The latest invasion of the compound was by Chalerm Sornnonthee, who climbed in yesterday and began dropping ping-pong bombs as he called for the prime minister to help clear up his personal issues. His complaints were related to an outstanding informal loan and his losing a bid for a construction project.
The man had reportedly entered the compound twice last year, in April and in October, prompting the Prime Minister to express concerns about security.
Security at Government House has been boosted since mid-last year, with separate entrances for different groups of people and security officials stationed at all gates.
However, individual trespassers into the administrative centre still remain a big problem.
The rising number of trespassers has not just raised concerns about the compound’s security system, but also left people wondering about the Damrongdhamma Centre’s ability to solve people’s problems.
The ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) set up the centre in 2014 to receive provincial people’s petitions, and it has cleared 90 per cent of the 98,000 plus problems it was alerted to.
The centre’s headquarters at Government House passes complaints on to its provincial branches. Of the 98,000 plus claims, 22,232 came from Bangkok, while 29,000 were filed from overseas or as “unspecified cases”. Most of the complaints – 58,368 – were related to society and social welfare, followed by 13,418 about officials and work.
However, some complaints have not been settled and some people have gone to extreme lengths to make themselves heard.
October 2014: Sangvian Raksapech burned herself at the Damrongdhamma Centre and was later pronounced dead. Her complaint was related to informal debt.
March 2016: Jarint Kratin, 51, tried to set fire to herself. She was calling for the authorities to clear up betting houses in Bangkok’s Thewes area.
June 2016: Janejuri Chuapat, 27, made her way to an exhibition in the compound and screamed at Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to look into a project that can “read people’s minds”.
The stability of some of these people has to be questioned,making it even more important to beef up security in order to prevent a major incident.
(Source: The Nation, Thailand)