Mai Market, saying that he planned to pay respect to the statues of the former kings at Rajabhakti Park and observe the compound.
“I have no intention to use the Rajabhakti Park case in pressuring the government. It’s just that I think the public wants to hear the truth. Our contribution to the investigation should benefit the government in that it can clear any doubt about the Rajabhakti Park project,” he said.
After he completed the interview, soldiers approached and detained him.
Shortly later, Jatuporn arrived at the market and was also detained.
Nuttawut’s secretary said he was not allowed to accompany the red-shirt leader.
“So, I trailed after the vehicle that soldiers put Nuttawut in. From the route it took, it is quite clear that he will not be sent to any place in Bangkok,” he said.
Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, said via his Twitter account that if the military did not specify where Jatuporn and Nuttawut were detained, their detention constituted a forced disappearance – a violation of international law.
Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan, meanwhile, maintained that the park scandal was not a weak link for the government. Asked about the growing call for Udomdej to leave the Cabinet, Prawit said: “He can decide himself what he will do.”
