Category: Government

Anurak Tangpanithanon, a Pheu Thai MP for Mukdahan province, has been barred from working as a legislator, effective from yesterday (Wednesday), after the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders accepted a case alleging corruption, filed against him by Thailand’s National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).

The NACC alleged that Anurak committed a gross violation of ethical conduct by demanding five million baht from the director-general of the Department of Groundwater Resources, in exchange for the smooth passage of the department’s budget through parliament.

The anti-corruption watchdog demanded that the court order the opposition MP to cease performing his duties, withdraw his voting rights and the right to contest an election for up to ten years, if he is found guilty by the court.

After having examined the evidence presented by the NACC, the court ruled that the evidence is clear enough to be accepted for consideration.

According to Section 235 (paragraph 3) of the Constitution, an MP must cease to function as a Member of Parliament as soon as the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders accepts a case regarding a gross violation of ethical conduct.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday said he will appoint his country’s foreign minister, Prak Sokhonn, to be the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ special envoy to Myanmar, beginning January 1st, 2022

Cambodia in October took over as the coming year’s chair of the 10-member regional bloc, which is referred to as ASEAN. Hun Sen earlier this month announced he will pay an official visit in January to military-ruled Myanmar, seeking to patch up the generals’ battered relationship with the group of nations.

Sokhonn is to succeed Brunei’s Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof, whose tenure will come to an end later this month. A special task force on Myanmar has also been created within Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since its army seized power in February, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. After peaceful protests against military rule were put down by lethal force, armed resistance has grown. U.N. experts have warned the country risks sliding into civil war.

Speaking at the inauguration of a new hotel in the capital of Phnom Penh, Hun Sen said he was uncertain that ASEAN or Cambodia could solve Myanmar’s problems, but he should be allowed to try.

Hun Sen is scheduled to visit Naypyidaw on January 7th and 8th, to meet military leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. A highly placed source said that Hun Sen hopes to break the ice and create a conducive atmosphere for future engagement with Myanmar. He has asked to meet with the jailed Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy opposition party.

Under the guidance of its now-former chair Brunei, the regional bloc took the unprecedented step of not allowing Myanmar’s military leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, to attend its October summit meeting.

The bloc’s leadership acted after Myanmar would not agree to let its special envoy meet Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the army’s takeover. The previous special envoy was Brunei’s Second Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof.

ASEAN has sought to play a mediating role in Myanmar’s crisis given concerns over how it could affect regional peace. In April, it reached consensus on a five-point plan to try to help restore stability, but Myanmar has made little effort to implement it.

Hun Sen would be the first foreign leader to visit Myanmar since the military takeover there. When he announced his intended Jan. 7-8 visit, he said Myanmar’s leader has the right to attend ASEAN summit meetings. His soft approach to Myanmar’s leadership contrasts sharply with the hard line taken by the United States and other Western nations, which have applied targeted diplomatic and economic sanctions against the ruling generals.

Earlier this month, Myanmar’s Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin paid a one-day visit to Phnom Penh, at the invitation of Hun Sen. Both sides agreed to work closely together.

In April, ASEAN agreed on a five-point consensus, which the military junta has yet to implement fully. Progress since the military takeover 10 months ago has been sluggish. As a consequence, ASEAN decided in October to punish Myanmar by inviting only a senior non-political official to attend ASEAN-related summits. Since then, Naypyidaw has missed out on several high-profile meetings with the group’s dialogue partners.

In a related development, Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai is scheduled to visit Cambodia from 16th to 18th December to strengthen bilateral ties and address the situation in Myanmar. He will meet his counterpart Prak, as well as pay a courtesy call on Hun Sen.

Last year, both countries commemorated the 70th anniversary of their diplomatic relations.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

Thailand’s House of Representatives today (Wednesday) rejected two bills aimed at repealing all announcements and orders, deemed to be violations of the principles of human rights and democracy, issued by the military junta, officially known as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).

