Thread: Thailand and the new coalition government

Srettha certainly not out of wood yet

Although he can continue to function as prime minister, Srettha Thavisin still has to be afraid. Very afraid.

He is fighting the biggest battle of his life on two fronts _ legally and politically.

Legally, it’s super scary, but the Constitutional Court gave him 15 days to answer charges so this front can be finished early.

Politically, trouble may last longer, but it’s frightening all the same, and he will have to keep looking over his shoulder because he cannot trust anybody.

It’s extreme worrisome legally because most analysts have pointed out that the ministerial appointment of Phichit Chuenban is not the kind of “political conspiracy” case that can be interpreted either way.

This one has established court records and unambiguous constitutional wordings that Srettha has to fight against.

In addition, the prime minister’s attempts to seek top legal opinions before and after the appointment can go against him.

Some may think Srettha was just wanting to be 100% sure, but others will argue that it shows he clearly knew there were going to be problems yet he went for it.

This is by no means similar to Prayut Chan-o-cha’s “eight-year reign” controversy, which involved slipperier constitutional language and ideological conflicts.

Srettha’s defenders have to deal with undisputed court records and clear-cut constitutional restrictions on ethical and legal qualities of ministerial nominees.

The Constitutional Court’s ruling allowing him to continue serving as prime minister during what must be a horrifying waiting period does not guarantee the Prayut-style escape.

Srettha has to consider this uncomfortable fact: Although Phichit has resigned, the charter court went ahead and accepted the case against the prime minister anyway.

“It doesn’t matter if there is anyone behind the petition,” said former PM’s Office minister Suranand Vejjajiva, who is known to be close to Pheu Thai, during a TV programme after the court ruling.

“It’s obvious that the prime minister was the real target, not Khun Phichit.”

One thing that should be taken into an analysis on Srettha’s future is how close the vote in favour of his continuity as prime minister was. The 5-4 divide should not give him a good night’s sleep when he learned about it.

The judges were not as split when it came to whether the court should accept the Pichit appointment case.

The 6-3 vote means the court’s majority thinks the petition against Srettha and Phichit deserves a further scrutiny. Again, it’s bad news for the prime minister.

Thaksin denies role in appointment of Phichit as PM’s Office minister

Paroled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has categorically refuted any suggestion that the appointment of Phichit Chuenban, his family’s lawyer, as PM’s Office Minister, was a setup to undermine Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin.

He claims to be just an old man who has no political position or power whatsoever, adding that his role is to give advice to those younger than him and to help the country as best he can.

He maintains that he wants Srettha to remain in office as long as possible, as some problems take a long time resolve.

The former prime minister said that the move by 40 senators to seek a Constitutional Court order to remove the prime minister, over his appointment of Phichit, may cause some problems, but will not result in the prime minister being removed.

He also denied a suggestion that he might retaliate against the 40 senators.

Regarding his recent talks with representatives of Myanmar’s anti-junta ethnic minority groups in Chiang Mai and his secret meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Phuket to discuss southern unrest, Thaksin said that these engagements were done in good faith to help, without ulterior motive or vested interest.

Myanmar, he said, is Thailand’s neighbour and an ASEAN member country, and the war in Myanmar will weaken ASEAN and cause suffering to people in Myanmar, forcing many to seek shelter on Thai soil.

Accompanied by his daughter Paetongtarn, also leader of Pheu Thai party, and his son, Panthongtae, Thaksin visited Nakhon Ratchasima today, to pay respects to his late driver, Wichai Changlek.

Upon his arrival at the airport, he was greeted by well-wishers, including Red Shirt followers in the province.

Thaksin said that he has not seen the city yet, but thinks it must have changed a lot, but he said the countryside remains unchanged, as most people are poor due to the sluggish economy.

Regarding the lèse majesté case against him, in which public prosecutors are expected to announce their next move on Wednesday, Thaksin said that, if necessary, he will go to the Attorney-General’s Office himself to hear the prosecutor’s decision.

He was indicted for lèse majesté by the former attorney-general back in 2016, while he was in self-imposed exile. On January 19th, police informed him of the lèse majesté charges, which he denied and then petitioned for justice with the Attorney-General’s Office.

Wissanu returns as advisor

Wissanu Krea-ngam, a deputy prime minister in the Prayut government, has agreed to serve as an advisor attached to the Secretariat of the Cabinet, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said today.

An order appointing Wissanu is being drafted and checked, Srettha told reporters. “I already met and invited Khun Wissanu to take the position. He is ready to do the job,” he added.

