He said the government’s long-term national strategy was necessary for the country.

That was the reason he accepted his appointment as an adviser to the government’s super-committee on reform, national strategy and reconciliation building, whose Thai abbreviation is Por Yor Por, he added.

Supachai also called for cooperation from all sectors to ensure success. “As the prime minister said, we need to merge the national strategy with the national development plan,” he told reporters at Government House after meeting with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

When asked if he was confident the government’s approach would succeed, Supachai replied: “Yes, I am. This effort must be done. We can’t go without it.”

Supachai served as director-general of the WTO between 2002 and 2005, and later as secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development from 2005 to 2013. In the 1990s, he served as deputy prime minister in charge of trade and economics and also commerce minister in Democrat-led governments.

A total of 39 experts met with the PM for the first time yesterday as advisers to the Por Yor Por.

At the meeting, many advisers suggested that the focus should be on education and improvement of the human resource, according to Ekkachai Srivilas, one of the advisers.

The advisers also suggested to the PM that opinions should be collected from the public and that public participation should be encouraged, Ekkachai said.

He said that two new laws would be issued – on the national strategy and reform – to facilitate the super-committee’s work.

Regarding reconciliation, Tongthong Chandrangsu, another adviser, said they suggested that proposals from past panels on how to achieve reconciliation should be taken into consideration.

Some subcommittees under the super-committee will be dissolved to avoid redundancy, its secretary Suvit Maesincee said yesterday.

Suvit was responding to concerns that a large number of subcommittees would cause confusion. After the super-committee was settled, the irrelevant bodies will be dissolved to avoid complication, he said.

The PM wants to gather opinions from the experts appointed to the super-committee regarding plans to drive the national strategy, reform and reconciliation building, according to Suvit.

Suvit said the PM wanted to gather opinions from the experts on the future of the country and the drive for a national strategy, reform and reconciliation.

Suvit said the PM discussed the aims of the super-committee.

Three tasks will be worked on this year and handed over to the new |government next year, he added.

In the next two weeks, he said, |the secretaries of the four subcommittees would convene to report their progress.

The super-committee will meet on April 20, he added.

Prayut, creator of the new reform and reconciliation scheme, thanked the 39 experts for their sacrifice to help drive the country forward and said he hoped the country would be strong, prosperous and sustainable in line with his vision.

This year was the year of reform, he said, although the process started in 2014 when he came to power.

Akarakit – the husband of actress Napapa “Patt” Tantrakul, who recently gave birth to their baby boy – has been charged with conspiracy and money laundering.

He is accused of buying a Lamborghini Gallardo SuperLeggera sports car with drug money from a network led by alleged Laotian drug kingpin Xaysana Keopimpa.

Akarakit reportedly refrained from testifying any further to police yesterday, saying he would only testify in court.

His lawyer Sitthichok Trinet said his client had testified to police and covered all 60 relevant points in two previous meetings.

Sitthichok also said a police bid for a warrant to arrest his client on Friday was dismissed because Akarakit had a valid residence and had been cooperative in the case.

NSB commissioner Pol Maj-General Sommai Kongwisaisuk said police would probe transactions linked to Akarakit, starting with family members and close friends, and would seize money and assets linked to him to probe their origin. Those facing such a probe would not be considered suspects at this stage, he said.

Investigators later brought Akarakit to court to apply for an initial 12-day detention period pending a further probe. They opposed bail.

Akarakit’s lawyer posted Bt500,000 cash as a deposit for the bail application. At 3pm, the criminal court granted him bail on the condition he not leave the country unless given permission from a court to do so.

A money laundering offence is punishable by up to 10 years in jail or a fine of up to Bt200,000 or both.

The case stems from the “Chaiya Sayop Pairee 60/2” operation to search 40 locations nationwide including Akarakit’s Area 51 big bike accessories shop in Inthamara, in a bid to destroy the network led by alleged drug kingpin Xaysana. It follows Xaysana’s arrest at Suvarnabhumi Airport on January 19.

Akarakit – who was accused of money laundering for the network – met police to explain the origin of his assets including the Bt20 million Lamborghini. He had claimed he borrowed Bt6 million from Natthapol Nakkham, an arrested suspect in Xaysana’s alleged network, for the down-payment on the car.

HEADS of professional media organisations will be prohibited from sitting on a controversial council to be set up under a new law aimed at regulating the mass media.

