Speaking on a radio programme "Perd Fam Kwam Kid" on FM 105, the outspoken Senator eagerly jumped into the war of words between the country's elite and the Thaksin government that raised the political temperature over the weekend.

Samak said he had been itching to comment about the speech by an adviser to the King, who said

soldiers are like horses and that horses belong to the country and the Monarchy, not to the jockeys or the governments, which come and go.

"I am very surprised [to learn] that horse experts teach horses to be hostile to [their] jockeys. How come? Horses need jockeys to control them. Have you ever seen horses on a race track, going it alone? I totally disagree with this

philosophy," he said, adding that he wondered why the press admired it.

"When a person who others believe to have clout says anything, the press makes headlines out of his speech," Samak said.

He said some people promote taxi horses to become race horses.

"They have done that," Samak said. "The horses cannot speak. The horses that were supposed

to get promotion did not get it."

He said that if horses could not listen to their jockeys, lawmakers must amend the Constitution to provide for an independent Defence Minister who is not a member of the Cabinet.

Samak also attacked anti-government groups criticising outgoing Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra for writing letters to US President George W Bush and Asean leaders.

The prime minister was simply trying to explain the situation in the country and if anti-government protestors did not agree with his methods, why did they follow up by writing letters to embassies, he asked.

Prem's lecture, delivered to 950 Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy cadets on Friday, was seen by political pundits as a response to a speech by Thaksin that blamed "extra-Constitutional charismatic figure[s]" for trying to overthrow the government.