The comments from General Anupong Paochinda in a live television interview on Thursday alongside the heads of the Navy, Air Force and police, prompted frenzied speculation of a coup, although Anupong insisted he was not about to take over.
Dozens of reporters camped outside Somchai's house in a northern Bangkok suburb on Friday morning, waiting for him to emerge. He eventually did so, but his motorcade headed straight to Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok.
Somchai, a brother-in-law of ousted leader Thaksin Shinawatra, is due to fly later on Friday to eastern Thailand to visit soldiers involved in this week's border clash with Cambodia.
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Anupong's remarks were the strongest indication that the armed forces think the time is up for the elected administration.
However, government spokesman Nattawut Saikuar said he did not think the military would dare intervene only two years after its removal of Thaksin, a coup that failed to purge him from the political system due to his sustained rural support.
"The army chief has consistently assured us that it will not happen, which is a blessing for the country," Nattawut told Channel 3 television. "Otherwise this cannot end. Another group of people will rise to fight the power behind the coup."
Thailand has been riven by political conflict for the three years since the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) started its street campaign against Thaksin and his allies, accusing them of corruption, cronyism and threatening the monarchy.
The dispute between the Thaksin camp and the military and royalist elite who despise him has seen a coup, elections and more street protests, but appears to be no nearer a conclusion.
Meanwhile, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen called for an increase in military spending on Friday, the first since the collapse of the Khmer Rouge in 1998, two days after fighting erupted on the border with Thailand.
"We must look to increase the military budget," he said at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting in Phnom Penh. His comments were recorded by a local newspaper reporter.
The wily former Khmer Rouge soldier, who won an election landslide in July to extend his two decades in power, called for a minute's silence at the start of the meeting for three Cambodian soldiers killed in Wednesday's clash.
News Published: October 17, 2008
