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Published on October 25, 2007

Key government figures admitted yesterday that confidential documents produced by the People Power Party (PPP) did exist, but insisted that measures outlined in the plans did not specifically target the political party.

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said yesterday he had photocopies of the documents but he detected nothing malicious against the party.

"In the documents I don't see any mention of violence or suspicious activities although the government and the junta will review the matter in order to ensure a fair and transparent election," he said.

PPP leader Samak Sundara-vej alleged on Sunday the junta had issued two classified documents against his party last month when Deputy Premier Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin still served as the Army commander-in-chief and chairman of the Council for National Security.

The party, which favours former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, released details yesterday that it claimed were from the documents in question via the Hi-Thaksin.net website.

Surayud said the documents outlined how the junta had evaluated and prepared for the situation in the past year. He said the public would render its judgement on People Power and that the Army had already made it clear soldiers would not tamper with the electoral process.

The junta documents did not address any specific measures to undermine or pressure any party, he added.

Sonthi, who led the coup against Thaksin, insisted the papers merely addressed national security.

He said under his leadership, the junta dealt with many security-related issues and churned out many measures deemed necessary in the circumstances, hinting that some may have addressed politicians ousted in the September 19 coup.

"National security is of utmost importance and the junta's activities to safeguard the country have not been designed against a particular individual or specific issue," he said.

Sonthi also back-pedalled from his previous stance on an allegation that the junta planned to undermine the PPP.

"The Army should clarify the matter because I haven't had a chance to see the original copies of the documents purporting to be the plan against People Power," Sonthi said, easing off on his outright denial on Tuesday.

In a rebuttal, Sonthi said he had nothing to hide because documents could be checked and verified.

The documents released by the PPP yesterday seemed to be a junta action plan to disseminate information during the lead-up to the December 23 general election.

The documents are in two parts - a classified report prepared by the Army Operations Department in its capacity as an ad hoc unit in the Council for National Security, and an attached work schedule for information dissemination.

The documents, dated Sept 14 and 26, were addressed to the CNS chairman.

The action plan has been in effect since September 14 when Sonthi was still junta chief. He resigned from that office on September 30 before joining the interim government.

The information dissemination plan has two goals - to foster national unity and discredit opposition forces against the junta and the interim government.

The documents call for action to wean support towards "the opposition" from several groups in society, including the middle class, the grass-roots people, and civil servants.

Measures to be taken include pointing out similarities between policies of the disbanded Thai Rak Thai Party and those of the PPP, and to encourage grassroots people to see the harm in letting ousted politicians return to power.

The junta was to use the military and military-controlled news media, including Channel 5, to discredit the PPP, according to the plan.

Meanwhile, CNS spokesman Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd said yesterday Samak might be a victim of a scam to sell him fabricated information designed to discredit the junta.

"Samak's party is known to have a lot of money and certain cunning soldiers might have fabricated classified documents and sent them to him in exchange for under-the-table payments," Sansern said in an interview with Channel 3.

He said although he was not authorised to discuss classified information, he had never come across any military documents spelling out plans that involved illegal activities.

The Nation