Military trusted more than government to handle dispute with Cambodia - poll

Most Thai people have more confidence in the Thai military than in the government or the Foreign Ministry in the handling of border disputes with Cambodia, according to a NIDA poll.

NIDA gauged the opinions of 1,310 people, between June 9th and 11th, on their confidence and satisfaction regarding the performance of the government, the military and the Foreign Ministry in the current border disputes with Cambodia.

On protecting national interests, the poll shows 62.52% of the respondents have high confidence in the capability of the Thai military, 23.74% said they are confident, 8.85% said they are not so confident while 4.89% said they are not confident at all.

The poll shows that 35.42% of the respondents have little confidence in the government and the Foreign Ministry, 30.76% said they lack any confidence at all, 22.90% said they have some confidence and 10.46% said they are very confident regarding the government.

Furthermore, the poll shows that 37.48% do not trust the government at all, 31.68% don’t not trust the government, 18.85% said they trust the government while 11.99% said they trust the government a great deal.

On the question of their satisfaction with their performance, 61.76% of the respondents said they are very satisfied with the military, 23.97% said they are satisfied, 10.30% said they are not really satisfied and 3.97% said that they are dissatisfied.

As far as the government is concerned, 37.94% said they are very dissatisfied with the government, 30.99% said they are dissatisfied, 20.76% said they are satisfied and 10.31% said they are very satisfied.

Regarding the Foreign Ministry, 35.73% said they are dissatisfied, 29% said they are very dissatisfied, 24.96% said they are satisfied and 10.31% said they are very satisfied.

Asked how they feel about the line in the national anthem “Thais love peace, but are courageous at war”, the poll shows 69.39% said they like it very much, 19.24% said they like it and 3.05% said they dislike it.

When asked about nationalism, 48.24% said they embrace nationalism, 31.60% said it depends on the situation, 14.20% said they are nationalistic and 2.29% said they are not nationalistic at all.