By Catherine Yang and Suttinee Yuvejwattana
June 3 (Bloomberg) -- Thailand's opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said there were no grounds for a coup to halt anti- government protests aimed at Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's plan to revise the constitution.
``There is nothing to justify a coup,'' Abhisit told Bloomberg Television today. The government should focus on the economy instead of changing the constitution, the leader of the largest opposition party in parliament said.
Thailand's key stock index has sunk more than 7 percent since the protests began in Bangkok on May 25, triggering speculation last week that a coup was imminent. Samak has backed down from a threat to forcibly disband the demonstrations, led by an activist group involved in rallies that contributed to the overthrow of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006.
``The protests are distracting attention away from the real business of running the government,'' said Jacob Ramsay, Southeast Asia analyst at Control Risks Group in Singapore. ``They can't really govern effectively.''
Thai Army Chief Anupong Paojinda yesterday told Samak that he wouldn't seek to oust him, the Bangkok Post reported earlier today, adding that the general opposed cracking down on members of the People's Alliance for Democracy behind the protests.
Samak, an ally of Thaksin, in December won the first election since the 2006 coup. He wants to change the army- drafted constitution, saying it enables political parties to be dissolved.
`Fix the Economy'
``What they should do is make their intention clear that they not going to push forward with the constitutional amendment and get on with their job of fixing the economy,'' Abhisit said.
``The Thai people are now suffering from oil prices,'' he said. ``They are suffering from the economic situation and they want the government to get to work on that.''
The People's Alliance for Democracy initially began protesting against the proposed constitutional changes. Organizers have since listed other reasons, ranging from threats to the monarchy to high fuel prices to a border dispute with neighboring Cambodia.
High fuel costs are slowing growth in the $206 billion economy, Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee said May 28. The inflation rate of 7.6 percent last month was the highest in almost a decade. The Thai brokerage unit of DBS Group Holdings Ltd. yesterday downgraded its SET Index rating to ``neutral'' from ``outperform,'' citing renewed political tension.
``We are worried about political uncertainties,'' Amara Sriphayak, director of the Bank of Thailand's domestic economy department said yesterday. ``We just hope it turns out well.''
To contact the reporter on this story: Suttinee Yuvejwattana in Bangkok at Suttinee1@bloomberg.net.
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