Academics pointed out that the death penalty was obsolete in most countries and that corruption should be treated as a root cause rather than a symptom. The proposal concerning the exercising of state power was tabled in the NRSA yesterday by the body’s political reform committee and was accepted by most members.

Wanchai Sornsiri, chairman of the subcommittee that studied the proposal, said it centred on the reform, checking, and scrutiny of the use of state power. It aims to keep the government’s performance in check more effectively via a more effective censor motion, he explained. Other agencies will also be kept in check and accountable including independent agencies, according to the meeting.

The highlights of the proposal, however, are centred on the penalties against fraudulent state officials, especially civil servants. Besides the death penalty option, people who cause damage to the state of between Bt100 million to Bt1 billion should be subject to life imprisonment without the possibility of the sentence being suspended, the committee proposed.

Some NRSA members, such as former foreign minister Kasit Piromya and Panthep Klanarong, said the severe measures would not stop the root causes of corruption and were against international norms.

Seri Suwanpanon, a key member of the NRSA’s political reform committee, said in response that the measures were meant to be a pre-emptive measures to prevent state officials from committing fraud. NRSA members voted 155 in favour, with seven abstentions. The proposal will be forwarded to the Cabinet, the National Legislative Assembly, the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC), and independent agencies for further deliberation.

Attasit Pankaew, a political scientist from Thammasat Unversity, said although the strong measure could make corrupt officials think twice, he doubted whether it would root out fraud in government projects. “They may be reluctant to commit the crime, but it is also possible that they will decide to do it anyway,” he said. “So I think the government should come up with plans to prevent fraud instead of punishing the culprits when the damage has already been done.”

The development came as industry leaders said they did not believe the flooding in the South would affect long-term tourism in the region.

Chula Sukmanop, director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT), said airlines operating in the South had kept fares below the stipulated price ceiling, so there was no need for CAAT to intervene regarding pricing.

He said many passengers travelling with budget airlines had claimed that they were overcharged when booking tickets to the South after 16 provinces in the region were affected by severe flooding since last week.

But CAAT assured consumers the airlines had not violated pricing rules.

Air traffic chaos

“We have monitored airfares and found that no airline was setting prices higher than the ceiling level, which meant there is nothing wrong with airfares. Those who book last-minute will definitely pay higher prices,” Chula said. He added that Nakorn Si Thammarat Airport should re-open on Thursday if the flooding situation improves. The airport was closed on Friday.

Four budget airlines – Thai Smile Airways, Nok Air, Thai AirAsia, and Thai Loin Air – operate from Bangkok to Nakorn Si Thammarat. The airport’s closure caused air traffic chaos and many delayed flights across the Kingdom.

Ittirit Kinglake, president of the Tourism Council of Thailand, said that the flooding would only hit the tourism sector in the short term as it was part of the seasonal monsoon period.

Ittirit said the situation was not expected to damage the overall tourism industry, as many foreign tourists had maintained their plans to visit the country. However, the tourism sector in the first quarter will not have high growth due to other factors, including economic instability and currency fluctuations, Ittirit said.

“The inundation will not hit tourism in other destinations for long including Phuket, Krabi and Koh Samui ,” Ittirit said.

Dr Prasit Watanapa, dean and director of Mahidol University’s Siriraj Medical School, said the faculty aimed to “defeat” breast cancer completely for patients in the first stage, with a 100-per-cent survival rate.

For second-stage and third-stage patients, the survival rates should exceed 90 per cent and 80 per cent respectively, he added.

The dean was speaking at a press conference yesterday held at the hospital.

He said that like elsewhere in the world, breast cancer was most prevalent among women patients in Thailand, killing more than 10,000 people each year.

The doctor said Siriraj Hospital had successfully improved its techniques of treating the cancer to meet international standards.

Dr Pornchai Ochareonrat, chief of the hospital’s Department of Head, Neck and Breast Surgery, told yesterday’s press conference that Siriraj had achieved an average survival rate of 92.1 per cent for patients treated over five years, and 85.6 per cent for those treated over 10 years.

