Surayud awaits ruling before deciding on land

Bangkok Post 13/01/2010

Privy Councillor Surayud Chulanont is refusing to give up his land at Khao Yai Thiang until he is required to do so by a Royal Forest Department ruling.

The former prime minister has also shrugged off red shirt demands for him to resign his position as privy councillor.

Gen Surayud yesterday spoke publicly for the first time since the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship staged a rally in front of his holiday home in Nakhon Ratchasima on Sunday and Monday, saying he would not return to his property until the department had decided on its position.

He also repeated his position that he was not aware that he had been occupying the land in Sikhiu district illegally.

"On my part, I will only say that I am ready to obey the law," Gen Surayud said.

"When the Royal Forest Department makes a ruling, I will be ready to act accordingly."

The land scandal and the demand for his resignation as privy councillor were totally unrelated, he said.

Gen Surayud, who is also chairman of the Foundation for Khao Yai National Park  Protection, spoke at a news conference to announce a charity concert to be organised at the national park on Jan 23.

The Royal Forest Department on Monday set up a panel to look into the Surayud case. It set a 60-day deadline for it to come up with a solution.

Is the UDD serious in opposing double standards?

Bangkok Post 12/01/2010

By selectively picking on Gen Surayud Chulanont, a privy councillor and former premier, in its campaign against what it sees as the government's use of double standards, the UDD appears set on discrediting the Privy Council, not just attacking the government.

The Khao Yai Thiang land controversy represents just a tip of the iceberg of the extensive forest land encroachment problem in this country, which involves as many as 400,000 families nationwide.

Without the high social standing of Gen Surayud it would have received scant attention.

But the dramatic targeting of Gen Surayud by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) in its weekend protest over his alleged illegal land ownership on the Khao Yai Thiang mountain in Sikhieu district of Nakhon Ratchasima puts it in a different context and appears to be intended to discredit the Privy Council.