November 2005 : Senate Elections on April 19 The Election Commission has set April 19 as the date of Senate elections and also endorsed Chart Thai candidate as an MP representing Uthai Thani constituency. The cabinet agreed to amend the constitution on three points. The Central Administration Court invalidated the selection of 14 NBC candidates despite the final 7 has already been chosen by the Senate. The Senate panel handed a petition to the House Speaker requesting to file the petition with the Constitutional Court on irregularities in the NCCC selection process while the Constitutional Court rejected the State Audit Commission’s request to rule on the rights to name a successor of the auditor-general. Martial law is being applied to two more districts in Song Khla province. The Supreme Administrative Court temporarily prohibited sale of Egat’s share in the Stock Exchange of Thailand. PM Thaksin suspended 5 mega-projects while the cabinet approved a plan to raise 250 billion baht short-term borrowing to cover spending requirements. A Farmer Rehabilitation and Development Fund will also set up to release small farmer bad debts. The government approved a draft bill to amend the Power Decentralization Act and a tough law on alcohol sales will be effected on Jan 1. The District Court accepted to hear on Klong Dan case and residents of Bangkok will be the fourth province to get smart ID cards. Senate elections on April 19 The Election Commission (EC) has set April 19 as the date for the Senate elections next year. Advance voting is likely to be organized one week before election day. The term of incumbent senators ends on March 21, and the law requires new election to be held within 30 days. Chart Thai win endorsed The Election Commission (EC) has endorsed the victory of a Chart Thai candidate Thirapan Wirayuthwattana as an MP representing Uthai Thani constituency 1. However, the results of the other two Oct 30 by-elections in Singburi and Phichit are not endorsed yet due to the provincial election committees are still investigating complaints in those provinces. Cabinet nod to change charter The cabinet on Nov 22 agreed to a proposal to amend three points in the constitution to allow current Constitution Court judges to elect a new court president, whose presence is required under the charter to select members of independent agencies. The proposed amendments would go to the House. The amendment was proposed by the Constitution Court due to Kramol Thongdhammachat was retired and left the court with only 14 judges and no president. The Constitution Court has only 14 judges because six months after Kramol’s retirement, the Supreme Administrative Court has yet to name its nominee to the Constitution Court and without another judge, the judges are unable to elect a court president. The court president is one of 10 members of the Election Commission selection panel and is involved in selecting members of other independent organizations. Court bars NBC selection The Central Administration Court has invalidated the selection of the 14 candidates for seats on the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), despite the final seven having already been chosen by the Senate. The ruling was a result of the complaint filed by Pramut Sutabut, a failed NBC candidate, who demanded the selection of 14 candidates be nullified on the ground that some selection panelists lacked qualifications and had ties with certain finalists. Earlier, the Senate voted 7 commissioners out of 14 candidates and the commissioners elected Gen.Thongchai Kausakun to become chairman. While the seven were waiting to have their names forwarded to His Majesty the King for endorsement which would have formalized their status as full commissioners the Central Administrative ruled that the selection process “lack of completeness of the selection panel components” , referred to the case of Somporn Thepsitha, the panel chairman, who entered the selection panel as a representative of the National Social Welfare Council when he no longer served in that capacity, that meant he spoiled the legitimacy of those candidates selected. After being heard the court’s verdict, the selection panel met on Nov 28 and a majority of the 10 panelists agreed to appeal against the Central Administrative Court’s verdict invalidating them. The appeal should be lodged within 30 days of the verdict handed down which was on Nov 23. Lastly on Nov 29, the government decided to appeal and asked the Attorney-General’s Office to lodge its appeal within 30 days. The deadline is Dec 23 although it could be extended. Bid to restart NCCC selection process The Senate panel scrutinizing the NCCC nominees’ records, handed a petition to the House Speaker Pokin Polakul detailing the irregularities in the selection process and requesting that he file the petition with the Constitution Court. The NCCC controversy was a result of former commander-in-chief Gen.Prawit Wongsuwan resigning from the selection process which left only 17 candidates. A number of senators said this was