Dr Noppadol Kannikar of the firm Super Poll, in his commentary on the findings of a survey of public opinion in Thailand from the 20th to 31st October, highlighted the important role to be played by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society in countering forces targeting the ‘unity and love’ of the kingdom.
A Thai opinion poll director has highlighted fears that the kingdom could be pulled apart and end up like a failed Middle Eastern country by various external influences, including foreign entities, acting through the mass media and social networks if the current situation is not challenged by the government. His comments come as a poll, conducted at the end of October, showed a massive majority of Thai people think that the unity of the country is being targeted by forces unknown.
A shocking Super Poll survey concluded for Thai local media has shown that over 80% of the Thai public believe that there are third party influences behind the current student-led protest movement.
A whopping 88.9% of the public felt that foreign influences should be monitored closely as 88.3% of people suspected that there is an organised effort offshore to disrupt the kingdom by targeting the royal institution.
Parliamentary sessions last week failed according to a Sunday poll by Suan Dusit Rajabhat University
The poll comes, at the same time, as a Suan Dusit poll, published on Sunday in the Bangkok Post showed that over 51% of the Thai public felt that the parliamentary session on Monday and Tuesday, October 26th and 27th, was a waste of time and would not help to resolve the crisis.
A further 42% viewed the exercise as an attempt by the government to allow it time to formulate its response to the crisis.
Associate Professor Rungpop Khongritchan, of the School of Law and Politics at Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, said that the poll showed the Thai parliamentary process had failed during this time of unrest, in its most critical role.
Massive majority of Thai people blame outside forces or third parties within Thailand for stoking division
However, the Super Poll survey, conducted with a sample of 1,287 people between the 20th and 31st October, is far more disturbing for foreigners in Thailand.
It shows that the vast majority of the Thai public is deeply disturbed by events on the streets and are ready to blame an outside influence.
Among the issues identified was that foreign governments would take advantage of the divisions in Thai society to pull apart the Thai nation and state.
Those suspected by the public are Thai politicians 89.6%, businessmen 88.4%, investors in Thailand 87.4%, academics 87%, the mass media 84.2%, foreign organisations or companies 83.9% and social media firms 83.9%.
These were followed by NGOs in Thailand 83% and non-friendly foreign governments 80.3%.
Poll director warns about the destructive threat to the ‘pillar’ of Thai society and national unity
The poll was accompanied by a commentary by the Director of the Super Poll organisation, Dr Noppadol Kannikar, who highlighted the key role to be played by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society in dealing with the problem.
Dr Noppadol warned that any attempt to destroy the ‘pillar’ of Thai society meaning the monarchy would weaken the nation and open it up to abuse by foreign actors. He warned that this could be used to exploit Thailand and its natural resources.
He foresaw the danger that Thailand could end up like a Middle Eastern country ravaged by strife and chaos.
Dr Noppadol called on the Thai public not to allow this to happen by preventing foreign influences from pulling apart what he termed the unity and love of the kingdom.
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