NEW BILL VITAL IF ARMY IS TO ENSURE SUCCESS

The government's effectiveness in tackling drug trafficking could be
greatly hampered without a new security bill, said Gen Panlop Pinmanee,
security adviser to the prime minister.

Gen Panlop, who is acting deputy director of the Internal Security
Operations Command (ISOC), said a new security act was indispensable if the
government wanted soldiers to play an active role in tackling drug and
other national security issues, stipulated under the new ISOC structure.

The ISOC had been given a direct role in tackling drug trafficking, illegal
immigrants and ethnic minority groups.

The agency also handled border security including stabilising border
villages, security development in remote areas and defusing conflicts in
the southernmost Muslim-dominated region.

"Military officers assigned to tackle these problems could easily face
lawsuits if there was no security bill to give them protection," said Gen
Panlop, a Thai Rak Thai party list MP.

Third Army commander Lt-Gen Wattanachai Chaimuenwong said the government's
determination to snuff out drug trafficking was unlikely to succeed unless
the military were given legal protection.

Gen Panlop, a close associate of former Palang Dharma leader Maj-Gen
Chamlong Srimuang, distanced Thai Rak Thai from the controversial People
and State Security Protection Bill.

The measure, he said, was drafted by a New Aspiration party-appointed panel
led by former defence permanent secretary Gen Prasert Sararit, and had
nothing to do with his party.

Critics said the bill was undemocratic and unconstitutional. It gave the
military the power to arrest anyone and search homes without a court order.

"Thai Rak Thai has nothing to do with the bill. We became aware of its
existence only after the draft was put up at the last security council
meeting," said Gen Panlop.

Some provisions came as a surprise, including a proposal to replace the
ISOC with a new outfit called the People and State Security Protection Command.

"That is really weird," said Gen Panlop. He also denied the army had
anything to do with the bill.

"We have not talked about a security bill that would give absolute power to
the military.

"We are talking about a bill that will provide the military with legal
protection in carrying out their tasks. Otherwise no military people would
want to get involved-it would put them in legal trouble." Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra said he would strive for a balance between people's
rights and freedoms and security that worked.