The government yesterday lodged a protest with The Nation and asked the Press Council of Thailand to investigate the paper's ethical conduct following Monday's report that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra would no longer be in charge of organising the commemoration of His Majesty the King's 60th year on the throne.

In a letter submitted to editor Tulsathit Taptim, Government Spokesman Surapong Suebwonglee deplored the report and said the government had been informed Thaksin would remain the chief organiser of the event. "I, therefore, urge you to express responsibility for this issue," the spokesman said.

In a statement sent to other newspapers on Monday, Tulsathit said the editorial department cross-checked the information with several sources before publishing the report. He said the paper was ready to defend its decision to publish following Surapong's vow to raise the issue with the press council. The council received Surapong's complaint yesterday and pledged to look into the matter.

"We thank all parties who consider us a mechanism to ensure good journalistic standards and hope to receive good cooperation from the two newspapers," the council said in a statement, referring to both the complaint against The Nation and a letter sent to the council from representatives of taxi motorcyclists upset with Naew Na's report that they were "hired" to join a pro-Thaksin rally.

Chawarong Limpatthamapani, secretary-general of the Press Council of Thailand, said the council would urgently look into the conduct of Naew Na and The Nation.

Taxi motorcyclists on Monday filed a libel suit with the Criminal Court against Naew Na, which published a report saying the drivers had been paid to attend the pro-Thaksin rally on March 3.

Surapong said yesterday he was fairly satisfied that The Nation gave equal weight to denials of its report by Government House and the Office of His Majesty's Privy Council.

However, in an interview, Thaksin also challenged The Nation to reveal the sources for its story.

On Monday, The Nation reported that an unpublicised decision had been made on March 8 by the 19-member Privy Council that its president, General Prem Tinsulanonda, would replace Thaksin as the organising committee's chairman because of the current political uncertainties.

Inchan Buraphan, secretary-general of the Office of His Majesty's Privy Council, told The Nation on Monday the report was "absolutely not true". He also expressed concern that such a report could be misinterpreted as evidence of a political conflict.