One of the bills was proposed by Director of Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw) Jon Ungphakorn and seconded by 12,609 eligible voters. The other was proposed by a leader of the Progressive Movement, Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, and associates.

The House voted 234:162 to reject Jon’s bill, with three abstentions.

Piyabutr’s bill was voted down 229:157, with four abstentions.

The junta, led by General Prayut Chan-o-Cha, who is still the country’s prime minister, overthrew a caretaker government on May 22nd, 2014, following prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s impeachment.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

After decades of shining bright in Thailand’s engineering and educational sectors, Prof Dr Suchatvee Suwansawat is now ready to kick-start his political career. The academic is preparing to contest in the upcoming Bangkok gubernatorial election under the banner of Thailand’s oldest party – the Democrat.

“I feel a debt to the people of Thailand and must repay it,” said Suchatvee, 49, when asked why he chose to give up his profession in a bid to enter public service.

He explained that government scholarships, funded by taxpayers’ money, had given him the chance to secure a good education, good jobs and good opportunities.

From bright student to successful professor

Born to a teacher, Suchatvee was the brightest student at Rayongwittayakom School in his time. He won a scholarship to study at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL)’s Faculty of Engineering and was later elected president of Class 29.

At the age of 20, Suchatvee envisioned an underground transport system for the capital, submitting “Bangkok’s Subway Tunnel Design” as his final undergraduate project.

After graduating, he earned more scholarships – for a master’s at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and for another master’s and a doctorate at the world’s top college for engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

During his years at MIT, Suchatvee returned to work on Bangkok’s subway system. So impressive were his efforts that his name is inscribed on the wall of an MRT station.

Despite a string of tempting job offers overseas, Suchatvee returned home and began teaching at his old faculty in KMITL. It took him just seven years to earn his professorship – reportedly the shortest period in KMITL’s history.

In 2010, he was appointed dean of the Engineering Faculty. Five years later he became president of KMITL and introduced big changes at his alma mater.

His open and relaxed style helps students feel closer to the top figures at their institute. Suchatvee refers to himself as “Bro Ae” and freely mingles with them during orientation days.

But his democratic style came with a steely eye for management that brought big benefits to KMITL. Among them was the provost system he set up to oversee the university’s affairs, and the Faculty of Medicine he established.

KMITL was struggling from the fallout of an embezzlement scandal when Suchatvee took charge. This month, as he leaves KMITL to pursue his political career, the university ranks among Thailand’s top institutes of higher education.

During the COVID-19 crisis, KMITL also invented several devices to help in the battle against the virus, including an affordable high-flow oxygen concentrator.

Roles outside KMITL

Though Suchatvee’s academic life is closely associated with KMITL, he has taken key roles elsewhere. He once led the Engineering Institute of Thailand as well as the National Housing Authority. Until early this month, he also headed the Council of Engineers in Thailand.

In 2019, when Ubon Ratchathani was struggling under heavy floods, Suchatvee led a team of engineers to help the Northeast province plan its flood-prevention infrastructure.

The disruptor’s vision for Bangkok

Known as a dynamic “disruptor”, Suchatvee believes that the world is rapidly changing and people need to keep pace.

“If I can be a disruptor, everyone else can be one too,” he said.

He has now set his sights on addressing Bangkok’s biggest problems, namely floods and traffic jams. Meanwhile, he hopes his switch to politics will inspire young and capable people to step forward and bring positive change for Thai society.

Personal life

In 2017, Suchatvee married Sawita Suwansawat, founder and CEO of MSC International Law Office. They have a son together.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

More than five years since its governor was appointed after a coup, Bangkok is now looking forward to its first gubernatorial election in almost nine years.

Although no date has been set for the citywide election, Bangkok voters are being primed by media reports and opinion surveys on aspiring candidates.

Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on the government to call the gubernatorial election by March, or exactly nine years after the previous one.

