October 2006 : Surayud 1 Cabinet members HM the King endorsed the 26 cabinet members of Gen.Surayud administration and also 242 members of the National Legislative Assembly. No alcohol will be sold to people under 20 years old and increase tax from 2 to 4 percent while the alcohol advertising is totally banned. Revive of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre and the Civilian Police-Military Task Force 43 to solve the problems in the three southern provinces. Ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra resigned from being Thai Rak Thai party leader but still maintain a party’s member in spite of many members resigned from the party. The panel of corruption investigation found grounds to investigate into 8 major projects while the Supreme Administrative Court to review an administrative case on Shin Corp concession. PM Surayud Chulanont asked 43 political parties leaders on their views regarding the drafting of the new constitution. Interim charter The interim constitution took effect on October 1 after the King endorsement has 39 articles stipulates the immediate formation of the National Council of National Security in place of the Council for Democratic Reform (CDR). Under the charter, a 250-member National Legislative Assembly will be set up to function concurrently as House and Senate. It can submit inquiries to the 35-member cabinet over its performances but cannot file confidence or no-confidence votes. The prime minister and the 35 ministries cannot be members of the Assembly, or members of the Constitution-drafting Council or any committees under it. For the charter drafting process, a Constitution-drafting Council could be formed, comprising 100 members who must be party members and not have held political positions for the past two years. They must also not be members of the National Legislative Assembly. To form the Constitution-drafting Assembly, 200 people will be short-listed from a 2,000-member National Council, selecting qualified people from all walks of life. The names would be further narrowed to 100 by the National Council of National Security. Those selected would serve as members of the Constitution-drafting Assembly. They are required to form a committee of 25 outsiders and another committee of 10 legal experts to lay out the blueprint of the new Constitution under the advice of the chairman of the National Council of National Security, General Sonthi Boonyaratklin. The 25-members charter team needs to make a list detailing the differences between the new and the now defunct 1997 Constitution. The panel will present its chosen version to the public, and will pass it to the Constitution-drafting Assembly for endorsement without amendment except where one-tenth of the assembly submit a request for amendment before its final endorsement. The assembly will then scrutinize the version 180 days after it convenes. When the scrutiny is done, a referendum will be held to vote for the entire draft in one day. If the referendum passes, the chairman of the National Legislative Assembly will present it to the King for endorsement. In case the charter is not complete before the 180-day period, either because the assembly disapproves of it, or if the referendum is rejected, the assembly will become defunct. The National Council of National Security and the Cabinet will then review the draft to choose one of the previous constitutions and improve on the selected charter within 30 days. The selected charter will then be presented to the King for his endorsement before taking effect. Members of the Constitution-drafting Assembly will be allowed to run in following elections either for House or Senate seats after two years. The National Council of National Security will comprise members stated in the 24th order given on September 29 by the CDR, or extra members not more than 15 in total. The chairman, his deputies, members and secretary-general of the CDR will automatically hold respective positions in the National Council of National Security. The chairman of the National Council of National Security, or the 24th prime minister, ay seek joint meetings between the National Council of National Security and the Cabinet to discuss issues regarding national security and major affairs. The Constitution Judiciary Council will be formed to make decisions over legal conflicts arising from whether any subordinate laws are in conflict with the interim constitution. The Council is headed by the Supreme Court president who is deputized by the Supreme Administrative Court president. The other members are five judges serving in the Supreme Court selected by a general quorum, and another two judges serving in the Supreme Administrative court selected by a general quorum. Cabinet Members His Majesty the King on October 9 granted an audience of the newly appointed cabinet members of Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont and expressed confidence that they could overcome the current kingdom’s trouble. He also encouraged the new 26 ministers to strive for the improvement of the country though the task is very difficult and under time constraint, but job performance can be accomplished given their capability and experiences. The King urged Cabinet members to work with honesty and a strong determination in steering the country out of its crisis. The 26 new ministers are as follows: 1. MR Pridiyathorn Devakula, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister. 