Prayut urges voter caution as poll nears

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has asked Thais in Germany to pay attention to the coming election and support the 20-year national strategy.

“Over the past four years under this government, Thailand has achieved stability and is heading to an election in February 2019. Everybody needs to change how they think. Vote carefully. Do not listen to things that have no substance,” he told Thais living in Germany, according to deputy government spokesman Werachon Sukondhapatipak.

The PM said his government has issued over 400 laws, more than any other government, and improved the economy.

He said the GDP growth was 0.9% when he took the power and is now 4.3%, thanks to the Eastern Economic Corridor development project, Lt Gen Werachon said.

Meanwhile, the state welfare cards given to the poor were neither an insult to the people nor vote-buying, the PM said.

He asked the audience not to see the 20-year national strategy as stretching over too long a period, saying the country needs to move forward in a changing world.

“Thailand has never faced this many wars, we fought among ourselves,” he was quoted by Lt Gen Werachon as saying.

“The national strategy has been laid out, but we have to wait and see whether the next government will be able to follow suit,” the PM said.

“I insist that I work to my best without hoping for any benefit. In the past society went off track and lacked unity. Nowadays I make everybody watch the same TV channels,” he was quoted as saying.

The PM praised German Chancellor Angela Merkel whom he met during his official visit as a person who has made a “great contribution to the world”.

The PM yesterday met executives of German companies Daimler AG, Draxlmaier Group, BMW AG and Verband der Bahnindustries in Deutschland in an effort to lure them to invest in Thailand.

Khaosod newspaper on Tuesday reported that about 20-30 Thais living in Germany gathered at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and raised placards in protest against the PM.

They also played the Rap Against Dictatorship song. The PM is scheduled to return to Thailand today.