Barkar Nash (Page 948)

Everything hinges on charter court decision on Aug 3, says Parliament president Wan

Parliament will convene on Aug 4 but whether a vote for prime minister takes place will depend on what the Constitutional Court does the day before, according to Parliament President Wan Muhamad Noor Matha.

Mr Wan said on Thursday that the Constitutional Court was likely to decide on Thursday, Aug 3 whether to accept a petition related to the previously rejected renomination for prime minister of Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat.

If the court does not accept the petition, parliament could hold a vote for prime minister the following day, said Mr Wan, who is also the House speaker. If it accepts the petition, a parliamentary vote would not take place until the court issues its ruling, possibly a week later.

The next prime ministerial vote is expected to involve a candidate from the Pheu Thai Party, after Move Forward said it would step aside and let its coalition partner attempt to form a government.

A joint sitting of the House and Senate held its first vote for prime minister on July 13 when Mr Pita was the sole candidate. He failed to win a majority vote as many parliamentarians — including all but 13 of the unelected senators — expressed concern about his party’s strong intention to amend Section 112 of the Criminal Code, the lese-majeste law.

On July 19 parliament voted not to consider Mr Pita’s candidacy a second time. Members cited parliamentary regulations stating that a motion that fails once cannot be brought back during the same session. However, many legal experts said the selection of a prime minister is not a motion, and that what parliament did was unconstitutional.

The Move Forward Party was among a number of complainants that filed petitions against the decision with the Constitutional Court through the Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman decided to seek a judicial review and ask the court to postpone the prime ministerial vote to prevent any damage that would be difficult to fix.

Mr Pita pointed out that the parliamentary decision had set a risky precedent, since any prime ministerial candidate nominated from now on would have only one shot at securing a majority vote.

The charter court said this week that it would consider the petition on Aug 3 but did not specify whether it expected to reach a decision or issue a ruling the same day.

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra can petition for a royal pardon on the first day of his imprisonment, acting Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said on Thursday.

“All inmates have the right to seek a royal pardon on the first day of imprisonment because this right is available during the time of punishment,” said Mr Wissanu, is also acting as the justice minister. Somsak Thepsuthin resigned as justice minister to join the Pheu Thai Party in March.

“If the pardon is not granted after the petition is lodged, it cannot be repeated within the following two years,” Mr Wissanu said.

Upon Thaksin’s return, he will go to court to receive an imprisonment order for his three cases, which have been finalised, resulting in a combined jail term of 10 years, said Mr Wissanu.

Some of the cases have passed their statutes of limitations, and others have not yet reached a court, including the case concerning Thaksin’s escape from the country.

Corrections officials are already prepared to receive the former prime minister, as he had earlier announced his return for his birthday, Mr Wissanu said. Thaksin turned 74 on Wednesday and has lived in self-imposed exile for 15 years.

Thaksin will be treated differently from general inmates due to his age, being older than 60 years. Ill inmates are also eligible for some privileges, which are standard for those who meet the relevant criteria, said the deputy prime minister.

Although there are special rooms at prisons, their use depends on the Corrections Department, and Mr Wissanu said he does not believe that Thaksin could be detained outside of prison.

“He will go to jail however,” Mr Wissanu confirmed. Family members can receive him at (Don Mueang) airport and visit him at prison right away, he added.

Sitthi Sutheewong, deputy director-general of the Corrections Department, said on Thursday that all new inmates would be quarantined for Covid-19 observation for five days, and there are special quarantine rooms for elderly inmates.

Inmates with underlying illnesses may be sent to corrections hospitals for appropriate care.

Thaksin has lived in self-imposed exile abroad since fleeing the country after receiving bail to attend the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Shortly before October 2008, the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions sentenced him in absentia to two years in prison for being found guilty of abuse of authority in assisting his then-wife, Khunying Potjaman na Pombejra, in winning a bid for the Ratchadaphisek property.

A total of 110 people have been infected with the mosquito-borne Zika virus since January this year and the number of infections has continued rising since May, according to the Public Health Ministry.

From Jan 1 to July 19, there were 110 reported cases of the Zika virus in 20 provinces, Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, permanent secretary for public health, said on Wednesday. The highest number of infections were reported in June, with 30 cases, he added.

