Uneasy stand-off over park

STUDENT ACTIVISTS barred from visiting the controversial Rajabhakti Park vowed yesterday they would not give up and would reach the site to publicise their anti-corruption campaign before the New Year. However, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday they would not be allowed to go there.
Prayut said the activists were detained on Monday to avoid a possible clash with supporters of the royal park project.
“If laws were violated, all of them would be put in jail,” the PM said after the Cabinet meeting. “That’s why I don’t want it to happen and did everything to ease the situation.”
Government spokesman Major-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the government did not want to prosecute the activists under the current act prohibiting gatherings of more than five people.
Most of them were students and should not have a criminal record on their profiles, Sansern said.
The activists’ move could also be a political stunt rather than to push for a probe into reported corruption in the royal park project.
“It’s not that we limited their rights and freedom... but to investigate the matter, they needed to look at relevant documents instead of going to the park.”
A group of students and activists led by Thammasat University student Sirawith Seritiwat was blocked while travelling by train from the capital to the park in Prachuap Khiri Khan. They were detained for hours before being freed on the condition they do not try to go there again.
Sirawith said the group’s move had been peaceful and they had not been backed by any political groups. He said the trip to Rajabhakti Park on Monday should not be such a big deal – just a field trip aiming to note corruption in the building of the park, he told reporters yesterday.
The arrest of the students on Monday angered some domestic and international observers, who noted how some 200 pro-junta “allies” were allowed to rally outside the US embassy recently. While the protest against US ambassador Glyn Davies was allowed, the authorities blocked the students from going to the Army park.
But Deputy Premier and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said officials had evenly applied the same standard of security for all parties.
“There is no double standard on this matter,” he said “The same measure will also be applied for any future gathering. I don’t want any conflicts to happen.”

Complaint to anti-graft agency
Meanwhile Veera Somkwamkid, secretary general of the People’s Network Against Corruption of Thailand, lodged a complaint with the National Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday against Deputy Defence Minister Udomdej Sutabutr and Labour Minister Gen Sirichai Dithakul, the former permanent secretary for Defence, over the park scandal.
“There are grounds to believe that they engaged in abuse of authority or dereliction of duty,” Veera said.
He noted that two of Udomdej’s aides were accused of playing a role in the project’s alleged irregularities, and that Udomdej and Sirichai failed to ensure that procurement contracts for the project proceeded in line with government procedures.
“This project uses some of the state budget,” Veera said.
Udomdej admitted to feeling pressure from the Rajabhakti scandal but vowed to stay put until ongoing investigations clear his name.
“I am human. So when something comes up, I of course think about it,” Udomdej said in response to a question about the growing calls for him to step down.
The deputy defence minister is at the centre of the scandal not only because he chairs the Rajabhakti Park Foundation, but also because he left the helm of the Army just a few months ago.
Funded mainly by about Bt1 billion in donations, the Rajabhakti Park project developed a grand park in Hua Hin and erected huge statues of seven former Thai kings under Army supervision. The park is also built on Army land.
“I am confident that the panel responsible for the project’s construction can clarify everything,” he said.
He said the panel transparently signed agreements with participating foundries, and in fact did not have to take responsibility for anything that foundries negotiated with other figures. “But when the panel heard that some negotiations might be inappropriate, it intervened for the sake of transparency,” he said.
Justice Minister General Paiboon Koomchaya, meanwhile, thanked red-shirt leaders Jatuporn Prompan and Nuttawut Saikuar for offering to provide information related to the alleged irregularities in the park project to authorities.
The government security team was now investigating a bogus diagram of the graft scandal that depicts Prayut, his family, Prawit and many ministers as involved in reported irregularities. The diagram could have been drawn up to shake people’s trust in the government rather than to discredit any specific person, Prawit said.
He would get responsible agencies to sue any wrongdoers for defamation and violating the Computer Act.