| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Thai PM: 'I will never resign' |
| 2008-08-31 |
| Samak Sundaravej, Thailand's prime minister, has refused to step down amid intensifying protests across the country aimed at toppling his seven-month-old government. Speaking in front of thousands of supporters on Saturday, the prime minister vowed he would never bow to protesters' calls for him to quit. "I will never resign in response to these threats," he said. "I came to this job under a legal mandate. I will only go if the law does not allow me to stay and not simply because someone issues threats and puts pressure on me." Samak flew to the nearby town of Hua Hin on Saturday, to meet King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Thailand's monarch, and brief him on the political situation as the occupation of the grounds of Government House by protestors moved into its fifth day. The trip to Hua Hin is his second meeting with the monarch in as many days. The demonstrators have also invoked the king, both in speeches and with royalist imagery, but he has remained silent on the current standoff. |
| Posted by:Fred |