2. Kosit Panpiemras, Deputy Prime Minister and Industry Minister. 3. Khunying Dhipavadee Meksawan, PM’s Office Minister. 4. Thirapat Serirangsan, PM’s Office Minister. 5. Gen. Boonrawd Somtas, Defence Minister. 6. Nitya Pibulsonggram, Foreign Minister. 7. Sawanit Kongsiri, Deputy Foreign Minister. 8. Suvit Yodmani, Tourism and Sports Minister. 9. Paiboon Wattanasiritham, Social Development and Human Security Minister. 10. Thira Sutabutra, Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister. 11. Rungruang Isarangkula Na Ayudhaya, Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister. 12. Admiral Theera Haocharoen, Transport Minister. 13. Sansern Wongcha-um, Deputy Transport Minister. 14. Kasem Sanidwong Na Ayudhaya, Natural Resources and Environment Minister. 15. Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom, Information and Communication Technology Minister. 16. Krirkkrai Jirapaet, Commerce Minister. 17. Piyasvasti Amranand, Energy Minister. 18. Aree Wongsearaya, Interior Minister. 19. Banyat Jansena, Deputy Interior Minister. 20. Charnchai Likhitjittha, Justice Minister. 21. Apai Chandanachulaka, Labour Minister. 22. Khunying Khaisri Sri-aroon, Culture Minister. 23. Yongyuth Yuthavong, Science and Technology Minister. 24. Wijit Srisa-an, Education Minister. 25. Mongkol Na Songkhla, Public Health Minister. 26. Piyabutr Cholvijarn, Deputy Industry Minister. National Assembly HM the King gave royal appointment for the 242 National Legislative Assembly (NLA) on October 12 which will act as the House of Representatives which categorized in 4 major groups; 1. Government Sector: Representatives from C-11 level civil servants or equivalent [17] , Representatives of judicial officials and public prosecutors [12], Military Officers [35], Police officers [7], Executives and employees of state enterprises [8], 2. Private Sector: Representatives from banks and financial institutes [6], Representatives from trade, industry, service, transportation, construction and real estate business [19], Representatives of legal consultants and lawyers [7], 3. Social Sector : Representatives from political parties [4], Representatives of academics from philosophy, language, religion, art and culture field [11], Representatives of media, writers, artists [20], Retired government officers specializing in various fields [43] , Representatives from local development, morality promotion and labour organizations as well as non-governmental organizations [13] 4. Academic Sector: University presidents/ rectors, university lecturers and students [29]. On October 24 the met for the first time and elected Mr.Meechai Ruchuphan to become the speaker. Later Gen. Charan Kullavanijaya former secretariat of the National Security Council and Ms. Potjanee Thanavaranit former director of the Insurance Department were elected as the first and second deputy speakers respectively. Draft alcohol act The cabinet on October 17 decided to ask involved ministries; the Education, Commerce, Industry, Social Development and Human Security, to set up a working group with officials from various ministries to consider draft Alcohol Act submitted by the ministry of public health. The five ministries agreed to change the minimum age at which people are allowed to purchase alcohol from 25, as first proposed by the bill, to 20 years on ground that it conforms to other acts and also raised alcohol tax from 2 to 4 per cent. It is expected that the gain will be approximately 2 billion baht per annual and this money will be subsidise to local sports, which stand to lose significant sponsorship from the ban on alcohol advertising. Meanwhile the Food and Drug Administration on the same day declared alcohol drinks a controlled-label product and completely ban advertisements in all media except printed matter that is published overseas or live-TV programs being broadcasted from overseas, for which Thailand is not the main target audience. The regulation will be effective after 45 days. SBPCA revived Council for National Security (CNS) on October 17 agreed to revive the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC) and the Civilian Police-Military Task Force (CPM) 43 to solve the problems in the three southern provinces; Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. However the agencies will have an additional function to oversee justice in the region. The current multi agency Southern Border Provinces Peace Building Command would be dissolved and its troops would come under CPM 43. SBPCA and CPM 43 were dissolved in mid-201 by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, arguing the situation in the Muslim-majority South had returned to normal. Thaksin quits as party chief Ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on October 3 sent his resignation as leader of Thai Rak Thai party in a hand-written letter from London. Regards to the political parties law the leader’s resignation instantly invalidated the positions of all 107 party executives. However, Mr. Thaksin is still a party’s member. Since October 1 several TRT members, including deputy leaders Somsakdi Thepsutin, Sora-at Klinpratum, Surakiat Sathienthai and Sondhaya Kunpleum, Suranand Vejjajiva, Payap Panket and Suchart Tanchareon, started to submit their resignation from the party