PM tells youths southern unrest cannot be resolved through politics alone

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Bangkok, 7 September 2018 – Thailand’s Prime Minister has remarked to youths from the nation’s far south that his government has no intention of using violence to quell the region’s unrest, noting politics are, however, not the entire solution to the issue but rather development and a peaceful mindset.

Executives of the Office of the Court of Justice led youths from the three southernmost provinces and four districts of Songkla to meet Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-ocha at Government House yesterday as part of the sixth iteration of the “Young Thais of a Single Heart” program.

The PM told the youths that the conflict in Thailand’s south has been a personal concern of his for the past four years and that he has worked to remedy the situation. He urged the students to adhere to the moral teachings of their religions, saying all religions preach peaceful coexistence and that they should not fall victim to those who would use differences in faith to foment conflict.

The premier assured the youths that his government does not have a policy of violence in the south and remarked that the unrest cannot be resolved through political means alone, rather it requires development and an adherence to peace as well.

During a question and answer session, one of the youths asked the PM if he was tired and received the response that, while he was sometimes fatigued by his work, he wished only for encouragement.