The law prohibits Cabinet members from attempting to boost their support with budget spending that may damage the economy.

The law adds more difficulties to the already-troubled party policy formulation, they said.

The State Financial and Fiscal Discipline Act of 2018 requires that members of the Cabinet strictly comply with financial and fiscal disciplines of the state.

Article 9 of the law states that in preparing annual state budgets, managing the country’s monetary and fiscal affairs, and creating public debt, Cabinet members have to carefully take into consideration such factors as the benefit to the country and the people, worthiness, financial burden, risks and possible damage to state finances.

“The Cabinet shall not run the state’s affairs with a goal of creating political popularity that may cause damage to the country’s economy and people in the long run,” the clause states.

The new law requires that in preparing annual budget bills, the Cabinet must show the sources of revenues and estimated revenues, expected outcome or output from payments, and conformity with national development plans.

Published in the Royal Gazette on Thursday, the new legislation is required by the Constitution, which has been in effect since April last year.

The new law drew mixed reactions. One observer urged the military government to look at its current policy of cash handout programmes to see whether they violate the law.

Wirat Kalayasiri, a member of Democrat Party, said that with the new Constitution, parties already have to strictly follow the 20-year national strategy. That made it difficult for parties to create their own policies to respond to voters’ demands.

The new legislation made the situation more difficult than it already was, Wirat said.

Nikorn Chamnong from Chart Thai Pattana Party said that the law may solve one problem of populism but it also created another.

“It is true that populist policies are not healthy. But we cannot deny that this legislation will also complicate policy formulation,” he said. “The most worrisome part about it is who will tell which policy is populist or not. What’s the definition exactly? Will we have to take the matter to the court if we cannot reach an agreement?”

However, government officials agreed with the junta’s move. The law has been pushed for many years by the Finance Ministry’s Fiscal Policy Office, said Soraphol Tulayasathien, the Finance Ministry’s director of Economic Stability Analysis Division at the Fiscal Policy Office.

Previously, fiscal discipline was a set of guidelines stipulating public debt should be capped at no more than 60 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). Now it is upgraded to a legislation.

Under the new legislation, the committee chaired by Prayut will decide what economic policy would be defined as “populist policy” that could have a serious negative impact on government finances.

The law also requires that the government lay out a midterm budget or a three to five-year budget plan, along with an annual budget formation, said Soraphol.

Political scientist Somchai Pakkapaswiwat said that the new law’s interpretation will depend on the discretionary power of the committee and its interpretation of what is or is not populist policy.

He said he preferred that parliament scrutinises the government’s spending plan or there should be an independent budgetary organisation, such as a nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office in the United States, that looks at the government budget.

Meanwhile, Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala, a former Finance Minister supported the law but said the government should also look at policies which may run counter the law, such as cash handouts to the 11.4 million poor people under the welfare card programme.

Since the 1997 financial crisis, the Thai government has run fiscal deficits almost every year to boost the economy, which has been affected by the country’s declining competitiveness and political instability.

Over-spending to boost political support, notably from voters in rural areas, which was done by governments under Thaksin Shinawatra and his associates, was deemed politically incorrect.

The military government plans to spend Bt3 trillion for the 2019 fiscal year starting this October and plans to borrow Bt 445 billion to finance the budget deficit, estimated to be equivalent to 2.6 per cent of GDP. It also expects to have a current account surplus of 6.1 per cent of GDP due to an increase in exports and tourism.

NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith yesterday said the current board will consider at its meeting next Wednesday if it should go ahead with the auction of the 1800MHz and 900MHz licences as planned. It will also consider the draft rules to compensate the state spectrum holders if the NBTC reclaims their spectra and puts them up for auction.

Earlier, the board declined to consider whether to proceed with the auction of 1800MHz and 900MHz licences, pending the results of the selection of new commissioners on Thursday.

The six-year term of the current commissioners ended on October 7 last year, but the new NBTC law allowed them to continue in the same capacity until they were replaced. The Council of State has replied to the watchdog that it can continue to perform its duties.

In a stunning development on Thursday at the NLA’s closed-door session, the majority of NLA members rejected the candidates on the grounds that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha was not happy with the list.

An NLA member was heard saying during a whip meeting that the list must be rejected as the PM was dissatisfied with many of the candidates. The audio clip was leaked on social media yesterday.

NLA president Pornpetch Wichitcholchai said yesterday that the NLA had already set up a panel to investigate the leak.

“I understand the recorded voice is not from an NLA whip meeting since the panel session on April 18 was not about the NBTC candidates,” he said.

Prayut said it was the NLA members’ judgement to consider the matter. He did not issue any instructions to them on the matter.

In another related development, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said yesterday he would propose all the suggestions of terrestrial digital TV licence holders for the junta on April 24 to make a final decision on whether it wants to step in and ease their financial burden.