The last election in March 2013 saw MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra from the Democrat Party beat Pheu Thai Party’s Pongsapat Pongcharoen in an intensely close race. Both candidates gained more than 1 million votes — making history as previously only Samak Sundaravej had reached that milestone when he won the race in 2000.

Several strong would-be candidates have announced their desire to become next Bangkok governor, while others rumoured to be seeking the city’s top job have yet to go public.

Stakes are high

Significant as an indicator for the general election, Bangkok’s gubernatorial poll often sees fierce battles between major parties seeking to woo the capital’s voters. This time round, government and opposition parties have set their sights on the governor’s seat.

However, Bangkok voters have proved highly unpredictable over the years. They often vote for candidates from the opposition camp or even for a third candidate.

Underdogs regularly defeat more famous candidates. Opinion-poll frontrunners have lost out to the volatile nature of the Bangkok voters, who have a habit of basing their final decisions on developments close to polling day.

The ruling Palang Pracharath Party wants to retain its political base in the capital, after winning the most Bangkok MP seats — 12 out of 30 up for grabs — in the March 2019 general election.

And the party appears to have an advantage as its key figures in the government have the power to decide when the election will be held. The Election Commission is empowered to call the poll but the voting date requires a green light from the Cabinet.

“Certainly, the ruling party will wait until they can be sure of winning the seat,” said Yuthaporn Issarachai, a political scientist from Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University.

However, Palang Pracharath has yet to name any candidates. Initially, the party reportedly backed former police chief Pol Gen Chakthip Chaijinda, but he surprisingly dropped out of the race in November after months of trying to build a solid support base.

According to recent reports, the party has asked Pathum Thani governor Narongsak Osottanakorn to stand as its candidate for Bangkok governor, but he has yet to publicly accept the offer.

Narongsak shot to fame in 2018 when, as Chiang Rai’s governor, he took charge of the operation to rescue 12 young footballers and their coach from a flooded cave. He was credited for organising an international operation that ended in almost miraculous success. Narongsak served as Lampang governor last year, when the northern province performed well in curbing COVID-19 and rolling out vaccines.

Bid to reclaim seat

The gubernatorial poll offers the coalition Democrat Party a vital opportunity to revive its popularity in Bangkok, after it failed to win a single MP seat in the city at the last general election.

Prior to 2016, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) was led for 12 years consecutively by Democrat governors Apirak Kosayodhin and Sukhumbhand. Both were re-elected but their second terms were cut short by corruption allegations.

Apirak quit to fight the graft charge in 2008 and was eventually cleared by a court in March 2019, but his successor Sukhumbhand was removed by the junta in August 2016.

Current governor Aswin Kwanmuang was, in fact, part of Sukhumbhand’s Democrat team running the BMA. So, it could be said that the Democrats have held the Bangkok governor’s seat for the last 17 years.

Former deputy police chief Aswin, appointed to replace Sukhumbhand in October 2016, is reportedly keen to join the race for the governor’s seat, although he has not yet announced his bid. Observers point to his endorsement by a political group called “Rak Bangkok” as a sign he will run for election.

The Democrats endorsed Professor Suchatvee Suwansawat as their candidate on Monday (Dec 13), coinciding with his resignation as rector of King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang.

The civil engineering professor, 49, drew praise for strong managerial skills and creative projects while running the university. He has a PhD in civil and environmental engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Dilemma for Pheu Thai

Main opposition party Pheu Thai, which won nine Bangkok MP seats at the 2019 election, desperately wants to secure the governor’s post. However, Pheu Thai faces a dilemma as Chadchart Sittipunt – its former party executive and still its prime ministerial candidate – has decided to run for governor as an independent.

If the party fields a separate candidate, it risks splitting its support base and damaging the chances of both the Pheu Thai candidate and Chadchart, who has campaigned actively for years.

Former senator Rosana Tositrakul is another aspiring candidate, having launched her campaign as early as September 2019. In 2008, she was elected as a senator for Bangkok, gaining the highest vote in the country.