and Chaturon Chaisaeng second deputy leader became acting leader of the party. Investigation on policy corruption and fraud The Council for Democratic Reform (CDR), later changed to National Council of National Security, issued its announcements appointed a new 12-members committee to replace the Asset Examination Committee previously established and also gave more authority to the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC). In announcement 31 the CDR empowered the NCCC to freeze assets of any politician who failed to report their financial information by the dead line set by law and those who intentionally reported false information about their assets and liabilities. In announcement 27 the Political Party Act was amended to provide for punishment of executives of any political party dissolved for violating the law. With the order, political party executives will be stripped of their electoral rights for five years if a court orders their party to be dissolved. This will effectively keep the party’s leaders out of politics for at least two four-year terms of the House of Representatives. Originally, the law banned executives of a dissolved political party from froming a new party, but they were free to contest a new election. The Thai Rak Thai and Democrat parties, as well as some other minor political parties, are facing cases in the Constitution Court stemming alleged wrongdoing from the April 2 general election and face dissolution if found guilty. The panel’s first meeting selected Nam Yimyaem as chairman, Kaewsan Atibhoti as secretary-general and Sak Kowsangreoung, its spokeman disclosed that the panel investigation will focus on policy corruption and all kinds of conventional forms of fraud such as bid collusion, rigging of project specifications and bribery. The first 8 major projects to be investigated are 1. Purchase of CTX-Bomb detectors 2. Suvarnabhumi Airport-Makkasan mass transit project 3. Electricity for Suvarnabhumi Airport 4. Export food quality testing equipment 5. BMA fire-fighting equipment purchases 6. Export-Import Bank loans to Burma 7. Purchase of young rubber plants, and 8. Tax liability of Shin Corp sale. The NCCC disclosed that there are more than 11,000 cases queued up in their files but the four priority cases are 1. The Klong Dan waste-water treatment plant 2. The dried longan price intervention scheme 3. The Bang Na-Bang Pli-Bang Prakong expressway and 4. The sale of government rice. All fours have been long investigated and are believed to have enough evidences to support the graft allegations. Administrative Court to rule on Shin Corp sale The Supreme Administrative Court released an appeal decision of the lower court on October 5 to review an administrative case that could see Shin Corp lose its licenses for communication satellites, mobile phones services and television broadcasting. The petition was filed by Sastra Toaon, a law lecturer, against three concerned agencies- the Information and Telecommunications Technology Ministry, state-run TOT Plc and Prime Minister’s Office, to revoke concession agreement signed with Shin Corp. He said the sale violated the foreign ownership law after Temarsek increased its equity stakes in Shin Corp 49 per cent to 96 per cent. The new ownership structure had allowed an alien business to gain control over the operations of Shin Satellite Plc, Advance Info Service (AIS) and iTV Plc, all of which are subsidiaries of Shin Corp. Under administrative judicial procedures, the three agencies will have to present their respective defense arguments in 30 days outlining why they continue to enforce the concession agreement despite the ownership changes. Under Articles 39 and 40 of the 197 Constitution, only Thais can own media and telecommunication businesses, considered as state assets. New constitution drafting Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont had a meeting with 43 political parties endorsed by the Election Commission on October 25 to hear their views regarding the drafting of the new constitution. The PM urged political parties to supply suggestions on how a new constitution should look. He also reiterated that the martial law would be lifted as soon as the situation stabilized and the cabinet has agreed to ease the regulations about banning gathering as soon as possible, expected by the beginning of November. After the meeting Abhisit Vejjajiva Democrat leader said he proposed the new constitution should clearly limit the political power in order to avoid political intervention or abuse of power in both bureaucracy and military. There should be guidance in political financing; donation to the party, which is the major cause of corruption. He cited the Japanese law which limits political party donation. Meanwhile Thai Rak Thai action leader Chaturon Chaisaeng said he proposed 2 major issues; 1. How to achieve a democratic constitution through good procedure. Thai Rak Thai will not send any representative to sit in the Constitutional Drafting Agency but express party’s opinion through independently public forum. 2. The 1997 Constitution should be used as guideline for the new drafting considering the overall context not individual chapters. Thai Rak Thai will not submit a political party version but will summarize the 1997 Constitution on which articles should be inveterate and which article should be amended.