Yesterday saw the third forum opened for representatives from the Central and the Eastern regions, while the South will get its latest forum next weekend. Principal agencies including the Cabinet must deliver their recommendations by Monday.

CDC spokesman Chartchai na Chiangmai said the panel had received numerous comments and recommendations from the people-based forums, and it has tried to forge a basis for consideration of the proposals so as not leave any out.

Chartchai said the CDC would divide comments and recommendations into three main groups. The first group would cover comments considered complimentary, and detailed recommendations for the draft. The CDC would consider taking them into account in the organic law enactment process.

The Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) has been flooded with recommendations for the charter draft and is seeking a means to process the proposals.

Wissanu said in order to highlight the significance of reform, the government wanted the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) to make provisions on reform a separate chapter rather than merely provisional clauses as was the case in the first charter draft presented by the Meechai Ruchuphan-led CDC.

Asked if the government agreed with other CDC proposals that have met with public resistance, such as for a non-elected PM, Wissanu said the fact that the government had said nothing did not signify it agreed.

Wissanu said it would not be advisable to reveal right now the government’s solution if the charter draft is rejected since that would bring negative consequences. “It would be like giving the public two choices before they make a decision in the referendum – that if they do not take this, they will get that,” he said.

CDC chairman Meechai yesterday urged critics to read the entire draft and see that it covers all the important issues and aims to tackle the country’s key problems.

He also said the CDC would carefully study suggestions made on its first draft and then make necessary revisions to rectify any flaws or weakness.

The chief charter drafter reiterated that in order to tackle the problem of corruption, the new constitution would ban public-office holders convicted of graft from gaining political power for the rest of their lives.

“The CDC has come up with a mechanism of scrutiny that starts early and continues until elected persons assume office,” he told a seminar on the new charter draft at Parliament.

He also said that some politicians had attempted to distort the content of the draft constitution by, for instance, claiming that government ministers would be restricted in performing their duties.

“This allegation is untrue. The mechanism set in the constitution aims to ensure discipline for government. It does not obstruct government policies as alleged,” Meechai said.

Meanwhile, spokesman for the National Council for Peace and Order, Colonel Winthai Suvari, yesterday urged certain politicians not to use the draft constitution to serve their political motives.

He said it appeared that these politicians were using rhetoric to provoke their supporters in the same way as they did while leading street protests. He urged them to avoid causing confusion for people in society.

“They should better suggest what should be done to improve the draft constitution and where to make revisions. It seems their main goal is to have people vote down the draft,” the spokesman said.

Winthai said the issues of concern raised by those politicians, including red-shirt leader and Pheu Thai Party politician Jatuporn Prompan, had been clearly explained by the CDC on many occasions.

Prawit, who is also a deputy PM, and Platonovich met at the Defence Ministry yesterday, at a forum entitled “Thailand-Russia Joint Working Group on Security Consultation”, to discuss economic and security cooperation at regional and international levels – including cooperation on combating crime, drugs, terrorism, piracy and cyber crime.

The meeting was held ahead of a visit to Russia by Prawit and Deputy PM Somkid Jatusripitak, scheduled for February 23-27. Both ministers are expected to push for concrete achievements in bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Prawit said that at the meeting, Thailand offered to sell agricultural produce, while Russia offered equipment to prevent disaster such as planes used to douse forest fires and mechanical tools.

He said the two countries did not discuss anything on military cooperation, just how to boost security, as a growing number of Russians live in Thailand.

He insisted there was no talk about buying tanks, as rumoured.

Prawit went on to explain that during his visit to Russia, he aims to negotiate an exchange of armaments and discuss the two country’s economic problems.

The defendant denied the charges, saying he had left work on May 23, 2014 at 4.30pm and was heading towards the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre when he received a Facebook message urging him to join the gathering there.

He said that while waiting on the skywalk linking the BTS station with the arts centre, he lifted a placard with a message protesting the coup. About half an hour later five soldiers arrived at the BTS station and escorted him away without explaining what charges might be pressed against him.

Apichart said he was exercising his lawful right to express disapproval of the coup, and had no intention of creating turmoil.

Science Minister Pichet Durongkaveroj told the NLA that the 1961 Atoms for Peace Act had become outdated and was not the best way to ensure safety for the people so should be replaced by the new nuclear draft legislation.

