Other members of the committee include the permanent secretary of the Culture Ministry, the secretary general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, and presidents of independent media organisations, ACM Kanit Suwannet, chairman of the media reform panel, said.

A representative from the PM’s Office will serve as the working committee’s secretary but will not be allowed to vote, Kanit said.

Members of the working committee, scheduled by law to complete its task of setting up the media council within two years after the law comes into effect, will be disqualified from sitting on the council to prevent conflict of interests, Kanit said.

In principle, the ad-hoc committee will be responsible for registering media organisations, but it will not handle complaints against media organisations or grant and revoke media licences, Kanit said.

He said his committee was still open for suggestions and was willing to make changes if the ideas were good.

His committee will meet a couple more times before forwarding the matter to the National Reform Steering Assembly whip.

The commission also said that if a thorough search fails to find honorary abbot Phra Dhammachayo at the temple, the order declaring the temple and nearby area as a special controlled area should be revoked.

The temple is now declared a special controlled area, with security officials manning checkpoints surrounding the compound, as authorities step up efforts to arrest honorary abbot.

Dhammachayo is wanted for alleged money laundering. An arrest warrant was issued for him last year, but he has never answered the summons.

“Relevant officials and the Dhammakaya Temple should co-operatively comply with operations required by law. Other organisations, including those from the civic sector, should observe the operations to locate the fugitive,” the NHRC said in a statement on Monday.

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, in his capacity as the National Council for Peace and Order’s (NCPO) chief, issued the order last month making the compound a special controlled area.

“After that, authorities can still go after the fugitive under the Criminal Code,” the statement said.

The NHRC urged the Sangha Supreme Council – the governing body of the Buddhist order of Thailand – to come forward and help resolve the stand-off at the temple.

The NHRC also emphasised that relevant officials must avoid confrontation and any infringement on the rights of people who are not involved in the alleged crime. It also asked the temple’s followers to remain calm and avoid any action that may trigger misunderstanding and lead to violence.

Supachai was invited to sit on the government initiated committee on reform, reconciliation, and national strategy or Por Yor Por along with other 38 noted experts in all fields.

Supachai believes that the country must have such a strategy as it is significant to Thailand’s growth and development.

He urged all parties to lend support to the government, whether they agree with it or not.

Asked if the government would be successful in pushing ahead with this strategy, he said it could as nothing is impossible.

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.