Thaksin wants Jakrapob 'to take responsibility'

Chavalit said he had met with the ousted prime minister to discuss the issue. Thaksin is concerned about Jakrapob's speech delivered last year to the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCC).

"Thaksin is very concerned about what Jakrapob said," Chavalit said. "I remember Thaksin saying Jakrapob must take responsibility for this and that Jakrapob must consider what to do next."

Chavalit denied he would help Jakrapob defend the controversial remarks.

"I did not discuss becoming a mediator on Jakrapob's behalf," he said, referring to an unplanned meeting in Nakhon Phanom on Monday. He said Jakrapob would have to take responsibility for his own remarks.

"Any transgression against the monarchy is of concern to not only the military, but also every Thai citizen," he said.

Several People Power MPs from the Northeast today will review Jakrapob's controversial remarks, MP Panya Sripanya said yesterday.

As an anti-coup activist from the Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship, Jakrapob spoke to Thai expats in Los Angeles last November and made many veiled and rude remarks against the monarchy, Panya said.

He said the MPs were confident Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej would make the right decision regarding Jakrapob, hinting at an increasing pressure for his removal.

"When the time comes [for his departure], Jakrapob should realise he was lucky to have had a chance to serve in a Cabinet post," he said in reference to the minister's non-MP status.

Jakrapob accused the wife of a senior military officer of distributing leaflets attacking him. It had caused soldiers to misunderstand and hate him, he said. He would not reveal her name.