He said during his Kid Tam Wan (Think daily) talk show programme on Channel 5 in the morning that he and Dusit decided on their own not to go hosting the programmes after seeing that their role would not do good for the country.

“I’ve been doing good to earn criticism. The country is in crisis and the prime minister is under attacks. A good person is being chased away while a bad person is being praised,” Samak said with apparent angry tone.

During the “This Morning in Thailand” TV programme on Channel 5 last week, Samak criticised Prem for choosing to address the topic of public administration at an event held at Suan Dusit Rajabhat University. Prem’s talk was about ethics and public policy management in line with His Majesty the King’s initiative.

Samak commented that Prem shouldn’t have chosen to lecture on public administration at this juncture, because such a move could be construed as an indirect attack on Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra – who is facing calls to step down from a number of parties.

Samak’s announcement came a day after the armed forces demanded that Samak and his co-host Dusit take responsibility for criticising Prem on air.

“On behalf of the Thai armed forces, we call on them to come to the realisation that their criticism was inappropriate and shows irresponsibility,” the Defence Ministry’s spokesman Lt-General Palangkoon Klaharn said. He added that he was relaying the message from Supreme Commander General Ruengroj Mahasaranond.

Palangkoon, who also heads the Office of Supreme Commander’s Directorate of Joint Civil Affairs, said the TV commentators had hit on an extremely sensitive issue.

“Thai armed forces and its military members are concerned,” Palangkoon said. However, he declined to say how Samak and Dusit could rectify the matter.

The Privy Council is also set to address Samak’s controversial criticism of Prem during its weekly meeting on Tuesday.