Thai junta likely to back another term for PM Prayut

As Thailand gears up for an election next February, there are increasing signs that the ruling junta is preparing to push for General Prayut Chan-o-cha to continue serving as prime minister.

Thailand’s military-drafted Constitution, signed by King Maha Vajiralongkorn last year, allows political parties to nominate an unelected leader from outside Parliament to become the head of government. The candidate would then need a majority of support in the military-appointed Senate and elected Lower House.

Several Cabinet members, including Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak and Industry Minister Uttama Savanayana, have announced their support for General Prayut to serve another term.

Several new political parties have also vowed to back Gen Prayut, though it remains to be seen how well they would fare in the election in the face of heavyweights like the Shinawatra-backed Puea Thai and the Democrats. Both have announced they intend to nominate candidates for prime minister from within their parties.

Neophyte politician Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, who is heir to auto-parts maker giant Thai Summit Group, has also vowed that his newly-registered party Future Forward will reject a so-called “outsider prime minister” on the grounds that it is a non-democratic means to power.

The junta will have a say in the appointment of the Senate’s 250 members, who will serve for five years. The kingdom now has no Senate and has been operating with an interim assembly after the last coup in 2014.

Thammasat University law lecturer Parinya Thewanarumitkul said for Gen Prayut’s second term to become a reality, he must win support beyond the Upper House.

“If an outsider PM can secure 250 votes from the senators, he would only need 126 more from the Lower House to gain an absolute majority, or 376 votes out of the 750-seat parliament,” said Dr Parinya.

The country’s next leader will also need more allies in the 500-seat Lower House, which passes laws, to push through key legislation.

Independent scholar Sirote Klampaiboon said that by allowing parties to nominate an “outsider PM”, the military government is aiming to “overturn the negative connotation” by emphasising that even though the prime minister is not a Member of Parliament, he will have full Parliament support.

The term “outsider PM” has been associated with abuse of power in Thailand. One example is when General Suchinda Kraprayoon became prime minister in 1992 after staging a coup the year before, according to Mr Sirote.

Continue reading: The Straits Times

Thailand protesters in rare rally over Chiang Mai development

Protesters in Thailand have staged one of the country’s biggest demonstrations since the 2014 military coup as they campaign against a luxury housing development on forested land.

More than 1,000 people gathered in the northern city of Chiang Mai.

They rallied against a housing project being built for judges and officials in the foothills of a sacred mountain.

The march went ahead in defiance of a ban on public gatherings imposed by the junta, which seized power in 2014.

“Around 1,250 people took part in the protest,” Police Colonel Paisan, deputy commander of Chiang Mai Police, told Reuters news agency.

Continue reading: BBC

Thailand Poll: Debts among workers at 10-year high

Household debts among workers have risen 4.9% year-on-year to 137,000 baht per household on average this year, the highest in a decade, according to a survey.

The poll was conducted on 1,194 workers earning less than 15,000 baht a month by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC) ahead of the Labour Day on Tuesday.

Of the debts, 65.4% were formal loans with an average 10.6% interest rate a year. The rest, or 34.6%, were informal loans with interest of around 20.1% a month, said Thanawat Ponvichai, UTCC vice-president for research.

An overwhelming majority, 96%, said they were indebted, the highest proportion in 10 years. The major purpose of the borrowing chosen by 36.1% of the respondents was to cover general expenses, followed by asset purchases such as cars or motorcycles, investments, home-buying, medical treatments and debt repayments.

The average monthly debt repayment of the respondents was 5,326 baht.

Most of the debtors, 85.4%, missed repayments over the past year because of lower incomes and higher expenses, rising goods prices, as well as higher debt burdens and loan interest rates.

Asked whether the current debt burden affected their spending, 45.7% said while their spending remained the same now, they would tighten belts over the next three months.

Continue reading: Bangkok Post

Thailand: Premchai Indicted for Illegal Firearms Possession

Prosecutors on Tuesday indicted a construction mogul accused of poaching in a wildlife sanctuary for a seventh offense.