unconstitutional as the bill states there must be 18 to choose from. However, the Senate, led by Senate Speaker Suchon Charliekrew, went ahead and elected the nine NCCC commissioners so the panel settled on letting the court decide whether the elected candidates are fit for His Majesty the King’s endorsement. Mr. Pokin, said he would read the petition through first and decide whether it was appropriate; if not, he would not send the petition to the Constitutional Court. New start for new Auditor-General The Constitutional Court on No 4 unanimously voted to reject the State Audit Commission’s (SAC) petition to rule whether it was right to name a successor and whether the SAC could select a new auditor-general even if there was no royal command for Khunying Jaruwan to give up the post on ground that it did not fall under article 266 of the constitutional, meaning there must be a legitimate conflict of power between two organizations. However a court statement read out by secretary-general Paiboon Varahapaitoon after the court decision suggested that SAC can start a new selection process to replace Khunying Jaruwan Maintaka as auditor-general. The SAC would start accepting likely candidates and shortlist five before choosing one to propose to the Senate for endorsement as Khunying Jaruwan’s replacement. Khunying Jaruwan’s term scheduled to end late next year and her function was terminated last year, after she had been doing the job for more than three years, when the Constitutional Court ruled that her selection process was illegitimate. Several cases including procurement probes concerning Bangkok’s new international airport was pending after Khunying Jaruwan was forced to terminate her duty. Parts of Songkla declared martial law Martial law was imposed in two districts of Song Khla province on Nov 3 to facilitate military operations in preventing the flames of unrest spreading from the three nearby southernmost provinces. The two districts are Chana and Thepa while two districts earlier had been under the martial law were Saba Yoi and Na Thawi. There are now totaled 4 districts in Song Khla under martial law. EGAT share sale suspended The Supreme Administration Court on Nov 15 ordered the initial public offering (IPO) of Electric Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) , scheduled to proceed on Nov 16 and 17, to be put on hold on the grounds that if the court rules later to revoke Egat’s privatization, it would impact on many people. The court, however, refuses to consider a petition to seek the annulment of two royal decrees on the authority, rights and benefits of Egat Plc, and on the time–frame for the abolition of Egat as it causes administrative problems for Egat. The petition was filed by 11 members of the Confederation of Consumer Organization (CCO). The court temporarily prohibited any offer of Egat Plc shares for sale or any undertaking to that effect until it decides otherwise. The share listing suspension could be made permanent if the court later rules the two royal decrees underpinning the partial privatization of the utility contravene relevant laws. If not, the listing can go ahead. The decrees in question invoke the authority, rights and benefits of Egat Plc as well as set the time-frame for abolishing the state enterprise Egat. The civic advocates argued the decrees would be the catalyst for the transfer of assets previously belonging to the state enterprise Egat to Egat Plc. The assets, they insisted, were national property and must not fall into private hands. The Energy Ministry, on Nov 17, is establishing a temporary regulator to control electricity fees and thereby facilitate the privatization of Egat Plc. The regulator body, comprise of seven members, would be free of government influence and have no ties to power-related business. The temporary regulator would be function until the permanent one be introduced in parliament next year. Apart from determining the electricity fees, the regulator will have the power to allocate compensation among three electricity authorities and set conditions for the use of fuel in power generation in a way that is fair to consumers. The first job of this temporary body will be to set the Ft ( fuel tariff) charge that will take effect between February and May next year. Then it will set the terms for independent power producers which will contribute to the national power supply from 2011. Egat Plc is planning for expansion of power generation and transmission, the cost of which are estimated to exceed 300 billion baht, in the next seven years. 