Chadchart, who served as transport minister in the Pheu Thai-led Yingluck Shinawatra government, was among the first to announce his bid for governor. He took a master’s degree in civil engineering at MIT before working as a lecturer at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Engineering.

The opposition camp’s Move Forward will be seeking to maintain its support base in the capital given that its former incarnation — the disbanded Future Forward Party — won the popular vote in Bangkok with around 800,000 ballots and secured nine MP seats in the March 2019 election.

Move Forward says it will field a “well-known candidate” for the gubernatorial poll, with “a policy platform that will win the hearts of Bangkok residents”.

Calls for no more delay

“All parties have their own goals to reach, so all except Palang Pracharath are pressuring the government to hold the poll soon,” said Yuthaporn.

Asked on Dec 3 when the Bangkok election would be held, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha promised only that it would be in 2022 “if the situation is peaceful and conflicts decrease”.

Local elections were suspended after the 2014 coup, which was led by then Army chief Gen Prayut. However, since late last year elections of local administrative organizations have been held nationwide. Next, it will be the turn for Bangkok and Pattaya City, where chiefs of city councils and administrative bodies will be elected.

Change in political landscape

According to observers, Bangkok’s political landscape has changed tremendously since the last election in March 2013. Under the post-coup junta, all elected members of the City Council were replaced by appointees.

The Bangkok electorate is complicated and highly unpredictable, with a large share of swing voters, Yuthaporn noted. Bangkok voters have swung between supporting candidates from the national government and voting for their competitors, said the analyst.

However, the pandemic crisis could help decide this election, he added.

“In the current political situation, as the government is facing COVID-19 and a bad economy, [Bangkok voters] are likely to vote against [government-backed candidates],” he said.

No close competition?

For observers, the next gubernatorial election will be among the most interesting, given there are so many strong choices for voters. In previous elections, the number of candidates has often exceeded a dozen, and even 20 on occasions, but there were only a few strong candidates.

Recent opinion surveys show Chadchart is the runaway favorite. He gained 34 per cent of support in the latest poll released early this month by the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA). Seventeen per cent of the 1,318 respondents chose Aswin and almost 12 per cent said they were undecided.

“Many candidates are fresh, famous, qualified and capable, but I don’t think it will be a neck-and-neck race. Chadchart is still at an advantage,” said Yuthaporn.

However, the analyst warned that Chadchart’s popularity could be undermined if he allows Pheu Thai to intervene in his campaign. Doing so would “waste years of his effort and devotion”, he said.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

Narongsak Osottanakorn, former governor of Chiang Rai province, who shot to fame for his leading role in the dramatic operation to rescue 12 young footballers and their coach from a flooded cave in Chiang Rai in 2018, broke his silence today (Tuesday) to end speculation that he may contest Bangkok gubernatorial election.

Currently the governor of Pathum Thani province, he told a press conference that he has decided to stay in civil service until his retirement, saying that he can devote himself to his work wherever he is and he wants to do his best “while wearing the hat of a civil servant and will retire with dignity.”

Narongsak said that, throughout his career as a governor, he has moved his residence from one province to another and, today, he is in Pathum Thani, which makes it impossible for him to stand in Bangkok’s gubernatorial election next year.

He said he had been in Lampang and Phayao, after Chiang Rai, where he had dedicated himself to the people there and they love him.

The governor thanked everyone who proposed that he be their candidate for the election in Bangkok, but he stressed that his heart and mind is now with Pathum Thani province.

He was widely tipped to be the candidate of Palang Pracharat, the ruling government party.

Narongsak said that, after his retirement from government service, he would like to teach.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said today (Monday) that the Chana district industrial estate project, in the southern province of Songkhla, cannot legally be cancelled, but he promised a complete review of the Strategic Environmental assessment (SEA) process.

