POLITICIANS have urged the junta not to use the recent discoveries of arms cache in Chachoengsao province as an excuse to delay the election, as this would only demonstrate the regime’s failure to keep peace and order in the country.

The politicians were responding to Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan’s latest warning about not lifting the ban on political activities because of certain occurrences threatening national security, including the recent discovery of two caches of active military weapons.

Wirat Kalayasiri, the chief of the Democrat Party’s legal team, said the government should thoroughly investigate whether there was a genuine movement posing a risk to national security, as the junta has claimed.

He said the junta has ruled the country for more than three years and has held power through laws, weapons and troops, so it should not use this reason to delay the election. Investigating the source of the weapons was more important than using it as excuse to delay the election, he added.

Creating doubts

“When Prime Minister Prayut [Chan-o-cha] announced election will be held in November next year, shares in the stock market rose. But if the government declares a delay in the election, I’m concerned that it will make the current economic situation worse,” Wirat added.

Former Democrat MP for Ubon Ratchathani, Supachai Srila, said the excuse of using the anti-junta movement or the discovery of weapons as reasons to not relax the ban on political activities or to delay the election could point to a failure of the powers-that-be in ruling the country.

“There are two sides to the coin,” Supachai said. “The excuses you [the junta] make could be interpreted as your failure to solve the same old problems – or it is just an excuse to prolong your period in power?”

Supachai said Prawit should be careful not to create doubts in society about the junta’s intentions, adding that the deputy prime minister “should work rather than speak” regarding the discovery of the weapons in Chachoengsao.

Prawit had said the weapons were purportedly stored in preparation for an attack in the capital.

On Wednesday, deputy national police chief Pol General Srivara Ransibhramanakul held a press conference to announce the discovery of the first cache, which included 30 RGD-5 grenades, 2 M79 grenades, 7 pipe bombs, three bars of C4 explosive, two AK-47 assault rifles, some ammunition and bomb fuses

On Friday, police found 50 more M79 grenades and one RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) in a paddy field opposite the swamp where the first cache was found in Chachoengsao’s Bang Nam Priao district, an official said. The second cache was found after the authorities widened their search of rice fields in the area.

Srivara linked the weapon cache to an extremist political group led by prominent red shirt Wuttipong “Ko Tee” Kottham-makhun.

Tracing the explosives

He said serial numbers on the RGD 5 explosives found are believed to be similar to those on weapons allegedly found at the site of a 2014 red-shirt rally in Muang Nonthaburi and in search on March 18 of Wuttipong’s business offices in Pathum Thani.

Srivara said on Friday that police had learned who owned the first cache of arms and were seeking arrest warrants. He said he expected those to be approved next week.

Police are checking the serial numbers of the grenades found in the second cache to try to establish their links to the owners, Srivara said.

Meanwhile, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) spokesman, Maj-General Piyapong Klinpan, said the discovery of the weapons had prevented people with ill intentions from harming others.

He said the NCPO was still following the law, and the road map to the election, but the situation at hand must also be considered before any relaxation of the political ban.

The junta banned political gatherings of five or more people shortly after its 2014 coup, resulting in all politics-related activities, including party meetings, being prohibited.

He said three things had to be determined before the ban could be lifted: the law, the situation regarding peace and “other” circumstances. The spokesman declined to specify what “other” meant.

Piyapong insisted that the junta was still following the road map despite the NCPO’s refusal to revoke the political ban even after the promulgation of the organic law on political parties.

He said the NCPO understood that politicians had to make calls for a relaxation of the ban, as that was their role. However, the NCPO was asking for cooperation.

“I want to assure you that everything is in line with the law and the road map. But the current situation also needs to be taken into consideration,” the NCPO spokesman said. “We have to look at the situation and then see what the priority is.”