“I don’t want to use [the Article 44], but it is necessary. Otherwise, there are no other solutions since the normal law is not respected or there are no laws that cover the issues,” Prayut said on Wednesday.

Prayut, in his capacity as the head of the junta government, has exercised Article 44 to break deadlocks in administration, such as ordering the transfer of graft suspects in state agencies to speed up the process that could otherwise take time under normal law.

Exercising absolute power, however, sometimes becomes controversial such as the latest use to facilitate the police operation at Wat Dhammakaya.

Some support the use, but others say it undermines the law and will lead to more issues after the junta steps down and Article 44 becomes ineffective.

Prayut insisted on Wednesday that the controversial power had been put to its best use in the public interests.

“It has been exercised to help move work and resolve any deadlocks so that things could move forward,” he said. “It has been used very little on security matters.”

He also said that because the law was not expected, it was needed to push work forward as well as to protect officers. If not, the same old conflicts would resurface, Prayut said.

Prayut asked that people do not lay the blame on the law or officers. He said it was everyone’s responsibility to stop conflicts and solve the problems.