June 2002 : Cabinet Approved Justice Reform Bill The Cabinet approved minister of justice bill on establishment of a special investigation agency. The fiscal 2003 budget passed first scrutiny and the House of Reps also approved 3 royal decrees on economic problem-solving. Nakorn Sri Thammarat Senate died from car accident and BMA city council election was formally announced. Justice reform The Cabinet approved the minister of justice bill to set up the Special Investigation Department (SID) similar to the US FBI-style criminal-busting agency and ask the State Councilor Agency to overlook before submission to the parliament. The new legislation will empower civil servants employed by SID to carry out probes and detain suspects. They will be able to carry weapons like policemen but has no title or uniform. Though their functions are to investigate into cases like police but it is understood that they will handle only special and complicate ones. The bill is a part of justice reform which is part of bureaucratic reform. Additional 27 annexed bills on functions and authorities of SID are waiting for approval before the agency could be established. If all bills pass before October which is the start of bureaucratic reform strategy a new agency would be able to undertake first case within 180 days after the enactment. However, Pol. Maj. Gen. Sant Sarutanond, police chief, expressed his concern on the functions of this special investigation agency on ground of its authority and might cause confuse with the policeman. The police Bureau will organize a hearing on this matter and submit the conclusion to the cabinet and council of state. Budget debate The House of Representatives special committee first meeting on June 26 passed the fiscal 2003 budget bill submitted by the cabinet. The bill proposed 999,900 million baht expenditure which is 23,100 million baht or 2.3 percent reduction from the previous fiscal year. The budget plan is 174,900 million baht deficit which is equivalent to 3.1 percent of the national GDP. However the deficit is lower than the 2002 budget. The opposition party noted on 1.] the economic restructure budget 16,600 MB 2.] the local authorities subsidiary fund 24,000 MB and 3.] bureaucratic reform budget 1,500 MB on ground of lack of details on spending and planning to prove its transparency. After the first deliberation, a special 63-members committee will be set up to scrutinize the budget. This committee comprises of 15 cabinet-members, 28, 12, 4, 3 and 1 MPs from Thai Rak Thai, Democrat, Chart Thai, Chart Pattana and the other parties respectively. 3 Royal Decrees approved The House of Representatives special meeting on June 28 approved 3 royal decrees submitted by the cabinet on policy of compensation to the financial institutes development and recovery fund. Each decree has significant principles: 1.Draft bill on finance ministry loan for financial institutions development and recovery fund (second phase) to issue bond and transfer of money from the central bank account for repayment of .78 billion baht debt. A sum of .112 billion baht will be allocated for principal while interest will be paid from annual fiscal budget. The House members voted 328 to 0 to pass the bill and 109 abstained. 2.Draft bill on transfer off some assets in the central bank special reserve account equivalent of .165 billion baht to write-off accumulated deficit and reinforce financial policy. The House members voted 331 to 1 and 111 abstained. 3.Draft bill to amend the Monetary Act B.E. 2501 (2nd edition) B.E. 2545 to allow the central bank transfer asset form special reserved account to be reserved capita to support bonds. The House members voted 337 to 9 and 105 abstained. Senator killed in road crash A senator from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Thawee Kaewkong, died of road accident on June 23 and the Election Commission declared August 4 for re-election day in the province. Advance poll will e held on July 27-28. The application date is between 8-12 July due to the constitution stated that by-election should be conducted within 4 days. City council elections Bangkok Metropolitan Authority announced city council poll results of 61 seats and district council poll of 259 seats on June 16. For city council election, 28 are Democrat, 25 Thai Rak Thai, 2 Chart Thai, 2 Prachakorn Thai, 1 Chart Pattana, 2 Mod Ngan and 1 non-political parties. 14 of 61 newly elected city council members are newcomers to the council. 1,391,504 people or 35.51% of 3,918,639 eligible voters came to the poll. The results of 36 district council election are; 152 Democrat, 88 Thai Rak Thai, 11 Prachakorn Thai,and 8 Mod Ngan came from 974,112 people or 36.44% of the 2,673,689 eligible voters who cast their ballots. After the election, the first council meeting was held on June 24 to elect chairman and deputies. Mr. Samart Maluleen, a Democrat councilor for Wattana district was appointed chairman of the city council and first and second deputy are Somchai Immongkolsakul for Mod Ngan and Chanin Rungsang for Prachakorn Thai respectively.