PM reviews martial law amid calls for self-rule

Chavalit repeated his idea to make the deep South a a special administrative zone where local people to have a certain degree of self-rule. Dubbed "Pattani City", he said the idea was a form of local administration, similar perhaps to Chiang Mai.

Abhisit said the meeting with security officials early yesterday had nothing to do with Chavalit's plan to visit to the deep South.

No new decisions were made, but officials reviewed the situation and what had been done to restore peace and rehabilitate victims of violence, he said.

Prime Minister Abhisit returned from the South on Sunday. He went to see the business community in Songkhla and if martial law could be lifted in four districts of Songkhla.

The military, however, opposed the idea of lifting martial law.

Chavalit criticised the PM for not addressing root causes of the South's problems.

"Prime Minister Abhisit mentioned almost everything in the meeting with the business community in Songkhla but ignored the conflict among people in the deep South."

The problem in the deep South was not poverty but local residents' frustration with unjust administration, he said.

"If the government understands the cause of the problem, it will be able solve the problem," he said.

Chavalit said he planned to visit Malaysia soon to discuss the situation in the deep South with authorities there.

Abhisit plans to tour the deep South next month his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak, who proposed recently that Thailand should offer a form of autonomy for people in the strife-torn region.

Abhisit said the word 'autonomy' was a problematic term in a Thai context but his government would continue with plans to de-centralise administrations in the restive region to get more local participation in governance.

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