Thai junta defends performance one year after coup

Bangkok, May 22 (IANS/EFE) Thai junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha expressed on Friday his satisfaction with the junta's management a year after seizing power in a coup on May 22, 2014.

"I'm satisfied," he said, adding that the serious problems afflicting the country and the government's lax attitude towards them had left him with no option but to take charge, the Bangkok Post daily reported.

"Yet I'm not proud to be in this position. Why should I have to stand here? Why did you not solve the problems before? Weren't you elected?" Chan-ocha said, directing the barbs at the previous administrations.

Although the junta takes pride in its performance, especially regarding security issues, it has come at the cost of dozens of arrests without charges and a tight control on freedom of expression and protest.

The military claims it carried out the coup to contain the spiraling violence in the country owing to political clashes, and to tackle corruption before holding elections, scheduled for August 2016.

Army spokesman Winthai Suvaree told Efe news agency that the situation was better than it was a year ago, the people were happier, security has improved and the streets were no longer full of demonstrators.

The current government also takes credit for having initiated ambitious infrastructure projects such as the modernisation of the railways and restarting tourism, although inflation and household debts continue to be areas of concern, according to economists.

Organisations, including Human Rights Watch (HRW), have strongly criticised authorities for arresting and trying activists in military courts, and for infringements on freedom of expression and assembly in the country.

In an editorial, the Bangkok Post on Friday cited the HRW as saying that although the army has brought stability and security to the country, it now has no option but to relax its hold on the suppression of freedom and to allow free debate if it wanted to maintain peace in the country.

--IANS/EFE

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