By Xinhua,
Bangkok : Thailand’s newly appointed coalition government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Tuesday approved the government’s policy to be presented in the Parliament on Dec. 29.
The Abhisit Cabinet, which was sworn in on Monday, held its first cabinet meeting at the Government House in central Bangkok on Tuesday, during which the policy was approved, according to Education Minister Jurin Laksanawisit, who chaired the government policy drafting committee.
The policy will be presented in the Parliament for debate among by members of the House of Representatives scheduled on Dec. 29 and Dec. 30, said Jurin.
Jurin was quoted by Thai News Agency as saying that the government policy contains 22 urgent programs to be implemented by the government, plus long-term projects to be carried out during the remaining three years of the administration.
Regarding the government’s policy to resolve violence in Thailand’s deep south, Jurin said the government plans to establish a new office to administer the troubled southernmost border provinces affairs. The deep south comprises mainly three southernmost provinces Narathiwatm, Pattani and Yala, which resurrected in January 2004 and violence had so far killed more than 3,500 in the region.
The new agency will have considerable freedom of action under the direct supervision of a minister to be appointed later by PM Abhisit, said Jurin.
Abhisit said later that Suthep Thaugsuban, one of three deputy prime ministers, would take up the role of overseeing the policy for the southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat.
The prime minister said his government would use not only security measures to attempt to resolve the problem, but will also apply economic and cultural measures to address the varied differences in the region in which ethnic Malay Muslims are the majority population.
On Tuesday, eight soldiers were injured in a bombing attack in Narathiwat, while one army officer was shot dead in Pattani province.