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Thai Premier vows to stay

SINGAPORE: Thailand’s politically embattled Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on Saturday asserted he “will not back down, will not resign” under pressure from protesters at the Government House in Bangkok and elsewhere in the country.

However, Mr. Samak met King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the revered constitutional monarch, whose counsel is often sought in times of political crisis. No details were revealed by nightfall.

But observers saw the audience with the king in the context of a joint session of the two Houses of Parliament, set for Sunday, to discuss the ongoing protest by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD).

Intermittent work stoppages by protesters at some train stations and a few provincial airports, including the one at a Phuket tourist resort, were reported from across Thailand. And, according to the PAD, the police fired teargas to control the crowds in Bangkok on Friday night.

The PAD is an umbrella organisation of diverse opponents of Mr. Samak and his alleged patron and the former Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, now in self-imposed exile. Nearly two years earlier, he was toppled by the Thai military; and the current Army Chief, General Anupong Paochinda, told reporters in Bangkok on Friday that neither a coup nor the proclamation of a state of Emergency would solve the present crisis.

Some political leaders suggested that Mr. Samak should dissolve Parliament and hold polls.

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Thai Premier vows to stay

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