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Thai PM won't resign despite widespread criticism
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-17 14:33 BANGOK, Thailand -- Thailand's Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said Sunday that he would not resign or dissolve Parliament, despite being under attack from even members of his own party, Samak's latest woes come from nearly 200 members of his own People's Power Party who are criticizing him for allowing police to put up "wanted" posters for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife throughout the country. One was even seen in the men's toilet of a Bangkok police station. Samak was earlier blasted by critics as a Thaksin puppet but appears recently to have steered an independent course, much to the chagrin of the toppled prime minister's followers. "I will not bow to the call from protesters and several other groups of people urging me to resign or dissolve the House," Samak said in his weekly television program. "I will continue to look after this country as the prime minister." Samak, whose party won national elections last December, has been under pressure from almost daily street protests by the anti-Thaksin People's Alliance for Democracy and himself faces several court cases involving alleged corruption, abuse of authority and conflict of interest. On Saturday, his party members signed a letter saying Thaksin did not deserve to be treated like a criminal, and that the circulation of the arrest warrant posters was "disturbing." The group is to present the letter to Samak on Monday. |
