Barkar Nash (Page 1,313)

Activist Veera Somkwamkid says he is seeking to impeach members of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) for ignoring a court order to disclose details about their investigation into the luxury wristwatch saga involving Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon.

Mr Veera, in an interview with the Isra News Agency, accused the NACC of defying the order by the Supreme Administrative Court, which ruled the disclosure must be completed within 15 days of the order being passed on April 21.

The NACC reportedly decided in a 5-to-1 vote on Wednesday not to reveal the details of its probe, reasoning it may need to refer the matter to the Constitutional Court for help with interpretation.

The commission said the investigation contained accounts of several individuals in the case, which were confidential. The agency indicated it might need the Constitutional Court’s opinion on how far it can go in terms of disclosing details.

In December 2018, the NACC found there were no grounds for claims that Gen Prawit had falsely declared his wealth when he did not include 22 luxury watches and rings in his list of assets. Gen Prawit claimed they belonged to friends and had been returned. Mr Veera later petitioned the Supreme Administrative Court requesting the disclosure order, which was subsequently granted.

Yesterday, Mr Veera said that he would work with Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, chairman of Seri Ruam Thai’s policy steering committee and a former election commissioner, to mount a campaign aimed at collecting at least 20,000 signatures to launch the impeachment process against the commissioners over their failure to follow the order.

On his Facebook page, Mr Veera also alleged that by failing to comply with the court’s order, the commission, as an anti-graft agency, has clearly ignored the law it is supposed to enforce.

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The Thai Chana Party was officially inaugurated on Thursday and nominated MR Chatu Mongol Sonakul as its only prime ministerial candidate.

Jakkraphong Chuenduang, the party leader, joined other members in holding a shrine instalment ceremony at the party’s new operations centre on Pradiphat Road before releasing their campaign cars around Bangkok.

Registered in 2021, the party is sending 49 of its members to contest the upcoming election. Ten have registered as constituency MPs, with the other 39 signed up as party-list MPs.

Mr Jakkraphong said MR Chatu Mongol was selected as their PM candidate because of his background as a financier and marketeer. That is expected to help the country with its financial and trading development, he added.

Regarding its campaign policies, Mr Jakkraphong said the party will not prioritise populism.

Many of its policies aim to improve people’s lives, including those related to public health and resolving economic problems, through a campaign that “wins people’s hearts and beats poverty”, he said.

Establishing a ministry for SMEs is one of the highlights of its campaign pledges, Mr Jakkraphong said.

Other pledges focus on improving administrative structures, such as trimming the number of cabinet members from 35 to 20 and transitioning the national police system to more of a locally operated system.

Asked why the party was inaugurated two weeks before the May 14 general election, Mr Jakkraphong said it wants to use its policies to win over eligible voters who were still undecided, which polls show could be as much of 32.6% of the electorate. He said the party’s policies should win the hearts and minds of many middle-aged voters as they aim to boost their finances.

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The Fine Arts Department (FAD) is building a national museum in Pathum Thani’s Khlong Luang district with a warehouse for over 100,000 artefacts, according to Chandrajoti Phanombootra, its director-general.

Mr Chandrajoti said the warehouse will include the biggest database for artefacts in Thailand, while the museum will be the first in the country that meets international curation standards.

The warehouse will have 24,000 square metres of usable space, ready to exhibit over 200,000 artefacts, he said, before adding the space will open in August.

“The FAD is grateful that Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn has given her advice on the warehouse construction and promotion as a research centre,” he said.

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The Move Forward Party (MFP) yesterday revealed a roadmap for its first 100 days in office, believing it will form the next government and make good on its 300-point campaign promises.

MFP leader Pita Limjaroenrat outlined policy priorities for implementation within that time frame. He added those not among priority policies would be progressively implemented within the first year of government.

Mr Pita promised within the first 100 days in office, the party would exercise its power as the executive branch to push for a referendum to be held that would pave the way for the constitution to be rewritten by a drafting assembly made up of elected members.

He said the party would propose the cabinet to immediately seek an immediate resumption of the deliberation of the contentious Marriage Equality Bill currently put on the back burner.

The pending legal cases of a political nature will be reviewed, while an amnesty law will be put forth to absolve those being prosecuted or who had been prosecuted in such cases.

In addition, new rules and ministerial regulations will be issued, while some existing ones will be abolished to reform the entire bureaucratic system for transparency reasons. Specifically, many regulations enforced by the Interior Ministry deemed to hold back the progress of local administrative organisations and keep them from achieving administrative independence will be cancelled.

