FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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NCPO plans to ‘re-educate’ politicians linked to red bowls

NCPO plans to ‘re-educate’ politicians linked to red bowls

The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) is considering detaining politicians who have distributed red Songkran bowls for a seven-day ethics “training course” in re-education camps.

Colonel Piyapong Klinpan, NCPO deputy chief of public relations, said authorities were considering initially targeting politicians from Nan province. The NCPO had previously announced plans to detain politicians who are considered uncooperative after several “attitude adjustment” sessions.
Piyapong said NCPO secretary general and Army chief General Thirachai Nakwanich had approved of the training courses curriculum for sessions that would last 168 hours.
He said the NCPO was targeting people who had committed offences and violated NCPO orders, created national conflict, or tarnished the image of the NCPO and the government. 
Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said yesterday he did not want politicians to distribute red bowls to boost their popularity because it would bring about further national division.
The distribution of red bowls ahead of the Songkran festival has become a hot political topic after a woman was charged at the Mae Ping Police Station in Chiang Mai for violating Article 116 of the Criminal Code after she posted a picture of a red bowl bearing the signatures of former prime ministers Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra. The woman has been released on Bt100,000 bail.
The writing on the bowls included a Songkran wish saying “even though the situation is hot, may brothers and sisters receive coolness of water from this bowl”.
Politicians in Nan have handed out red bowls ahead of Songkran but they do not have the signatures of Thaksin and Yingluck.
Prawit urged reporters not to ask questions that would provoke political rifts. “I do not want [politicians] to check their ratings by counting red bowls … No, it is not good,” he said.
Police in he northern provinces have seized a number of red bowls bearing Thaksin’s signature.
Royal Thai Police spokesman Pol General Detnarong Suthichanbancha asked politicians who were planning to distribute red bowls if they had a political motivation.
“What do you want? Is it appropriate? The police are not a tool of the government but a mechanism to help run the country successfully. Our country needs peace and order,” he said.
 
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