I think some of this has to do with Burma also. The UN is going to pass a resolution that Burma is a threat to regional security and they will not be happy about that. I would expect more activity coming up along the northern borders. Things are not as friendly either since Thaksin has been gone. Pete
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Thailand's junta-appointed parliament has approved current fiscal year's budget worth 43 billion dollars with defense spending quadrupling amid escalating violence in the Muslim-majority south.
The 1.52-trillion-baht budget for the year to September 2007 was passed by parliament late Wednesday, army-backed Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said.
The budget approval was delayed for months due to Thailand's prolonged political crisis that culminated in the bloodless putsch on September 19 that ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
The current budget showed the post-coup government would spend 115 billion baht on defense, up 34 percent from the previous fiscal year's 29 billion baht.
"The defense budget jumped because maintaining domestic stability is one of the most pressing issues for the government," said army spokesman Colonel Acar Thiproj.
The Thai government last month decided to lift martial law across half of the country, including Bangkok, in the first easing of restrictions since the September coup.
But military rule will remain in force in the kingdom's rural northern heartland, a stronghold of Thaksin, as well as in provinces in the far south where a separatist insurgency has raged for nearly three years.
Since taking office after the power-grab, Surayud has offered a number of olive branches, including an offer to hold peace talks with militants, in a bid to bring peace to the restive south.
But violence in the region has surged instead with a string of shootings and arson attacks against schools.
Meanwile, the government said Thailand's budget deficit in the current fiscal year would reach 146 billion baht, equal to two percent of the kingdom's gross domestic product (GDP). It was also the first shortfall in three years.
Of the approved budget, some 73 percent would go to pay for fixed expenses with 24 percent for state investment, the government said, adding Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej was expected to endorse the budget later in the month.