Italian-Thai Development President Premchai Karnasuta now faces a lawsuit for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, adding to six other counts including hunting in a wildlife sanctuary and hunting protected species.

Premchai was arrested Feb. 5 in the Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary in Kanchanaburi province, on evidence that he and his party killed and ate parts of a black panther.

On April 4, prosecutors dropped five of 11 charges originally filed against him, including animal cruelty and entering the sanctuary without permission.

Source: Khaosod English

Thailand court orders immediate issuance of arrest warrant for Andy Hall

Bangkok South Criminal Court today ordered for the immediate issuance of an arrest warrant for Andy Hall with a view to ensuring Hall’s attendance in the court to hear a verdict of the Appeals Court on multiple appeals against his September 2016 criminal conviction.

Diplomats from the EU Mission to Thailand alongside the UK, Finnish and Swedish embassy officials and officials from OHCHR and ICJ attended today’s hearing alongside Hall’s legal defence team, a source at the Court informed Finnwatch.

The court was originally expected to read the appeals verdict today but the hearing on the appeal was instead adjourned until 31st May 2018 given Hall did not attend the court in person. Andy Hall is currently no longer resident in Thailand and attests that he was not formally summoned to attend the Court today through any official or lawful channels.

In response to the today’s news, Hall provided the following statement to Finnwatch:

“I have faced intolerable amounts of judicial harassment which essentially undermined my ability to do human rights work effectively inside Thailand. This is why I left the country in November 2016. I am disappointed and concerned this warrant has now been issued for my arrest and this unacceptable judicial harassment against me continues unabated.”

Continue reading: Prachatai English

Thailand junta’s election facade a political throwback

Thailand’s ruling junta has talked about a “return to democracy” since it seized power in May 2014. It has repeatedly delayed elections, although it now proclaims an election will be held in February 2019. Political parties are gradually being released from the manacles that have prevented them from meeting and being active since the coup, and new parties are being proclaimed. But few observers are convinced by the promise of elections next February.

These delays are one element of a set of processes devised by the junta to prevent the election to government of any party associated with exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. For the junta and its supporters, “reform” means neutering the Shinawatra clan’s Pheu Thai Party. The junta’s determination to crush Pheu Thai and the related red-shirt movement draws lessons from the military’s failure to defeat its opponents following the 2006 coup.

Source: Financial News

Thai junta’s election facade a political throwback

Author: Kevin Hewison, UNC and University of Macau

Thailand’s junta has talked about a ‘return to democracy’ since it seized power in May 2014. It has repeatedly delayed elections, although the junta now proclaims an election will be held in February 2019. Political parties are gradually being released from the manacles that have prevented them from meeting and being active since the coup, and new parties are being proclaimed. But few observers are convinced by the promise of elections in February.

These delays are one element of a set of processes devised by the junta to prevent the election to government of any party associated with exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. For the junta and its supporters, ‘reform’ means neutering the Shinawatra clan’s Pheu Thai Party. The junta’s determination to crush Pheu Thai and the related red-shirt movement draws lessons from the military’s failure to defeat its opponents following the 2006 coup.

According to the US ambassador at the time, not long after Thaksin won a massive victory in the February 2005 election, something of a consensus emerged among military leaders, Privy Councillors and other members of Thailand’s elite that Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party-led government had to go. Big yellow-shirt rallies led to the 2006 coup. TRT was subsequently dissolved and a swathe of corruption and other charges laid against Thaksin, his family and TRT members.

The result was an ongoing and sometimes violent political struggle for control of Thailand’s politics that pitted Thaksin and his supporters against his powerful opponents. Much to the surprise of the former prime minister’s rivals, a Thaksin-backed party won the 2007 election, despite electoral rule changes implemented by the military-appointed regime. Again, yellow-shirt demonstrations led to an intervention by the Constitutional Court in late 2008 that ousted the government. The pro-Thaksin government was replaced by a Democrat Party-led government, and the political contest continued.

Continue reading: East Asia Forum