Transfer of bullet-proof vehicles to PM’s motorcade sparks fear in Narathiwat
Many residents of Narathiwat province say they oppose transferring bullet-proof vehicles from local officials to the motorcade of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha when he visits the restive southern border province next Wednesday, interviews by The Nation found.
By transferring bullet-proof vehicles from local officials to the PM’s entourage, Bangkok authorities are putting their local counterparts at heightened risk of attack by insurgents, local residents told a team of Nation reporters.
Criticism of the PM’s upcoming visit focused on three issues, including the risk created by transferring bullet-proof vehicles to his motorcade. Local residents also expressed concern that the large entourage accompanying the premier would cause inconvenience and prevent Prayut from meeting local residents in person.
Authorities appear more focused on security than on allowing the prime minister to meet people, local residents said.
Officials whose bullet-proof vehicles are transferred to the motorcade will have to work with less protection for a few days, they said, pointing to recent insurgent attacks targeting senior local officials to explain the risk.
The large entourage accompanying General Prayut, who also doubles as the defence minister, will also disrupt daily life and the usual work of local officials, local residents said.
On Saturday, chat groups of administrative officials in the three southern borders spread a message from the Prime Minister's Secretariat asking provincial authorities to provide bullet-proof vehicles for the Prayut’s entourage during his visit to Narathiwat on March 15.
Narathiwat authorities reportedly asked district chiefs in the region to transfer their bullet-proof vehicles to them by 3pm on March 13, saying they would be returned after 4pm on March 15.
Local officials told The Nation that it was normal practice for them to procure bullet-proof vehicles for an entourage of VIP visitors.
Violent attacks targeting security officers and state officials still continued in the Muslim-majority deep South despite efforts to resume peace talks between the Thai government and insurgent leaders, particularly those from the separatist Barisan Revolusi Nasional (National Revolutionary Front).
A bomb blast early this month killed two Army bomb-disposal officers and injured three others in Narathiwat’s Si Sakhon district. Fourth Army Area deputy commander Maj-General Paisal Nusang was traveling with a group of soldiers under his command in a four-vehicle convoy when the bomb attack occurred. They were returning from a visit to a ranger outpost.
The powerful homemade bomb was detonated as the convoy carrying bomb-disposal officers drove over it.
An unknown number of insurgents, reportedly hiding in bushes about 100 metres from the road, detonated the device buried under the road about 800 metres from the outpost. The bomb weighed about 50kg, police said.
The explosion struck the second vehicle in the convoy, which was carrying members of the bomb-disposal squad. The car was reportedly equipped with a device to disrupt radio signals, but the bomb was connected to a detonator by a wire.