He said that the controversial project will be discussed at the cabinet meeting tomorrow, adding that the cabinet cannot do everything it might wish to do, but it can order a complete review of the SEA process and ensure that public hearings are held for all stakeholders to share their views and concerns.

The prime minister also said that this project should serve as a reminder to all relevant agencies that they must follow the government’s policy strictly, to bring about prosperity in the southern region and improve the livelihoods of the people there.

Regarding the conflict over land in the project area, he said that this should not be linked to the industrial estate project, otherwise it will complicate matters and, in the end, the project may never get off the ground.

While accepting that there are those who support and those who oppose the project, he said that outsiders should stay away, as their involvement will only widen the conflict and complicate matters.

He also pleaded with the protesters to end their rallies.

The protesters, mostly from Chana district, nonetheless marched from their camp in front of the United Nations Building to the Government House at about 3pm this afternoon.

They were blocked at Makkhawan Rangsan Bridge by police who repeatedly warned them that they were violating laws concerning illegal public assembly and posing a risk of causing a spread of coronavirus.

Brushing aside the warnings, the protesters staged a sit-in at the Bridge, claiming that they were waiting for a response to their demands, which include the temporary suspension of all activities at the project site in Chana district and suspension of the SEA process, being undertaken by the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre which oversees the entire project.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

The so-called “Summit for Democracy” was held at the initiative of US President Joe Biden on December 9-10. From the very beginning, its holding was perceived with a grin as such countries as Azerbaijan, Turkey, Hungary and China were not invited to it. The process of organizing of the US-initiated so-called “Summit for Democracy” is absurd. The US wants to present itself to the world as patron of democracy. Allegedly, the US, rather than all countries, is on the guard of democracy in the world.

The states, deliberately not invited to the so-called “summit”, expressed their opinion on this issue at various official levels.

The US is destroying the system of international relations based on international law and the central role of the UN, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said, Trend reports.

“The facts show that the US and its allies cannot and must not claim to be a “beacon” of democracy as the US hase chronic problems in the field of freedom of speech, electoral system, corruption and human rights,” the official website of the Russian Foreign Ministry says.

China has also expressed an official position on this issue. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the US goal is hegemony, rather than democracy.

In turn, Thailand officially expressed condemnation and regret. It was not invited to the summit either.

The international experts and the media outlets expressed ambiguous attitude towards the ambivalent approach of the organizer of the so-called “summit”.

Expert in foreign policy and security Ted Piccone stressed that the participation of some invitees was obvious to counter the Chinese influence. For example, the US ally – the Philippines has one of the lowest democracy index among 15 countries in East Asia and the Pacific.

As for Poland, its overall index has decreased by about 10 percent since 2015. Despite this, the White House invited Warsaw to the so-called “summit”. The author of the article said that as a reason, it is possible to assume that Poland plays an important role as a support against Russia in NATO.

The author of the article stressed that the invitation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the event is also surprising. It ranks 137th out of 139 countries in terms of overall rule of law and has the worst ranking among African countries.

In an article posted by the Washington Examiner news agency, correspondent Katherine Doyle stressed that the inclusion of the issue of combating corruption on the agenda of the so-called “summit” raised many questions amid major corruption scandals around Biden’s family.

For example, Biden’s son’s firm invested in the Chinese companies that fell under the US sanctions, so ethics experts repeatedly demanded transparency from the White House on Hunter Biden’s transactions.

An ambiguous attitude towards the so-called ‘summit’ was expressed in the US as well. New York Times correspondents Michael Crawley and Zolan Kanno-Youngs stressed in their articles that Biden plans to cooperate with Congress to spend about $424 million to support foreign independent media, fight against corruption, help activists, develop technologies and protect fair election.

Even the US officials admit that among other problems, political polarization, racial injustice, restrictions on voting rights and internal extremism are being aggravated in the US. Some activists called on Biden to pay more attention to the internal problems than external ones.

