South-East Asia (Page 2,065)

Mongkutwattana Hospital director, Maj Gen Dr Rianthong Nanna, was on Wednesday handed a suspended prison term and ordered to pay a 200,000-baht fine in a defamation case filed against him by Sira Jenjaka, a former Palang Pracharath Party MP for Bangkok.

The Criminal Court suspended the two-year prison term because it considered the doctor to be a person who normally performed good deeds and contributed to the betterment of society, according to the ruling.

The 200,000-baht fine was ordered to be paid with interest of 7.5% per year.

On May 7, 2021, Maj Gen Dr Rianthong posted a message on his Facebook account accusing Mr Sira, who at the time represented Lak Si district office, of obstructing the work of a field hospital for Covid-19 patients.

The message, which was set as a public post and could be seen by anyone, contained vulgar words and described Mr Sira as a badly behaved politician, the ruling said.

Dr Rianthong’s Facebook account has a large number of followers.

The doctor could have simply warned Mr Sira in person not to obstruct medical staff treating Covid-19 patients at the hospital, but instead posted comments on Facebook which damaged Mr Sira’s reputation, according to the ruling. Mr Sira was visiting the field hospital because he had received a complaint from a patient, the court was told.

Mr Sira was a member of the House committee on justice and humanitarian issues, while Dr Rianthong is a well-known public figure.

Dr Rianthong, who was accompanied by his lawyer, pled not guilty.

Move Forward Party (MFP) leader and list-MP Pita Limjaroenrat was forced to leave the joint sitting of MPs and senators yesterday afternoon shortly after the Constitutional Court suspended him as an MP pending its ruling on his media share-holding case.

Mr Pita, attending the meeting as the sole candidate for the second round of voting for the prime minister’s post, rose to address lawmakers at 2.44pm about the court order.

“The court has issued an order suspending me from performing my duties. I’d like to inform the House speaker that I’ve acknowledged the order and will comply with it until a final decision.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to say farewell to the House speaker. Until we meet again,” he said.

Mr Pita said the country had changed since the May 14 general election, from which his party emerged the largest with 151 MPs.

He said the people had won half the battle. He called on MPs to fulfil their roles and answer people’s needs.

The MFP leader left his MP card on his seat, waved to the MPs and shook hands with some before leaving the chamber. Shortly before 2pm he posted on his Instagram that he was unlikely to win the second round.

“It is clear that under the current system gaining people’s trust isn’t enough to run the country, and [we] need approval from the Senate.

“And it’s possible that we don’t have enough [support] to be renominated,” he wrote.

The Constitutional Court order suspending Mr Pita was reportedly accepted by the secretariat of the House at 1.38pm.

Hundreds vow to keep fighting to bring real democracy to the country

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at Democracy Monument on Wednesday night to vent their anger over the end of Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat’s bid to become prime minister.

The largely peaceful rally followed a dramatic day in parliament, where Mr Pita lost his MP status after the Constitutional Court ordered him suspended pending a ruling. After he left the chamber, lawmakers voted not to allow him to be nominated for prime minister a second time.

Some of the crowds that had rallied near parliament earlier in the day made their way to Democracy Monument at around 5pm. They were joined by others who wrapped a large cloth banner reading “Prime Minister Pita of People’s Consensus” around the monument.

Somyos Pruksakasemsuk, leader of the June 24 Democracy Movement, took the stage to open the rally by urging demonstrators to throw the full weight of their support behind Mr Pita.

He criticised dictators and feudal attitudes for destroying the rights and liberties of people. People’s hopes of seeing the Move Forward and Pheu Thai parties — with 25 million votes between them — forming a government had faded away.

Now, Move Forward was probably being forced to sit in the opposition camp, said Mr Somyos.

The Constitutional Court, he said, had become a mechanism to kill governments that came from democracy. However, those who staged coups walked free.

“From now on, we have to keep fighting in all forms — to knock on doors of senators’ houses or ring the bells at their houses to remind them to give their gratitude to the motherland by turning over a new leaf,” he said.

“The battle will not be about the Move Forward Party, but it is about people who cast their ballots in the (May 14) general election. We must join hands to take steps against the so-called independent organisations and ‘invisible hands’. The battle across the country starts today at Democracy Monument.”

As the evening wore on, crowds occupied more of the streets around the monument. Speakers on the stage railed against the behaviour of the junta-appointed senators who blocked Mr Pita’s candidacy, and at the Constitutional Court’s suspension order.

Human rights lawyer Anon Nampa and other pro-democracy activists urged the demonstrators to be witnesses to ensure that the Pheu Thai Party, which will now attempt to form a government, must not betray people by joining with other parties now in opposition.

Participants also performed a mock funeral for the unelected senators, complete with a coffin and cremation.

The protesters read a statement that outlined three demands: for the senators to resign, the eight parties in the coalition to stick together tightly, and for the coalition not to abandon the policy proposals promised to the people.

The Constitutional Court on Wednesday morning suspended the MFP leader from duty as an elected member of the House over his shareholding in the defunct media company iTV Plc.

The suspension was announced as the elected House and the appointed Senate were sitting in joint session to elect the country’s 30th prime minister.

With the failure to even call a vote on Wednesday, the next session to choose a prime minister has been scheduled for July 27.

A banner is wrapped around Democracy Monument during a protest on Wednesday evening following the rejection by parliament of an attempt to nominate Pita Limjaroenrat a second time for prime minister. (Photo: AFP)

The joint House and Senate sitting voted to reject the renomination of Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat for prime minister because a parliamentary regulation bans it, Parliament President Wan Muhamad Noor Matha said.

Mr Wan made the announcement after 715 parliamentarians voted electronically about 5.10pm on Wednesday. The parliament president called the vote after a lengthy debate on the issue, which started shortly after the meeting opened at 9.30am.

In the joint sitting, 395 parliamentarians voted against Mr Pita’s renomination, 312 voted to support it, eight abstained and one did not exercise the right to vote.

Mr Wan said the rejection was by majority vote, because half the votes in the joint sitting was 374. The number was adjusted after Mr Pita was suspended from duty as an MP by the Constitutional Court earlier in the day.

Before the vote, parliamentarians spent hours disputing whether the renomination was allowed or not. 

Opponents said parliamentary session regulation No.49 prohibited the resubmission of a failed motion to the parliament during the same parliamentary session. They said Mr Pita’s nomination had been rejected last week and there was no new development that could justify its resubmission.

Pro-Pita parliamentarians emphasised that the regulation applied to general motions and not to the prime ministerial nomination. They said that it was a nomination, not a motion. They also said that parliamentarians should respect the choice made by the voters at the May 14 general election.

Mr Pita’s Move Forward Party won the election with 151 House seats. Recently he said he would make way for the Pheu Thai Party to nominate a prime minister if his bid failed.

Pheu Thai won 141 House seats and the two parties are the key members of the eight-party coalition.

Mr Pita warned on Tuesday that a vote to block his renomination would set a risky precedent for parliamant. Now, whoever is nominated for prime minister will have to be assured of majority support because he or she will not get a second try.