Thai govt guarantees transparency in Dec election

 "The election is of the highest concern for my government. We might not be able to eliminate money politics in this election but I can guarantee it will be a transparent one," the prime minister said to representatives of the Thai community in the US.

The premier is in New York this week for the United Nations General Assembly, at which one of his main missions will be to build confidence among the international community about the  restoration of democracy in Thailand.

            "I have told all the world leaders I have met that we are heading toward democracy and they understand our direction," he said.

"What we have done (over the past year) is to ask for a timeout to correct our game."

World leaders may dislike and disagree with the military coup, but understood what Thailand has done to fix the political crisis and misconduct of the previous government, he said.

 The government also regards the situation in the restive South as a priority and the only solution is to restore peace and justice. "Injustice is the root cause of the violence in the deep South. If the government fails to bring justice to the people, militants will employ this as a pretext to mobilise support for their movement," he said.

The first task in bringing justice to the predominantly Muslim region would be to revamp the structure of the police force but Surayud admitted that his government could not overhaul the whole structure of the national police.

 "My government can do only parts of this because the police themselves resist change," he said.

There was a proposal to transfer the national police office to the jurisdiction of the Justice Ministry rather than the Prime Minister's Office.

"The police say they don't want to be under politicians but I don't understand their logic, as the prime minister is also a politician. I think it is not good for the prime minister to have direct control of the police force," he said.

While in New York, Surayud would also have the opportunity to explain his task of restoring democracy and building confidence among government and business leaders of foreign countries.

He will chair a highlevel meeting on climate change, meet with the USAsean Business Council and David Rockefeller, deliver a speech at the Asia Society and join a dinner hosted by US President George W Bush.

The premier will deliver his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday.

Supalak G Khundee

The Nation, New York