He described the achievement as “rather satisfactory”.

According to Pornchai, the United Kingdom achieved a survival rate of 89.6 per cent for five years of treatment and 79 per cent for 10 years.

“This shows that Siriraj Hospital’s success rate is comparable to international standards,” he added.

He also said that the average survival rate for breast cancer patients in wealthy countries was 80 per cent, compared to 60 per cent for middle-income countries, and 40 per cent for low-income countries.

The hospital conducted a study on 3,435 breast cancer patients treated at Siriraj Hospital between 2003 and 2011, Pornchai said, adding that the average age of the patients was 51, with 24 the youngest and 86 the oldest.

For four of the defendants, the sentences were reduced from four years and four months, which was handed down by a lower court in September 2015.

Following the verdict, the court granted bail of Bt500,000 for each of the defendants.

Seven leaders from the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) were indicted for causing unrest, an illegal gathering and obstructing the work of authorities.

The case stemmed from an incident in July 2007, when the defendants led thousands of red-shirt followers in a demonstration outside Prem’s residence and demanded that he quit the Privy Council.

The seven leaders included four key UDD figures – Veerakan Musigapong, Nattawut Saikua, Wipoothalaeng Pattanapoomthai and Weng Tojirakarn.

In 2015, a lower court sentenced the four to four years and four months in jail, and a lesser-known red-shirt leader to two years and eight months’ imprisonment. Two other lesser-known red-shirt leaders were acquitted. The Court of Appeal yesterday upheld the lower court’s sentence of two years and eight months in prison for the first lesser-known red-shirt leader.

The court also sentenced Veerakan, Nattawut, Wipoothalaeng and Weng to two years and eight months in jail, ruling that the lower court had applied an unjustified extra punishment for a single act of wrongdoing.

They fear such a composition would allow interference in the media and infringement of press freedom, media representatives told government-appointed reformers at a special session. The draft bill, currently overseen by the junta-appointed National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA) mass communication committee, contains Article 41, designating a committee empowered to issue or revoke a “media licence”.

The committee would also oversee complaints about media violations of people’s rights and otherwise, the Article stipulates.

Its 13 members would include four permanent secretaries from the Prime Minister’s Office, Digital Economy and Society Ministry, Culture Ministry and Finance Ministry.

This has raised concerns among six major media groups that allowing such high-ranking governmental officials to cast their eyes over deliberations could lead to a restrictive atmosphere.

The draft is due to be presented to the NRSA for endorsement next month. If approved, it would be proposed to the Cabinet and the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) respectively following legislative procedures.

Thepchai Yong, chairman of the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association (TBJA), said there were serious concerns about political interference in the media’s work. The state officials on the committee could be seen as representing political interests, with the power to block the media in the performance of its work, he said.

In addition, he said, officials are supposed to be subject to media scrutiny.

“It is not a case that we, the media, cannot be touched or that we only think of ourselves, but we are concerned about the impact on freedom and the people’s right to information. If the media is blocked, so is our society,” said Thepchai. “We may be wrong sometimes but by issuing a new regulation to blanket everything runs against the principle of media reform.”

Developing self-regulation

Thepchai said that the media’s current self-regulation, though not completely effective, has been constantly developed. “It should be noted that we mainstream media are distinctive from [non-established online] social media outlets,” he said. “While people may think that media are all the same, us and them should be treated differently.”

Thepchai joined other key figures from the National Press Council (NPCT), News Broadcasting Council, Thai Journalists Association (TJA), Online News Providers Association, and the Thailand Cable TV Association in speaking to the NRSA committee on the draft.

Yesterday’s session was a follow-up to a letter the six groups co-proposed to the NRSA last month on their concerns.

NPCT president Chavarong Limpattamapanee said that an earlier version of the draft, deliberated by the Council of State in 2012, should instead be revived as it encouraged media self-regulation and ethics promotion via a committee comprising experts in various fields.

“I don’t think that print media should be regulated like television and radio,” Chavarong said, countering the NRSA committee’s point. “The latter two are national communication resources while the print media are private industries.”

