ASEAN Meetings: Phuket residents rush for stickers for fast-track security clearance

PHUKET: Col Piyapong Wongchan, Deputy Chief of the Internal Security Operations Command in Phuket, said this afternoon that Phuket vehicle owners who want special passes to facilitate clearance through the many special security checkpoints now being set up around the island should contact their village heads in Thalang and Kathu districts.

More than 40,000 such stickers have already been issued for use during the Asean foreign ministers’ meetings which begin later this week and run through July 23. Distribution of the passes will be completed by Thursday (July 17).

Security before, during and after the meetings will be tight as the Cabinet on Thursday invoked the Internal Security Act for enforcement in Phuket during the period July 10-24. The measure was deemed necessary to prevent a recurrence of the fiasco in Pattaya earlier this year when protesters, fueled by supporters of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, sabotaged the originally-scheduled ASEAN meetings, forcing their termination.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said during his weekly TV talk this morning that many VIPs would attend the meetings and he wished the Thai public to be good hosts, especially people living in Phuket.

The meetings would help stimulate tourism for the island, he noted.

Mr Abhisit said intelligence reports show that “certain groups of people” are still trying to organize protests to disrupt the meetings in Phuket, as had happened in Pattaya.

— Nation & Gazette Reporters