In July, the virus has so far infected six pregnant women in five provinces – two in Chanthaburi and one each in Phitsanulok, Rayong, Samut Songkhram and Trat. The disease might pose a greater risk of miscarriages or microcephaly, a birth defect that leads to smaller-than-average head size in babies, Dr Opas warned.

Health officials closely followed up on 241 pregnant women infected with Zika between 2016 and 2022. Among them, four experienced miscarriages, three gave birth to babies with microcephaly, all testing positive for the Zika virus.

The officials had also followed up on child development of 77 cases for two years and four cases were found to have abnormal development, he said.

Clinical surveillance of 2,187 newborns identified three cases of abnormalities associated with Zika infections. Officials followed up on child development of four cases for two years, and three of those cases showed development abnormalities.

Dr Opas said Zika infections have been found in pregnant women this year, and the disease has spread across all regions of the country, mostly in areas where dengue fever outbreaks occurred.

He has ordered provincial health offices to conduct health screening of patients, particularly pregnant women in communities, displaying at least one symptom such as rashes, fever, joint pain and conjunctivitis (pink eye).  

Health volunteers have been instructed to encourage the public to help get rid of breeding grounds for mosquito larvae in their communities.

The former army chief who staged a coup d’etat and overthrew the elected government of Thaksin Shinawatra 17 years ago now supports Thaksin’s return to Thailand, seeing it as a good opportunity for national reconciliation.

Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin said on Thursday that Thaksin had the right to return his motherland, and this would provide him a chance to enter the justice system and address the pending legal cases against him.

According to the former army chief, Thaksin told him several days after the September 2006 coup that he was a gentleman and had good sportsmanship while looking forward to reconciliation.

With the Pheu Thai Party taking the lead in forming the next government, Gen Sonthi said the party will likely focused on finding solutions to conflicts within the country. Thaksin’s daughter, Paetongtarn “Ung Ing” Shinawatra, is a prime ministerial candidate of Pheu Thai.

“If there are conflicts in the country, it will be difficult for national administration. This is a good chance for the nation to resolve them,” he said.

Gen Sonthi added that he was of Class 6 at the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School and Thaksin was his junior at the same school.

Its students had been taught about love for the nation, religion and the monarchy, he said.

“We know what the royal institution has contributed to the nation. I do believe that he still has the loyalty,” Gen Sonthi said.

Ms Paetongtarn announced on Wednesday that her father would be returning to Don Mueang airport on Aug 10.

Pheu Thai should amend the memorandum of understanding (MoU) the eight-bloc coalition signed upon agreeing to support the Move Forward Party (MFP) in its bid to lead the new government, according to Plung Sungkom Mai (PSM).

PSM is one of the eight parties in the political alliance formerly led by the MFP but which has since fallen under Pheu Thai’s stewardship.

As all 23 of the policies included in the MoU were drawn up by the MFP, and with Pheu Thai having now won the trust of all members of the alliance to assume the leading role, Pheu Thai should take this opportunity to alter it where appropriate, said Chaowarit Kachornpongkirati, a list MP and leader of the PSM.

“Since the MFP has already handed over the right to lead the formation of the new government to Pheu Thai, the old MoU is no longer valid,” he said.

Pheu Thai may require changes so that it can include more parties in the bloc in a fresh attempt to win the parliamentary vote to select a new prime minister, he said.

Mr Chaowarit said he would submit the proposal at the alliance’s next meeting.

He declined to comment on which parties should be included in the alliance, saying that decision would lie with the bloc’s leader.

Meanwhile, Pheu Thai secretary-general Prasert Chantararuangthong said the MoU may have to be amended to bring it more in line with the party’s views.

The first point in the MoU, which states that all members of the alliance are committed to supporting MFP leader Pita Limjaroenrat to become Thailand’s next prime minister, for instance, might have to be changed as it appears unlikely Mr Pita still has a chance of becoming the premier, Mr Prasert said.

Any proposed changes, however, would have to be first discussed among all eight parties first and approved at a formal meeting, he added.

