Pol Lt-Gen Pongsapat Pongcharoen, a commissioner attached to the Royal Thai Police Office, examines the dilapidated house of villager Pornthip Chuwaen at Ban Don Rak in Pattani's Nong Chik district. - TAWATCHAI KEMGUMNERD

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has provided community relations police in the deep South with an undisclosed budget to repair and build 200 houses in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat.

Pongsapat Pongcharoen, a police commissioner and spokesman of the Southern Border Province Peace-building Command, said yesterday that the prime minister had pledged full financial support for the housing project which aims to improve the image of police in the South and restore the public's faith in them.

Construction projects are already underway and villagers have responded positively to the project.

Pornthip Chuwaen, a 30-year-old mother of three, thanked the police for giving her a new house.

Previously she and her husband, who together earn only 300-350 baht a day, lived in a dilapidated, 20-year-old bamboo shanty, in Ban Don Rak in Pattani's Nong Chik district.

''I have never thought the police would be this good. When they came to my house, I was frightened. I thought they were going to arrest us.

''But they built us a new house. We appreciate that. We feel good about them now,'' Mrs Pornthip said.

Distrust of police is widespread in the South as many locals believe police have used their power to persecute rather than protect them.

Tuanma Nido, 76, a Muslim, who had his house in Nong Chik repaired, said locals feared the police but believed that from now on their feelings would change.

Pol Lt-Gen Pongsapat said Mr Thaksin also planned to raise donations from people in Bangkok and other provinces for the reconstruction programme.

Food supplies would also soon be distributed to local people, he said.

''This is part of a campaign to bring back public faith in the police,'' he said.

Pol Lt-Gen Pongsapat admitted that many southern communities hated the police and police themselves were often the targets of violent attacks in the three provinces.

Forty-six police officers have been killed since the southern unrest erupted on Jan 4, he said.

The commissioner said police had to improve their image by smiling more, talking nicely to people and treating both Buddhists and Muslims equally and fairly.