Other priority tasks include pushing for enacting the party’s progressive liquor bill, which was shot down in its second and third readings in the House last year. The bill sought to amend the Excise Tax Act, with supporters claiming it would break the monopoly held by a few corporate distillers and allow small-scale producers to enter the market.

Mr Pita added the urgent policies would extend to the distribution of title deeds covering 6.5 million rai of land to people in the cooperatives and self-established settlements.

Also, the party will introduce “net metering”, an electric billing tool that uses the electric grid to “store” excess energy produced by a home solar panel system. Under the policy, energy produced by household solar panels left unused will be credited back to the household.

The party leader said the MFP has prepared 45 draft laws to be put to the parliament if and when it gets to work as the government.

Mr Pita said the party stands ready to pass the legislation to scrap military conscription and replace it with voluntary enlistment. He added that the MFP would also revive the criminal cases related to the crackdowns on the red-shirt protests in 2010.

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The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) says using conscripts as servants by army officers is a human rights violation and has called on the Defence Ministry to eliminate the practice within 90 days.

NHRC commisioner Wasan Paileeklee yesterday told a press conference that the commission has looked at the use of conscripts as servants for senior commissioned officers, including their wives and children.

According to a Defence Ministry ministerial regulation (1912), commissioned officers can appoint conscripted men to serve them and their families, specifically for household affairs. Mr Wasan said that sections 49-57 of the ministerial regulation also allows commissioned officers to punish conscripts as they see fit.

However, the Defence Ministry’s Public Administration Act (2008) eliminated the use of servant conscripts. Instead, the act enables the army to deploy conscripts for duties such as administration, sanitation and other affairs concerning retired army officials.

“The use of both servant and service conscripts is a misuse of drafted men. Even though some of them are willing to serve their superiors, it is against the purpose of military conscription,” Mr Wasan said.

He said the ministerial regulations created ambiguity allowing senior officers to call in conscripts for their personal affairs. Even worse, some of them have abused conscripts mentally and physically, a violation of the constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The NHRC has pointed out to the Defence Ministry the rights violations and called for the scrapping of the clause in the 1912 ministerial regulations.

“The NHRC expects the Defence Ministry to endorse the new protocol within 90 days,” he said.

In August last year, a former soldier filed a report with Muang police in Ratchaburi stating she was abused by a female police corporal. The victim claimed her employer burned her using a hair curler, hit her with a metal bar, and once sprayed alcohol on her hair and set it on fire.

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The Move Forward Party (MFP) on Thursday revealed a roadmap for its first 100 days in office, outlining how it will form the next government and make good on its 300 campaign promises.

Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat said the roadmap contained the policy priorities to be implemented within the 100-day time frame. Other policies would be progressively implemented within the first year of government.

Details of all 300 of the party’s policies can be found (in Thai) on its Facebook page.

Mr Pita promised that within its first 100 days in office, a Move Forward-led government would exercise executive power to push for a referendum to pave the way for the constitution to be rewritten by a drafting assembly made up of elected members.

He said the party would also propose that the cabinet seek an immediate resumption of deliberation of the contentious Marriage Equality Bill, currently on the back burner.

Pending legal cases of a political nature will be reviewed, he said, while an amnesty law will be proposed to absolve those being prosecuted or who had been prosecuted in such cases in the past.

In addition, new rules and ministerial regulations will be issued, while some existing ones will be abolished to reform the entire bureaucratic system to improve transparency.

Specifically, many regulations enforced by the Interior Ministry deemed to hold back the progress of local administrative organisations and keep them from achieving administrative independence will be cancelled, said Mr Pita.

Other priority tasks include pushing to enact the party’s progressive liquor bill, which was shot down in its second and third readings in the House last year. The bill sought to amend the Excise Tax Act, with supporters claiming it would break the monopoly held by a handful of corporate distillers and brewers and allow small-scale producers to enter the market.

Other urgent policies would extend to the distribution of title deeds covering 6.5 million rai of land to people in cooperatives and self-established settlements.

As well, the party will introduce “net metering”, an electricity billing tool that uses the grid to “store” excess energy produced by home solar panel systems. Under the policy, energy produced by household solar panels and left unused will be credited back to the household.

Mr Pita said the party has prepared 45 draft laws to be put to parliament if and when it gets to work as the government.

As well, he said, the party stands ready to pass legislation to scrap military conscription and replace it with voluntary enlistment.

He added that Move Forward would also revive the criminal cases related to the crackdowns on the red-shirt protests in 2010.

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