Thailand won't split: Yingluck

Describing nation as 'inseparable', PM vows investigation of secessionism

Thailand is an inseparable nation, and the caretaker government does not support dividing it, acting Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra said on Monday.

Her comment followed news reports that army chief Genenal Prayuth Chan-ocha recently told the military in the northern region to take legal action against pro-government "Red Shirt" activists for an alleged, unconfirmed bid to divide the country or set up a new country named Lanna.

"Thailand is one, inseparable country. ... Members of the public are advised not to panic and rest assured that the government does not support secessionism," she said.

However, she said, the authorities, including the military, may investigate allegations that a secessionist move might have been hatched among "Red Shirt" activists to divide the country. A new Lanna, which generally refers to northern provinces, would have Chiang Mai as its core.

"There is no such thing as secessionist conspiracy at present, but such allegations may be investigated in an unbiased fashion with justice served to all parties," she said.

Thammasat University law professor Piyabut Saengkanokkul, who is viewed as a co-leader of the Assembly for the Defense of Democracy, said the initials Sor Por Por in the Thai alphabet may have been confused by critics of the Red Shirt movement as "Sataranarat Prachatipatai Prachachon" (People's Democratic Republic), but they actually stand for "Samudcha Pokpong Prachatipatai" (Assembly for the Defense of Democracy), he said.

The Chiang Mai-based political activist group is unofficially called Sor Por Por Lanna and is seen as a branch of the Bangkok-based Assembly for the Defense of Democracy, Piyabut said.

The AFDD consists of university academics who support democratic rule with national elections, he said. Piyabut added that they oppose the anti-government, anti-election protesters headed by former deputy premier Suthep Thaugsuban and ex-Democrat Party legislators, who blatantly alleged that their political rivals in northern Thailand planned to divide the country.

(China Daily 03/04/2014 page11)