BANGKOK, July 17 (TNA) - The Thai government has announced it is launching a new war against corruption.
The campaign is aimed at repeating the success of last year's suppression of illegal drugs, a government spokeswoman told journalists yesterday.
The new crack down on corruption will start in three months time from 3 October.
The Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra discussed the plan to combat corruption at Fridays cabinet meeting in the southern province of Nakorn Si Thammarat.
The Prime Minister told the cabinet that the government had to be serious about battling corruption, according to the deputy government spokeswoman Sansanee Nakpong.
During the cabinet meeting, the prime minister also referred to a recent report from the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) which said in the past six months there had been cases of intellectual property rights violations, illegal oil smuggling, human trafficking, car and motorcycle stealing and smuggling, according to Ms. Sansanee.
"The Prime Minister saw these cases as evidence of weakness in law enforcement. He told ministers and senior government officials to closely monitor the situation, and ensure that the law was rigorously enforced and wrongdoers prosecuted," the spokeswoman said.
The government plans to celebrate the first anniversary of its reform of the bureaucracy, with an ultimate solution to the countrys corruption problems.
The government also intends to increase the salary of lower-ranked government officials to boost their morale and integrity.
This, the prime minister, believes will help provide an effective way to preventing corruption, said Ms. Sansanee. (TNA)E113
Thailand's draft constitution has come under fire from Buddhist monks and supporters for not having a clause declaring a national religion for the country.  The coup-appointed Prime Minister, Surayud Chulanont, noted that the issue could cause problems with the upcoming referendum to ratify the proposed constitution.

According to the Bangkok Post 20,000 protesters gathered outside the parliament building in Bangkok, and a procession of nine elephants joined the protest with Senator Sawet Thinnakul riding one of them.

It would appear that the government has carefully worded the draft constitution to avoid favouring one religion over another.  Tensions and violence in the predominantly Malay Muslim south of the country have led to over 2,000 deaths; having a clause that recognised Buddhism as the country's official religion may further inflame tensions in the region.