Persona Non Grata

Interior Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung cancelled official duties in Phuket yesterday after protests from provincial members of the People's Alliance for Democracy.

Chalerm was to meet Phuket's governor on Tuesday evening and high-ranking police and local government officials. He was alerted to the PAD protest at the airport. He landed at Krabi instead.

But the PAD was waiting for him there, too. He managed to use a rear entrance and avoided the demonstration.

From www.oknation.net/blog/krabitoday

He checked in to the Krabi Maritime Park and Spa Resort owned by Democrat MP Pichet Panwichatkul. There were 200 protesters there. They used loudspeakers to heckle him.

Krabi Governor Siva Sirisaowalak arrived in the morning and told the group Chalerm had left for Bangkok.

Krabi PAD member Abisit Techwarodom says Chalerm lied when he accused the demonstrators of being drunk and that they had been hired in other provinces.

Chalerm told television news that politicians were behind the protests and he had cancelled the visit not from fear but simply because he did not want a confrontation. "I don't understand why they want me out when I went there to help them,'' he says.

People Power Party party-list MP Chatuporn Prompan says 14 southern provinces may discover they have funding problems if other government ministers face similar treatment.

Chatuporn says forest trespassers will benefit because that was one of Chalerm's missions following the no-confidence debate.

Chatuporn questions the governor's booking of a hotel owned by an opposition member and why the protesters were allowed to gather outside it.

Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva is sorry for what happened and wishes it will not happen again. Abhisit calls on Chalerm to take legal action.

Panya Daenmatam, secretary-general of the Phuket PAD denies accusations politicians were behind the protest.