The NRSA committee, meanwhile, responded that the bill draft had “a long way to develop” as it would be screened by the main NRSA, the Cabinet and the NLA. However, they said media regulation laws should be in place to keep up with fast-changing online platforms.

NRSA committee head ACM Kanit Suwannet said the media’s proposals would be considered and attached to the committee’s report, while remaining non-committal on whether the media proposals would bring about any change in the draft.

Another committee member, Permpong Chavalit, said the bill was needed to help regulate media work amid the rapid development of |technology.

MEDIA BILL FEARS

WHY ARE media groups opposing Article 41 in the media regulation bill draft?

It allows four permanent secretaries to sit on a committee authorised to issue a “media licence” to legitimise a practitioner. Media organisations are concerned that this could: 

Allow the media to be politically influenced.

Interfere in the media’s attempts to investigate authorities.

Block society from certain information as the media’s roles are blocked.

Set a too-normalised standard over all media regardless of their different nature and behaviour.

Limit the media’s working proficiency, instead of boosting it, which is supposedly a goal of the reforms.

NATIONAL police chief Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda said yesterday he would await the results of an internal investigation into cheating before deciding whether to cancel the results of an entrance exam for applicants seeking to be police officers.

Chakthip’s comments were made after Pol Colonel Uthen Nuiphin, chief of the Metropolitan Police Bureau’s Training Centre, filed a complaint with the Paholyothin Police Station on Sunday against 347 applicants who did the exam.

Uthen also filed criminal charges against Jiraphot Plaidoung, an official with the Pathumwan-based Thesakij city regulation enforcement office, for racketeering, |giving false information to police, and violating the Computer Crime Act.

Uthen said another 178 people would also face legal action soon.

The cheating allegedly involved medical college students taking the test and showing applicants the correct answers.

The students were paid up to Bt30,000 per head, while the gang that was believed to have organised the cheating was paid Bt500,000, Uthen said.

“We found the exam cheating and we cannot let it slide,” Chakthip said. “This exam affected many who invested money and time to be recruited as police, so I cannot make a decision hastily. I must consider this carefully and thoroughly with regards to all sides and ensure justice, so I will wait for all units’ probe results first.”

He has ordered investigations at all 12 command centres that hosted exams.

He said he expected the Police Education Bureau and executives at the 12 centres to submit results to him by next week, after which he will decide if the central police committee should investigate further.

Chakthip said the city police department, which had halted its exam process, was investigating the allegations of cheating. He added that the department had asked him whether to consider if it should punish those involved and continue with the exams, or cancel the results.

Earlier yesterday, deputy police spokesman Pol Colonel Kritsana Pattanacharoen said Chakthip had instructed acting deputy Pol General Dechnarong Suticharnbancha, who oversees police recruitment policy, to investigate the Metropolitan Police Bureau, Provincial Police regions 1-9, the Southern Border Provinces Police Bureau and the Border Patrol Police Bureau to determine if there had been further cheating.

Kritsana said that if cheating is confirmed, the offenders would be punished whether they are officials, police or examinees. He said remedial measures would be considered for people who were not involved in the cheating.

The city police exam, held at Ramkhamhaeng University’s Bang Na and Hua Mark campuses, was held to recruit 1,000 officers out of 13,000 applicants.

Officers became suspicious of cheating after completed exam papers were checked, with one applicant scoring the highest 123 points, from a possible total of 150, while other 50 applicants scored 13. Some applicants later reportedly confessed to cheating.

Suspicious results

According to deputy city chief Pol Maj-General Adul Narongsak, head of the sub-panel for the written test, the cheating was done in an organised manner, starting with the initial application at the Police Education Bureau in Paholyothin, to plans to cheat made at a Suthisan hotel, and culminating at the exam at the Hua Mark campus.

About 30 medical college students were involved, said Uthen, with some admitting sitting exams for applicants in previous tests.

As exam applications are done online, officers did not become suspicious until results were published, he said.

The medical students and real applicants also allegedly paid their application fees at banks in a sequence on one medical student followed by three real applicants, which ensured their seat placements were advantageous to cheating.