Wissanu yesterday convened what he called a meeting of a group of “minority licence holders” – financially strong licence holders – to listen to their opinions as part of the government’s continued efforts to seek ways to ease their burden.

Over the past few months, Wissanu has met with representatives of financially weak digital TV broadcasters on their plea to the junta to invoke Article 44 of the interim charter and ease their burden this month, as they are due to pay the fifth instalment of the upfront licence fee next month.

There is no need for the junta to hurry to make any decision on the requests of the two holders of 900MHz telecom licences – Advanced Wireless Network (AWN) and TrueMove H Universal Communication (TUC) – to ease their upfront fee payment schedule, as more details need to be considered, he said.

According to the proposal by digital TV licence holders, the junta has been urged to invoke its special power under Article 44 to allow suspension of the remaining upfront licence fee for three years, starting from next month. The rental fee of broadcasting networks should also be cut by half for two years.

They have also proposed that they be allowed to sell their licences to other companies.

NBTC rules currently prevent licence holders from selling their licence to other parties.

AWN and TUC proposed to the junta last year that Article 44 be invoked to allow them to divide the final instalments of the 900MHz spectrum licence upfront fee into seven tranches. AWN and TUC are scheduled to pay hefty final instalments of Bt59.574 billion and Bt60.218 billion, respectively, in 2020.

The junta had consulted the NBTC on the request of the two operators. The NBTC recommended that they be allowed to split the final instalment payment into five tranches and that they pay an interest rate of 1.5 per cent, based on the Bank of Thailand’s policy rate.

But the next challenge for the party is getting permission from the ruling junta, to whom they have publicly declared opposition, allowing them to hold a meeting formally kick-starting its political life.

“I don’t expect any problem ahead. Founding a party is the people’s fundamental right,” said Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, one of party’s key founders and former law lecturer. “The EC is only assigned to approve our requesting documents, not deciding whether we can found a party or not.”

Piyabutr said the party has prepared everything for a meeting set for May 27, at which they are planning to collect Bt1 million in seeding fund, gain at least 500 members and elect the party’s board executive as required under the organic law on political parties.

Those tasks, also as required by that law, must be completed by all parties within 180 days after they filed a party-founding request to the EC.

Failing to do so would prevent the party from legal recognition.

The Future Forward Party now has over four months to complete those tasks, since they filed their request on March 15.

But those steps can proceed only if the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) approves their first meeting as required under NCPO order No 53/2017, which exempts new parties from the NCPO’s political gathering ban but only on case-by-case basis.

“But it’s not only the first meeting that we should be allowed to hold,” Piyabutr said. “There would be many things to prepare ahead of the election, such as campaigning and the primary voting procedure.

“The NCPO always encourages new parties in the political arena. There is no reason for them to hinder us new-born parties,” he said. “And not all new parties come to support the NCPO.”

Piyabutr and another key co-founder of the party, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, also filed a letter to the EC on April 9 that asked for an update on the approval process, along with a request for the NCPO to revoke all orders that obstruct political movements.

Thanathorn, meanwhile, added that he supported some politicians who have agreed to work with the junta government. “This will clarify their stances for the public about whether they support the NCPO or democracy,” the tycoon said.

“Parties should also more clearly declare whether they support an ‘outsider’ PM and also the NCPO’s post-election power,” Piyabutr added.

Four other parties in addition to Future Forward, have recently received approval to prepare for registration, said EC acting secretary-general Jarungwit Phumma. Of the 99 parties seeking the registration, 20 parties have so far been approved, he said.

The status would be fully confirmed only after the party has collected the Bt1 million membership fee as a capital fund and gained at least 500 members within 180 days, according to the organic law governing political parties.

The Future Forward Party, led by billionaire Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, wrote on its Facebook page on Friday that it only had to wait for the permission from the National Council for Peace and Order in order to hold its first meeting scheduled for May 27.

The party said it invited every supporter interested in joining as well as towards the new future with it.

Besides Future Forward, EC acting secretary general Jarungwit Phumma said four other parties had recently received the same approval.

Of all the 99 parties seeking the registration, 20 parties had already been approved, he said.

CHINESE e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has committed to invest a combined Bt11 billion in Thailand in a move that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said could benefit the country’s small farmers and rural enterprises due to the firm’s expertise in diverse technology.

“Jack Ma [Alibaba’s co-founder and executive chairman] told me he does not solely look for profits because [Alibaba] already has enough,” Prayut said after his meeting with the Chinese tycoon. “So he aims to help low-income farmers and other people using digital technology to boost their competitiveness on online market platforms.”

Ma, who was on in Bangkok yesterday, also met with deputy premier Somkid Jatusripitak at Government House before signing four memorandums of understanding (MoUs), marking the start of Alibaba’s significant investment in Thailand’s much-heralded Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) as well as a related “Smart City” project. Other signed agreements involved tourism promotion, digital economy and human resource development programmes.