Pichet said the bill would protect the people and environment against dangers from the use of nuclear power in line with international standards.

The new legislation stipulates the formation of a committee, chaired by the prime minister, in charge of supervising the use of nuclear power as well as radiating devices and radioactive materials.

The ministry’s Comptroller-General’s Department played a key role in probing the civil-liability case against Yingluck. A fact-finding panel was set up by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and chaired by Jirachai Moontongroy, deputy permanent secretary to the PM’s Office.

The Jirachai panel’s report indicates that Yingluck was negligent and should be held accountable for significant financial damage even though farmers benefited from the rice-pledging scheme during her tenure.

Jirachai pointed to three major mistakes in the rice-pledging scheme. First, the policy allowed farmers to pledge their rice with no limits on the quantity at a price much higher than being offered by the market. Second, there were fake government-to-government rice deals. Third, the Yingluck government failed to call a halt to the scheme despite repeated warnings from the anti-graft agency.

The report said the previous government spent a total of Bt990 billion on the farmer-subsidy programme until May 2014. After it was found that the state lost a total of Bt510 billion in the scheme, which saw rice purchased from farmers for up to Bt15,000 a tonne, well over the prevailing market price of only Bt9,000 at that time.

The programme was widely popular among farmers, resulting in an expansion of rice-farming areas and output, but the government could only sell a small amount of rice, resulting in heavy losses as well as other costs, including expenses for storage.

Sources said Yingluck in her capacity as prime minister and chairwoman of the National Rice Policy Committee was found to be careless in executing the policy, thus causing damage to the state.

However, the panel said it was unfair to hold her accountable for the entire Bt510 billion in losses since farmers also gained from the huge difference between market and pledging prices.

The report said every government that imposes price-support policies for agricultural products faces losses, so it was necessary to deduct operating costs, interest rates, plus farmers’ benefits.

“In this case, we found that the actual damage caused by negligence is around Bt250 billion,” said a source, adding that the report shows Yingluck did not try adequately to prevent the damage to the state, even though there were written warnings from the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the Office of the Auditor-General, the Finance Ministry and academics while the government was executing the policy.

Meanwhile, Pheu Thai Party’s deputy secretary-general Chavalit Vichayasut said the justice process on the rice-pledging case accusing Yingluck of wrongdoing was not yet complete. So, officials should exercise caution on the latest report concerning civil liability.

The civil-liability case is separate from the criminal case that is still under consideration by the Supreme Court on the criminal offence of political office holders.

Chavalit said there should be neither judgement nor opinion on this case prior to the Supreme Court’s verdict.

Nuttawut Saikuar, a leader of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, which was allied with the Yingluck government, said the rice scheme was implemented in a way that benefited farmers the most in history, so allegations of wrongdoing by the former PM while implementing this policy was doubtful.

He said the Prayut government’s rubber-price scheme was similar and there would be state losses from buying rubber sheets from planters at a price higher than the prevailing market price.

The Premier later told the meeting that people may or may not understand his recent bouts of anger, but he had been trying his best to curb his emotional expressions.

“Soldiers are hot tempered, but once addressed, we are always ready to improve [our responses],” he said.

PM Prayut has lost his temper in public while giving press interviews on a number of occasions, and last Tuesday’s outburst exceeded the level of his previous anger.

“The prime minister asked me to convey to media and [others] that he regretted his outburst on Tuesday,” Sansern said. He was also worried [about public sentiment], but we should understand that he is working under pressure due to high expectations of the people.”

One of the prime minister’s New Year resolutions was to try to be a “good guy” – at least in the eyes of the mass media – by avoiding hot-tempered exchanges with critical reporters.

That resolution appeared to have been broken when the PM – described by reporters as “furious” – was asked about the draft charter and the election road map at Tuesday’s press briefing.

The students also explain to the people about reform content in the charter draft.

Questions raised by the public would be answered during the programme “Decipher the Charter”.

The students have been doing the fieldwork for two months and are following the regulations on a public referendum, he said. “We know what we are doing. They are not going to stand in front of polling booths on the voting date. We just want the people to exercise their voting right as much as possible regardless of whether they want to vote No, or Yes,” he said. Isoc would also seek cooperation from local leaders like kamnans and village heads to explain the significance and impact of the charter draft on the people.