Bekir Ilhan, expert on international security and military innovation at the Turkish Anadolu news agency, stressed that a third of 110 countries invited by Biden’s administration to the so-called “Summit for Democracy” in December had low figures on the democratic criteria set by Freedom House. The real goal of the organizers of this event is to create a common vision of “democracy” in Washington’s interests.

Time magazine correspondent Debasish Roy Chowdhury wrote in an article that the President of the United States, the forces of which have recently left Afghanistan and which concluded a $650 million arms deal with Saudi Arabia, thought it a good idea to hold a two-day virtual meeting on democracy.

However, the invitation of the worst countries for democracy can not be explained. More than 30 percent of 110 invited countries were classified as “partially free” by the US-based Freedom House non-profit organization.

According to an article published by TASS news agency, the so-called “Summit for Democracy” is more like a piece of US foreign policy PR.

Some human rights activists were dissatisfied that democracy issues would be discussed at a political level, rather than at a public one.

Taking into account that a big part of the summit would account for three-minute speeches of invited leaders of the countries, there would be little time for activists.

A number of critical remarks about the summit were spread on social media. US economist Janet Yellen announced about the creation of the Anti-Kleptocracy Fund to “reward people who can report where corrupt foreign leaders are hiding their money in the US”.

The so-called “summit for democracy” organized by Biden does not have any credibility, given Washington’s experience of violation of democracy and human rights around the world. This so-called “summit” has been named “the latest provocation of the new Cold War.”

Such a statement was made that such a selective invitation of countries to this event testifies to the US weakness and its inability to resist the undermining of the authority of its foreign policy at the UN.

Source: Trend News Agency

The Democrat Party’s executive committee today (Monday) unanimously nominated Prof. Dr. Suchatvee Suwansawat, former rector of King Mongkut Institute of Technology’s Lat Krabang campus, as its sole candidate to run in the Bangkok gubernatorial election next year.

Democrat party leader Jurin Laksanawisit, also deputy prime minister and commerce minister, said that the party, Thailand’s oldest, welcomes a well-qualified “new blood” to the party, adding that he hopes Dr. Suchatvee will win the election and bring glory to the party.

The party introduced Dr. Suchatvee to members of the public this afternoon.

The party’s executive committee also approved a list of 50 candidates for the councilor elections in the 50 districts of Bangkok, scheduled to be held concurrently with the Bangkok governor’s election.

The candidates include 13 former district councilors and 37 new faces.

The Election Commission has not yet announced when the Bangkok gubernatorial election is to be held, but Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has hinted that the poll may be held in the middle of next year.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Jakarta on a 48-hour visit that includes talks with leaders about U.S.-Indonesia collaboration as well as a speech about the Biden administration’s wider policy aims for the region.

Blinken met Monday with Indonesian President Joko Widodo as the top U.S. diplomat made the first of three stops in southeast Asia this week.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken and Widodo discussed ways to boost the U.S.-Indonesia relationship, as well as “address challenges to democracy and human rights, as well as the climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“The secretary congratulated the president on Indonesia’s G-20 presidency and expressed support for Indonesia’s leadership in the Indo-Pacific as the world’s third-largest democracy and a strong proponent of the rules-based international order,” Price said in a statement, adding that Blinken also “reiterated the U.S. commitment to ASEAN centrality.”

Blinken also plans to go to Malaysia and Thailand in the coming days, seeking to reinforce ties with allies and promote freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

China’s activities in the South China Sea have led to tensions. China vies with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam for sovereignty over parts of the resource-rich sea, which stretches from Hong Kong to Borneo.

Last month, China pledged to avoid dominance in the South China Sea, but experts said the pledge comes too late to convince smaller Southeast Asian claimants to the strategic waterway after years of Chinese expansion.

Blinken is scheduled to give an address Tuesday in Jakarta about the administration’s approach to the Indo-Pacific region.

Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are members of ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Source: Voice of America