TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Thailand's military makes way for a new administration in coming weeks, but the generals will keep a tight grip on power by filling an interim cabinet and legislature with soldiers, military sources said on Wednesday as reported by Reuters.
The armed forces took power on May 22 in a bloodless coup following six months of street demonstrations that contributed to the ousting of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. The junta has since purged officials linked to Yingluck and her brother, Thaksin, a former premier himself and widely seen as the power behind Yingluck's government.
The commander who led the May 22 coup, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, will likely to become prime minister to head a cabinet of staunch loyalists, the sources said. That will ensure that he has direct control of sweeping reforms that the military wants the interim cabinet and legislature to enact.
The transition, mapped out in an interim constitution promulgated last week, retains the junta, or National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), and offers it immunity and broad powers to overrule the interim government and a 220-member National Legislative Assembly (NLA) that it will appoint.
"He's already been performing duties like a prime minister," an army source said of Prayuth, requesting anonymity because he was not allowed to speak about the issue to the media.
"Being both prime minister and head of NCPO will make the transition before elections more effective and more accurately reflect the goals of the NCPO to reform the country."
The junta says reform is needed to end years of political instability and prevent a repeat of the six months of sometimes violent protests that paralyzed Yingluck's government. It has said elections will be held late next year.
Some analysts and supporters of the ousted government say the military reforms will echo the goals of the protesters and are aimed at eroding the power of the billionaire Shinawatra family, which controls a populist political machine that has won every election since 2001 with rural and working-class backing.
REUTERS | KK | PT