As for the MFP’s intention to ask parliament to revise its resolution on July 19 to reject the MFP’s resubmission of Mr Pita for a second parliamentary vote to select the prime minister, Mr Prasert said he would have to study in detail the MFP’s new plan before commenting any further.

He denied rumours that Pheu Thai and the MFP now have a serious rift, saying he talked on Tuesday with MFP secretary-general Chaithawat Tulathon and Phicharn Chaowapatanawong, a deputy party leader, explaining why the planned meeting of the eight parties was called off.

Mr Prasert also denied exploiting talks with five parties in the caretaker cabinet last weekend to pressure the MFP to quit the bloc. He said at no time during those talks did the issue of Pheu Thai forming a new coalition with other partners come up.

The Constitutional Court will consider next Thursday whether it will accept for deliberation a petition regarding the renomination of Move Forward Party (MFP) leader Pita Limjaroenrat as prime minister, a source said.

The Ombudsman early this week asked the court to rule on Mr Pita’s renomination rejection and to order parliament to postpone the next prime ministerial vote.

According to the Ombudsman, several complaints from both the public and members of parliament were lodged with the Office of the Ombudsman after the joint sitting of MPs and senators rejected Mr Pita’s renomination last week.

They claimed the rejection contravened the charter, and the Ombudsman decided to seek a judicial review and ask the court to postpone the prime ministerial vote to prevent any damage that would be difficult to fix.

However, another vote originally scheduled to take place today was postponed by parliament president Wan Muhamad Noor Matha pending the court’s ruling.

Mr Wan said on Wednesday his decision to postpone the vote had nothing to do with Pheu Thai’s attempt to secure support in parliament for one of its three prime ministerial candidates.

He said selecting the prime minister should wait because the Ombudsman was seeking the judicial review, and he would call a new joint session if the Constitutional Court rejected the petition for deliberation.

“It is speculated the court may decide whether to pass a ruling on the petition on Aug 9. If the court throws out the petition, I can schedule a meeting [to elect a prime minister] immediately,” Mr Wan said.

“But parliament must be informed three days in advance,” he said.

Mr Wan voiced disagreement with some MFP MPs who planned to ask parliament to review its resolution on Mr Pita’s renomination, saying the issue should wait for the court’s decision.

Democrat Party list-MP Chuan Leekpai said on Wednesday the prime ministerial selection is likely to be completed well before the five-year term of the military-appointed senators expires.

He was responding to a question about a call from some minor parties in the MFP-led alliance that it should wait for the Senate’s term to end next May, so the prime ministerial candidate could be elected by the House of Representatives alone.

The National Resource and Environment Ministry will hold a Bai Sri Su Khwan welcoming ceremony for Thai elephant Sak Surin after his 30-day quarantine finishes, minister Varawut Silpa-archa says.

According to Mr Varawut, the ceremony will be held at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre (TECC) in Lampang, where the 30-year-old elephant has been treated since being flown home from Sri Lanka on July 2.

The ceremony will be held once the elephant has undergone a blood test and is given a clean bill of health.

The TECC will allow the public to meet Sak Surin after the ceremony. The elephant will live with other elephants at the centre pending his full recovery, said Mr Varawut.

Sak Surin was one of three Thai elephants gifted to Sri Lanka in 2001 as goodwill ambassadors. He changed hands many times before ending up at the Kande Viharaya temple in Aluthgama, in south Sri Lanka, where he carried holy relics during annual Buddhist parades.

The tusker was allegedly abused and neglected before being taken to the National Zoological Gardens last November, according to Rally for Animal Rights and Environment (Rare), a Sri Lanka-based animal organisation.

The Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) has raided two locations in Bangkok where a suspected Chinese cryptocurrency scammer operates.

CCIB chief, Pol Lt Gen Worawat Watnakhonbancha, said on Wednesday that his officers searched a house in the Rama IX area of Saphan Sung district, belonging to a Chinese man identified as Su Peng Fei.

Assets found at the house, worth over 300 million baht, were confiscated. However, the housekeeper told officers that Mr Su was out of the country.

The second house raided was in Kanchanaphisek Soi 12 in Saphan Sung district.

The building was used as an office for Xin Rui Technology Co Ltd. Police believe Mr Su used money from the cryptocurrency scam to buy the house.