Put public interest first

Daily News gave the warning in its editorial leader entitled: "The government should not be the cause of the bad incident."

The PAD scheduled the rally to voice its disagreement with the government's plan to amend the Constitution. Daily News said that the rally was permitted under the democratic system.

However, the incidents over the past couple of days showed some organised mobs trying to cause disturbances. The police failed to control the situation. Some of them were accused of siding with the PAD supporters, Daily News said.

The paper thus asked the police to strictly enforce the law and ensure that order was kept without taking into consideration the influence of anyone. Daily News said that people who joined the rally are unarmed and they are entitled to do so to express their views. But if anyone intends to cause violence, the authorities should act to prevent this from happening.

The government and the People Power Party, which triggered the conflict, should speed up efforts to end the conflict soon. If the situation continues, it will cause social unrest and violence.

Another mass-circulation daily, Khao Sod echoed the view that if the current political conflict is allowed to go on, society could experience confrontation and violence. It called for both sides to find a solution under in an article headed: "Don't stand at the edge".

The daily started by referring to the decision by PM's Office Minister Jakrapob Penkair not to resign from his position even though he earlier said otherwise. The paper said that whether Jakrapob resigned or not would not prove he was right or wrong but it was a matter of appropriateness.

At the same time, PAD's decision to stage the rally has worsened the situation to a point of no return. Khao Sod also added that the tit-for-tat exchange has heated up the political temperature.

Now people are asking whether violence is the desired intention. Khao Sod said that if society does not want to walk into the trap of violence, it should try to find a solution.

The newspaper added that key characters in the ongoing situation all claimed that what they did was in the public interest. In reality, the confrontation was driven by "political nominees". It shows that no one represents the public interest because if they were, why are they moving toward confrontation and violence?

Khao Sod ended by asking if society is suffering from a lack of wisdom to find a solution.

Thai Rath urged all sides to voice their views in a peaceful manner. Its editorial leader said: "Democracy should be accomplished peacefully."  It said that protesters have the right to air their views. But the police should strictly control the situation to prevent anyone violating the law. The police must intervene if anyone comes under physical attack.

Thai Rath said that Sunday night should be a reminder for the government to make the right decision to avoid any outbreak of violence, which may cause loss of life or even threaten the democratic system.

It cited a recent poll conducted by Ramkamhaeng University which showed that only 14.2 per cent of respondents believed the effort to rewrite the Constitution was to serve the public interest, 65.1 per cent of them disagreed with the idea to spend Bt2 billion to conduct the referendum. More than 77 per cent of them said they had lost their faith in politics, 46.3 per cent believed the charter rewrite would lead to violence, while a majority of 92.6 per cent wanted to see the government concentrate on economic issues.