The media reform committee will instead place the media-group heads in a working committee, which will be responsible for nominating members of the council.

WORKING COMMITTEE 

The 11 members of the ad hoc working committee charged with setting up the Media Professional Council will be:

• Prime Minister’s Office permanent secretary (acting as chairman)
• Ministry of Culture permanent secretary
• National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission secretary general
• National Press Council president
• News Broadcasting Council president
• Professionals of Broadcasting Council president
• Online News Providers Association president
• Thai Media Fund manager
• Foundation for Consumers president
• Thailand Development Research Institute president
• Regional Press Council of Thailand president

A revised clause in the bill stipulates that those on the working committee prior to establishment of the professional council shall not sit in the council. This was aimed at avoiding any conflict of interest, said ACM Kanit Suwannet, chairman of the media reform committee, which is part of the National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA).

Kanit suggested that anyone who aspired to sit on the professional council should resign from their current post before the new law comes into effect, to avoid disqualification.

According to the latest revision of the draft legislation, the ad hoc working committee is required to set up a permanent media professional council within two years. It will be responsible for registration of media companies in the first two years after the law becomes effective and until the Media Professional Council is set up.

If the bill becomes law, journalists and media businesses will be required to have licences. Failure to obtain a licence could result being jailed for up to three years or a fine of up to Bt60,000. Any media business hiring a journalist without licence would risk these penalties.

Besides the media bosses, the 11-member working committee would also include state representatives such as the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Culture and the secretary-general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission. It would be chaired by the permanent secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office.

A representative from the PM’s Office would sit as the working committee’s secretary. He or she would not be entitled to vote, however.

In principle, the ad hoc committee would neither be authorised to deal with complaints regarding the work of the media nor issue and revoke media licences. This function would be reserved solely for the professional council.

Regardless, it remains a matter of concern that registration of a media company, under authorisation of the working committee, might also be a form of media regulation. Without proper registration, a media business would lose its entitlement to operate.

Since taking shape earlier this year, the draft bill has provoked considerable controversy.

Professional media organisations across the country opposed the draft ball, as well as its provisions to include state representatives in the professional council and license the media.

They said the bill seemed designed more to control the media than protect it.

Despite strong opposition from media professionals that led to the bill’s revision, the media reform committee remained firm in its imposition of the licensing system and inclusion of state representatives.

Professional press organisations have issued regular statements opposing the committee’s move, stressing that they would continue their fight and discuss their concerns with the National Legislative Assembly once the draft bill goes to the chamber.

But after learning that Yuwadee had slipped into a coma in hospital, the premier wished the veteran journo a quick recovery.

“The PM is a man of the military, where seniority matters,” said Government Spokesperson Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd Monday. “Yuwadee’s husband [General Sirichai Tunyasiri] was his senior and he has always regarded her as a sister-in-law.”

Sansern spoke in response to Prayut having not visited Yuwadee in hospital.

Yuwadee spent around four decades on the Government House beat before being banned from there last year due to the retiree’s lack of media accreditation.

She was known for her straightforward questioning of the PM, who apologised to her after warning her to “watch yourself” on last year’s World Freedom Day.

The 71-year-old journalist was admitted to hospital on Friday due to severe gastrointestinal bleeding.

Politicians from the Pheu Thai and Democrat parties, as well as generations of journalists, have visited her in hospital.

PM’s Secretary General Vilas Arunsri had his representatives pass on a well-wishing bouquet to Yuwadee. The bouquet’s card had only Vilas’ name on it, but Sansern insisted that Vilas represented Prayut in the gesture.

Asked about his own attitude to Yuwadee as the government’s spokesman, Sansern said: “I think like the premier. I count her as my sister-in-law. I didn’t talk to her much but I salute her every time I saw her.”

The top position was left vacant in June 2015 following the removal of then secretary-general Winai Sawasdivorn from the post after the all-powerful Article 44 of the interim charter was invoked.

The board members’ secret vote was held after Sakchai and two other candidates – Ratchaburi Hospital director Dr Songpol Chawaltanpipat and NHSO deputy secretary-general Wittaya Tansuwannont – outlined their visions to the 29 attending board members.

Sakchai garnered 16 votes, edging out Songpol with 13, while Wittaya received zero votes, a source at the board meeting said.