34 billion baht is initially expecting from the Stock Exchange of Thailand and the rest shall be raised from debentures and warrants later on. Without these funds, the expansion would effect electricity fees in the future. Mega-projects suspended PM Thaksin Shinawatra on the Nov 15 cabinet meeting suspended 5 mega- projects and asked the ministries to reconsidered its development context on ground that those projects lack global knowledge. The 5 mega-projects were 1. Water resources development and management project, cost 240 billion baht 2. Mass transit project, cost 550 billion baht 3. Logistic project, cost 400 billion baht 4 Education project, cost 96 billion baht and 5. Public health project, cost 94 billion baht. However the low-cost housing project got the cabinet approval due to it does not require complicated know-how. Previously, the mobile cabinet meeting in Nakhon Sawan province approved long-term, tied over mega-projects on infrastructure, housing, water resource management, housing and public health making budget rise from 1.7 trillion baht to 1.804 trillion baht. Short-term borrowing approved The cabinet meeting on Nov 29 approved a plan to increase short-term borrowing by 80 billion baht to meet spending requirements due to some expenditures were allocated for tsumani relief and government bond pay back. This fiscal year outlined annual state budget is 1.36 trillion baht and under the current expenditure public spending between December to January is higher than average due to previous year spending has to be completed. The treasury reserve at the beginning of this fiscal year would be around 87 billion baht and 200-300 billion baht revenue from income tax is normally expecting in March. The government planned to borrow 170 billion baht therefore an increase of 80 billion baht totaled 250 billion baht borrowing. Small farmers bad debts The government agreed to take over the debts of 1.4 billion baht of 4,617 farmers taken to court by financial institutions for defaulting on repayment. A Farmer Debt Rehabilitation and Development Fund will be set up and the debts will be transferred to, allowing the farmers a longer repayment periods of up to 20 years with no interest. Farmers eligible for the restructuring are those with debts of 2.5 million baht or less. They must regularly list their expenses and income under the government’s book-keeping campaign and have completed a government education program on avoiding vice. They must also have undergone job training to earn how to earn a living from self-sufficient farming. Power decentralization act to be amended The cabinet meeting on Nov 15 approved a draft law to amend the Power Decentralization Act by requiring the transfer of public schools to local bodies on a voluntary instead of a compulsory basis. The proposed amendment are on Article 30 (1) and (2) of the act by requiring the transfer of public schools to be based on the willingness and readiness of local bodies, school teachers, executives and boards instead of being compulsory and change time frame of local government bodies evaluation from 180 days to 120 days before schools open. The amendment was due to earlier fierce opposition from teachers nationwide. Tough new law on alcohol sales The new law, which ban sales of alcohol in shops at petrol stations or near schools and temples, will take effect on Jan 1, 2006. Sales time of alcoholic drinks in any places will be reduced to only 10 hours a day, between 11am and 2pm and 5pm and midnight in effort to control alcohol consumption, a major cause of violence and accidents nationwide. Shops will not be allowed to sell alcohol to teenagers under 18 years old, too. Court accepts Klong Dan fraud lawsuit The Dusit District Court agreed to hear a corruption case, filed by the Pollution Control Department ( PCD), against 18 defendants over the Klong Dan wastewater treatment project in Samut Prakan. Those 18 people included leading businessmen and former politicians. The 23-billion-baht project launched a protest by local residents about 10 years ago, saying the plant would cause grave damage to coastal ecology and their livelihood. They also produced evidence of irregularities in dealings between state officials and companies and called on the government to look into the allegations. After years of investigation by several inquiry panels, in January last year then natural resources and environment ministry Prapat Panyachartrak decided to sue 19 parties for alleged corruption in land acquisition and breach of contracts with the PCD causing damage to the state of about 20 billion baht. The PCD alleged the 19 defendants and the court decided there are grounds and accepted the case for consideration though the court decided the PCD could not file a case against the NVPSKG consortium as it was not a juristic person, so the number of defendants was reduced to 18. The first hearing will be held on Jan 26 next year. BMA to launch smart ID cards Bangkok residents living in Dusit, Bang Khen and Banh Plat districts will be the first to receive “smart” citizen ID cards in Nov. The first 50,000cards will be available for distribution in the first phase and expected to be in full circulation citywide by Jan 10 next year. Residents who will receive smart cards in the first phase are those whose convention ID cards expire, 15-year-olds applying for their first ID cards, and people requesting to have their names changed. Bangkok is the fourth province to receive smart ID cards, after the southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat.