Pattarasak Wannasaeng, who presided the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) committee vetting the bill draft, explained that the bill would not apply to cases that had ended, especially those in which defendants had fled the country and were beyond the statue of limitations.

“Any law must not be interpreted in a way damaging defendants,” Pattarasak said.

Highly debated about this critical point of the bill is one finalised case concerning ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who has lived in self-exile since the 2006 coup. However, he still has some more cases which were put on hold, and lawmakers have interpreted that these may be subject to legal proceedings under this new bill.

The junta-appointed NLA approved the bill draft amid heavy skepticism that it would be used as another legal tool against Thaksin.

The bill draft enables trials in absentia against defendants. The secretary-general of the Office of the Judiciary Athikon Intuputi disagreed with this point during the NLA deliberating session.

But Pattarasak insisted that the court would have to adhere to the law once it is enacted.

He said that if the court or defendants viewed that the bill’s stipulation on prescription might go against the charter, they could propose the matter for the Constitutional Court’s consideration.

The general public could also make a petition to ask the Ombudsman to take the matter to the Constitutional Court, he added.

“The trials in absentia will be proceeded exceptionally,” the NLA member said “There must be attempts to proceed with the cases conventionally and with the defendants’ presence before such trials are carried out. Defendants will have abundant opportunities to fight their cases. I can say that this sort of trial is fair enough.”

The military-based complaint centres were set up at Army bases nationwide on the orders of Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha last Thursday. Hotline phone numbers and postal addresses were also made available to receive public complaints.

Winthai said that these new channels would act only as receiving portals. Matters may be screened for accountability purposes before being forward to anti-graft agencies including the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) and its underling, the National Anti-Corruption Administrative Centre.

Secretary-generals of these two agencies would take part in screening information received from people so as to lubricate the anti-graft system from the very start, the spokesperson said.

The Army’s complaint centres would play mostly supporting roles to those agencies, he added.

The statement was in response to an Interior Ministry internal memorandum about inviting TANC members for “talks” after their recent actions at an academic seminar in Chiang Mai, which were seen as a staged political activity against the military and the coup.

Some TANC members on Tuesday held a banner “An Academic Panel is Not a Military Barrack” during a seminar on Thai studies held at Chiang Mai University.

The act was reported in an interior ministry internal memorandum issued by the Chiang Mai governor to the interior permanent secretary. Dated July 18, it asked the junta’s security unit to invite at least three academics, including the noted political scientist Prajak Kongkirati, for a “talk” and seeking their cooperation in not staging such a political activity again.

The memo called the activity a resistance to the coup that was held by taking advantage of an academic seminar. It also named some of the activists present at the scene.

TANC replied that the activity was an exercise in freedom of expression, and not prohibited by the Constitution.

Secondly, the memo wrongly noted that Prajak Kongkirati took part of the activity, while in fact he had not been at the scene, the statement read.

More importantly, the TANC had always been open and active in fighting for freedom of expression on many occasions. It did not take advantage of the seminar as accused in the memo, the network said.

It emphasised that its movement has been conducted with non-violence, insisting on freedom of expression and academic freedom.

The academic network had exercised its rights to demand that the junta respect freedom of expression and academic freedom and hasten the return of power to the people, the statement read.

The government should tolerate such activities and not accuse activists of holding political movements to delay of the return to democracy, it added.

TANC members also said if they were to be summoned, they were willing to explain the situation to the government as they had strong faith in civil rights.

At its meeting on Tuesday, the NRSA voted 125-1, with nine abstentions, to approve the report proposed by the committee on legal and justice system reform for the adoption of visual and audio recording systems in all courts.

In the report, the committee said it hoped that the measure would ensure fairness and enhance efficiency in the delivery of justice to the people.

Committee chairman Khemchai Chutiwong told the meeting that the current process of transcribing court proceedings could miss points made in witnesses’ statements, which may result in limited information being brought before the Appeals Court or the Supreme Court to consider later.

He said that audio and visual recordings would enable judges to obtain all available facts, while helping ensure transparency in the courtrooms and making it easier for court clerks to efficiently classify and keep records of all proceedings.

Many NRSA members voiced their support for the recommendation, although some noted that care must be taken to ensure the confidentiality of all information.

Legal proceedings under this new law would not be applied to such cases where the defendants had fled the country to avoid penalties, or they would become retroactive and be against the rule of law, Meechai stressed.

Meechai said the bill’s content was drafted without the aim of targeting any person. It was based on universal principles, he insisted, adding that he had no idea why Pheu Thai would make a plea to international rights organisations regarding the proposed law.

The bill, among 10 organic laws required by the new charter, has become highly controversial as it would enable the court to proceed with cases that had been put on hold after defendants fled the country.

Its provisional clause underlines the point, suggesting that any ongoing cases would proceed according to this new law.

In addition, the statue of limitations would not be counted if the defendant fled the country, meaning cases would be subject to legal proceedings without time limits.

The bill does address cases where final court rulings had been made before the defendant left the country, but lawmakers debate whether penalties put on hold because of the defendant’s absence could be retroactive.

Meechai, as a principal drafter of the bill, ruled this out.

The report notes that Thailand has strength in the areas of tourism and culture, but weak in governmental performance.

Poerland notes that the “ones to watch” category means that the country’s performance on soft power is positive enough for it to be close to the top 30. This year, Thailand is ranked 36th.

“While the country continues to grapple with political unrest, its soft power assets have been growing from strength to strength,” the report said.

It added that Thailand is “one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, and the second-highest ranking Southeast Asian nation on our index”.

Thai cuisine, culture and warm hospitality also played a role in attracting international attention, the report said.

While Thailand has been promoting its innovative and tech-savvy economy through the Thailand 4.0 initiative, the US-based report suggests otherwise.

Government performance and digital sub-indices, it said, “are clear signs that the country should develop those areas to improve its soft power assets”.

This included an expectation of a smooth transition of power after next year’s election, which should give the Kingdom the space to promote cultural production, and increase investment in digital infrastructure and public diplomacy.

The leading soft power this year was France, followed by Canada, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom.

“Despite major terrorist attacks and the rise of far-right nationalist populism, the internationalist, business-friendly party of Emmanuel Macron has been handed a large mandate to lead France forward after a period of political and social unrest,” the report said.

The US was downgraded from first position in last year’s report because global public opinion about the country had soured since president Donald Trump took office.

Four Asian countries made it into the Soft Power 30 –- Japan, Singapore, South Korea and China, with all of them except Singapore improving their ranking on the previous year.China, which ranked 25th, was said to have a better outlook on globalisation and environmentalism.

Four bills concerned directy with the election were priorities, and the NLA would try to get them ready as soon as possible, following the roadmap to democracy, Surachai said.

Two of the bills – those governing the EC and regulating political parties – had already passed the NLA, he said. Two others concerning the recruitment of Senators and the members of the House of Representatives were currently being studied by the NLA.

He also addressed the organic bill on legal procedures against political office holders, which critics suspect is targeting certain figures, especially former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Surachai insisted that it covered all ongoing cases in court and did not target anybody in particular.

The CDC said enactment of the bill must take into consideration another organic law concerning reforms required by the new charter. This was so that it could meet the spirit of the charter to make political parties more accountable and participatory.

The CDC pointed out that the primary voting system – in which party members vote to select MP candidates at branch level – could be open to fraud. As there were no anti-fraud mechanisms in place, this could run against the intention of the new charter to eliminate all forms of corruption.

It also said that listing party leaders as the first party-list MPs would limit their chances to contest constituencies, thus removing their political rights and violating the charter.

Also, it said that insisting parties have no fewer than 50 members in areas without branches or representatives before primary voting could be held was equivalent to cutting the chances of parties without so many members. This would affect the charter’s principle of making all voices meaningful in elections.

The CDC said that the bill might promote inequality between major and small political parties since not all of them could afford to set up branches and hold primary elections. This would potentially violate the charter by creating partiality.

The law review committee will comprise 11 members from the NLA, the CDC, and the Election Commission. It has 15 days to revise the bill to be in line with the Constitution before submitting it to the NLA. The law will be dropped if two-thirds of the NLA vote against it.

After he was recruited as a judge, Sirichai’s career grew over the years, starting from serving as a judge and a chief judge for several provincial, regional, and central courts, including Nakhon Sri Thammarat, the Civil Court, and the Appeals Court.

He also served as Court President for the Regional 5 Juvenile and Family Court, a judge and a chief judge at the Supreme Court, before taking a senior post of the fourth Vice Court President of the Supreme Court, and eventually the Appeals Court President in 2015, which is only second to the Supreme Court President.

Sirichai was also appointed to serve as an executive member for the Court of Justice’s executive committees, including the Supreme Court’s judicial commission sub-panel, the executive judicial commission, as well as the judicial commission at the Supreme Court and the Appeals Court.

While serving as a senior judge, Sirichai was appointed to the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions to rule on several high profile cases. These included the malfeasance charge against former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat and four defendants over a case concerning a violent crackdown against People’s Alliance for Democracy protestors in 2008, and the negligence charge against former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra over alleged corruption in the rice mortgage scheme.

While serving as Appeals Court President, he introduced a new approach to reduce cases accumulating at the court. In 2016, the Appeals Court under his lead, won the award of excellence among high courts.

PRIME MINISTER General Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday said all Thai citizens have to take responsibility if the reconciliation plan fails.

In response to key red-shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan calling for the junta to take responsibility for any failure in the reconciliation plan, Prayut said he alone could not force everyone to reconcile with others. “We are just a facilitator. Reconciliation requires the cooperation of all stakeholders, factions, politicians and political groups. I think they agreed well [with the aspects],” Prayut said at his weekly press briefing .

The military-organised social contract draft is going through the last nationwide forum this week and is expected to be publicised and accepted by political figures and civil sectors soon.

The forum in Bangkok on Monday was shunned by key politicians as well as the People’s Democratic Reform Foundation, the Democrat-spin-off group led by Suthep Thaugsuban.

Only red-shirt head Jatuporn was present at the meeting.

The agreement is said to contain 10 aspects related to national development from politics, inequality, the law and justice process, and the economy, to the junta-hyped reform and strategies.

Among the aspects, Prayut stressed unlawful demonstration as the most important point in the plan.

He urged that no “unlawful” demonstration should ever occur again once reconciliation bears fruit. “The future government will have to stop protests from happening anymore,” Prayut said. “The charter, the assembly bill, they all have been in place. Can people violate them?”

The junta is also known to enforce its order prohibiting political assembly of five people or more. Having been in effect since the 2014 coup, the order has not only barred political parties from holding meetings but it has also been used against civilians whose movement was deemed to question the junta’s action.

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday said that his party would cooperate with principles raised in the agreement but it should be worked on further to make it more practical.

The Democrat Party was represented by its ex-MP Thana Cheerawanit during a public forum session. Abhisit had gone to provide opinions on the agreement.

Abhisit said he had yet to see additional comments from Prayut on the agreement, as he had not received the agreement draft yet.

Deputy PM and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan said that the agreement would still have to go through further amendments and reviews. “But overall feedback is good,” he said. In a related development, Prayut revealed that 527,956 people have so far submitted their answers to his “four questions” on the election and the next government.

Provinces with the highest submission were Khon Kaen, Nakhon Ratchasima and Ubon Ratchathani. The lowest totals came from Samut Sakhon, Phetchaburi and Phrae. Launched in early June, the campaign has been run countrywide at Dhamrongthamma complaint centres.

The Interior Ministry collects all the answers every 10 days, categorising them and forwards them to the PM’s Office.