<p>On 24 April, Maj Gen Kasem Thanaporn, Commander of the Naresuan Taskforce, visited the 4th Infantry Regiment Taskforce Command in Mae Sot district of Tak province and spoke to about 500 troops including soldiers, rangers and border patrol police.</p>
<p>On 6 April, Newin Chidchob, de facto leader of the Bhumjai Thai Party, set off a ‘caravan of cars’ to distribute 1.5 million photographs of the King to the Thai people across the country.</p>
<p>On 5 April, Army Chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha, together with Thewin Wongwanich of the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) and well-known painter Chalermchai Khositphiphat, held a press conference on ‘Love Songs of the Land’, an event to be organized from April to August to allow people to show their loyalty to Their Majesties the King and Queen who had long worked for the good of the Thai people. </p>
<p>HRH Princess Chulabhorn has given an interview to a television programme ‘Woody Born to Talk’ on Channel 9. Here are some excerpts from the first part of the interview which was aired on 3 April. The second part is scheduled for next Sunday. The host of the show is Wuthithorn Milinthajinda, or Woody.</p>
<p>During his party’s seminar on Koh Samui, Deputy Prime Minister and Democrat Party Secretary-General Suthep Thaugsuban called on the people to help protect the monarchy to prevent civil war.</p>
<p>The 1st Army Commander has launched a programme entitled ‘Thais Protect the Land’ to organize the people to fight threats against the monarchy.</p>
By Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation |
<p>The parliamentary debate on the government's second-year performance report was dominated by nearly four hours of argument about whether the government had done enough to protect the monarchy, especially in the case of one particular WikiLeaks' cable.</p>
<p>The Army is holding 8 activities during this year in honour of HM the King’s 84th birthday in order for the people to appreciate his genius, and to inspire them in their way of life. </p>
<p>The Ministry of Justice is inviting people to join its ‘<a href="http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/07/02/business/Govt-backed-cyber-scouts-to-monitor-internet-30132866.html">Cyber Scout</a>’ training programme in order to build a network of volunteers to protect the monarchy in the online world.</p>
By Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation |
<p>In the space of less than a week, the army chief, the defence minister and the police chief have publicly declared war on "the anti-monarchist movement" by vowing to put behind bars those making defamatory remarks about and criticising the institution. The approach is simply wrong, is undemocratic and won't solve the "problem".</p>
<p>The Nonthaburi Provincial Governor led police to seize copies of Red Power magazine and halt the printing presses of a company hired to print the magazine.</p>
<p>‘Don’t use a coup to solve the problems of corruption. That will destroy the legitimacy of the whole justice system. It’s really a high price to pay,’ Kasian Techaphira, political science lecturer at Thammasat University, told Matichon reporters in an interview after the court ruled on the Thaksin assets case. </p>