Wissanu, a veteran law expert, has served in many governments, including that of Thaksin Shinawatra. He stepped down as deputy prime minister in the Prayut Chan-o-cha administration last year, before the Srettha government took office. At that time, he had pledged to leave politics, citing his ill health, including diabetes and kidney disease, as well as his old age.

Srettha revealed Monday that he had consulted Wissanu regarding the Constitutional Court case, in which 40 senators are seeking to strip him of his ministerial status over his appointment of Phichit Chuenban as PM Office Minister.

The senators charge that the appointment breached the Constitution because Phichit was sentenced to six months in prison, without suspension, on a bribery conviction in the “snack box” scandal over a decade ago.

Phichit was known for having been the Shinawatra family’s lawyer and his appointment to the ministerial position was believed to been at the request of the family. Phichit, however, resigned shortly before the Constitutional Court agreed to consider the petition on May 23, therefore, only Srettha’s future is on the line.

Srettha today dismissed as groundless the claim that recruiting Wissanu to the team meant his government was lacking legal expertise, saying to wait and see the details of the appointment order.

Wissanu meawhile said today that his position as an advisor at the Office of the Secretariat of the Cabinet is not a political one and he is not required to declare his assets.

He admitted that Srettha had visited him at his residence on Saturday and they had discussed several issues, including the 40 senators’ move against the prime minister.

A top legal expert, Wissanu said that he is not the chief legal advisor in rebutting the senators’ case in the Constitutional Court, but the responsibility rests with former prime minister’s office Phichit Chuenban.

He also reiterated that he would not accept any political post in the government because of his poor health.

Wissanu denies his appointment has anything to do with Srettha’s case

Court rejects petition against Thaksin’s alleged domination of Pheu Thai

The Constitutional Court unanimously rejected a petition today, accusing the Pheu Thai party of allowing paroled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to dominate it and using the digital wallet scheme in its election campaign, in violation of §49 of the Constitution.

In the same petition, Decha Chairat also accused Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin of concealing information from the public about the qualifications of Phichit Chuenban, when he appointment him a minister, despite the fact that he was unqualified.

In rejecting the petition, the court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prove that the Pheu Thai party had exercised its rights or liberties to topple the constitutional monarchy, as stipulated in §49 of the charter.

The court also turned down another petition, filed by Thoranut Munsri, accusing the Election Commission of not performing its duties properly, by allowing the Move Forward party to use its policy to amend the lèse majesté law in its election campaign.

The court ruled that, since the petitioner did not clearly specify what action he expected the court to take, it decided to drop the petition.

Thaksin’s lese majeste case ‘may affect amnesty move in political cases’

Move Forward Party leader Chaithawat Tulathon on Thursday conceded that a lese majeste case against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra could affect the ongoing efforts to seek a general amnesty for political detainees and other lese majeste suspects.

Chaithawat was speaking to reporters after attending a meeting of a special House committee studying how to draft a bill to grant political amnesty.

Chaithawat said the meeting on Thursday did not focus on lese majeste cases or cases of violations of Article 112 of the Criminal Code.

He said the meeting instead discussed the mechanism to push for political amnesty.

“We must admit the fact that Thaksin would face an indictment for violation of Article 112 and that would affect the deliberation for amnesty for other Article 112 cases,” Chaithawat said.

The attempt by the Yingluck Shinawatra government to push for general amnesty in political cases, including for Thaksin, led to months-long street protests led by former Democrat secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban. The protests led to violence and confrontations between the two sides, and paved the way for the 2014 coup by then Army chief General Prayut Chan-o-cha.

“We didn’t discuss Thaksin’s case during the meeting but I think it would create more obstacles,” Chaithawat said.

The attorney-general has ordered Thaksin to be charged with violating Article 112 and the computer crimes act for his alleged remarks in an interview to a South Korea media back in 2015. Thaksin had allegedly claimed that the country’s privy councillors had supported the 2014 coup staged by General Prayut Chan-o-cha to oust the government of his sister Yingluck Shinawatra.

The attorney-general ordered Thaksin to report to public prosecutors on June 18 to be charged in court.

Chaithawat said he hoped Thaksin would be treated with the same standard as other Article 112 suspects.

But he was quick to add that he did not want to see Thaksin prosecuted using Article 112 and hoped that both Thaksin and other Article 112 suspects receive a fair trial and get the right to be released on bail during trial.

On the study by the ad hoc House panel to push for political amnesty, Chaithawat said the method for drafting the bill would go into the details, which would include the timeframe, the process, the method and criteria for those eligible for amnesty.

He said the details would be concluded on Friday after which the ad hoc House panel would meet every week until a final report was finalized and submitted to the House.

He said the report would be done in time for the next parliamentary session in July.