Former prime minister Chuan Leekpai welcomed last weekend’s visit to the southern tourist provinces of Phuket and Phang-nga by the new prime minister, Srettha Thavisin, as an encouraging sign that the incoming government will not ignore the southern region in the way the two previous Shinawatra administrations had done.

Chuan recalled that both the Thaksin and Yingluck governments deliberately sidelined provinces in southern Thailand in their development programmes, simply because they were political strongholds of the Democrat party.

Speaking at a function organised by the Provincial Press Association of Thailand on Saturday, Chuan said development budgets allocated to the region by the two administrations were negligible, when compared with those for other regions.

“Thaksin openly said that his government would give development priority to provinces that voted for his party,” Chuan said, referring to the former prime minister’s famous election pledge, that only provinces that supported his now-defunct Thai Rak Thai Party would get his government’s development budget.

Chuan, who is also a former leader of the Democrat Party, said the subsequent government, led by Yingluck, Thaksin’s sister, also gave the southern region a low priority, despite the fact that its tourism is a major foreign exchange earner.

Southern provinces had always been a political bastion of the Democrat party until recently. While Thai Rak Thai and now Pheu Thai have been unsuccessful in penetrating the region, the Move Forward Party was able to break the Democrat party’s political dominance in many of its constituencies in the recent general election.

During the trip, Srettha, accompanied by members of his party’s tourism committee, vowed to find ways to boost tourism in the two provinces.

“This is a good sign that the region will not be ignored by the new government,” he said.

Srettha has been an ardent supporter of both Thaksin and Yingluck who, in turn, supported his prime ministerial candidacy.

Speaking to reporters while visiting Phuket, Srettha noted that, even though his party has no MP representing Phuket, he chose the world-famous tourist island for his first provincial trip, to acknowledge its important contribution to the tourist industry.

“Today, we need to leave all politics behind and give priority to the country’s interest,” he said.