Ma has been to Thailand several times and in 2016, he also met with Prayut during the G20 summit in China’s Hangzhou city. However, the Chinese e-commerce giant made its first investment within Asean in Malaysia, raising questions whether the Prayut government’s “Thailand 4.0” initiative was compelling enough to attract Alibaba.

Prayut said he personally asked Ma to help promote Thai agricultural products, particularly palm oil, rice and para rubber as well as cooperatives, community enterprises and modern farming using digital and related technologies and Alibaba’s expertise in e-commerce and related fields.

“[Alibaba] also runs schools for business and e-commerce development that can help Thai SMEs and rural entrepreneurs,” Prayut said, adding there were mutual benefits from the cooperation with Alibaba.

The Thai government’s policy is to facilitate trade and investment, turning Thailand into an investment hub, according to the prime minister.

In response, Ma said that Alibaba focuses a lot on Asia and the Internet is a great opportunity in Asia. The collaboration with Thailand included “Go to China”, meaning bringing Thai local farm goods, such as rice and fruits to the huge Chinese market and “Go to Thailand” meaning bringing more Chinese tourists to Thailand.

“Today’s MoUs are the initial phase of our long-term commitment to be a strategic partner with this country. Our strategy is a global vision, to partner with the countries having the same belief in the future, technology, e-commerce, SMEs, and young people,” said Ma.

Commerce Minister Sonthirat Sonthijirawong said the ministry would drive the digital economy by promoting e-commerce platforms to allow Thai farmers and other producers to sell to China, citing the Thai Rice Flagship Store on Alibaba’s Tmall.com as an example. Other Thai products will be on sale on Tmall.com, China’s largest online marketplace which reaches more than 1.4 billion consumers.

In addition, the Industry Ministry will work with the Chinese e-commerce giant to use the Alibaba Business School as a platform for training Thai entrepreneurs.

Meanwhile, Saowaruj Rattanakhamfu, a researcher who conducted a study of the EEC project, said that Ma’s investment in the EEC could also draw other foreign investors to the region but the challenge is how Thailand could take advantage of investment in ICT.

She expressed concern about the skills of the local ICT workforce. “There are about 170 education institutions that teach 430 ICT-related curriculums, but the graduates are not qualified enough for the jobs or do not meet industry demands,” she said. “So far we do not know which university has a reputation in what specific field of ICT,” she said. One problem is that technology is changing fast.

Learning from the experience of other countries, the Thai government, universities and private companies, may jointly organise six months re-training for those graduates to hone their skills, particularly in disruptive technology such as artificial intelligence, she said.

The government could also relax conditions for smart visas offered to specialists who earn a monthly salary of Bt200,000 to stay four years in Thailand. For example, those have an income of Bt100,000 could also get a smart visa but only for a three-year stay, she said.

Prinya Hom -anek, president and chief executive officer at ACIS Professional Centre Co, who is in the information security business, said the local IT industry feels the government has preferred giant foreign investors, such as Ma ,but Thai authorities have not yet created a conducive investment-friendly environment for local technological start-ups. New, friendly regulations such as those related to fundraising via initial coin offering have not yet been put in place. Thai IT entrepreneurs still prefer to register their companies in Singapore where it is much easier to do IT-related businesses, he said.

After more than four hours of closed door discussion, the legislators voted 118 to 25 to reject the list entirely.

The scrutinising committee had found more than half of the candidates had been stakeholders in businesses involved in the areas regulated by the Commission in the past year, thereby disqualifying them from taking the post.

Legislators viewed that the list should be forsaken in its entirety to avoid issues arising in the future. However, those on the rejected list could re-apply for the position if they have the qualifications.

According to Jade Siratharanon, spokesman for the NLA whip, the law requires that the next selection process starts from the beginning.

The news about the rejection, however, had been spreading for days before the official decision was made yesterday.

A source close to the NLA said that the legislature had been split into two camps. One argued that because some of the candidates did not possess the right qualifications, the whole list should be nullified

The other group of legislators argued that those who were qualified should be selected even though not all seven vacancies would be filled. They said the rest could be selected at another time, the source said.

Observers believe that the junta might invoke their special powers under Article 44 to deal with the decision.

The current NBTC board is expected at its board meeting next week to discuss how to proceed, following the NLA decision. It is also expected to discuss if it should go ahead and auction the 1800MHz licences as planned.

Earlier the board declined to consider whether to proceed with the auction, pending the results of the selection of new commissioners yesterday.

The six-year term of the current commissioners ended on October 7 last year, but the new NBTC law allowed them to continue in the same capacity until they are replaced.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said: “There was no significance. It was just a normal golf game – just like when I went there.

“Don’t try to view everything as having political significance,” he told Government House reporters.

On Wednesday, over a dozen key Pheu Thai figures converged on a Nakhon Pathom golf course owned by the Sasomsap family of politicians, who form a faction in the previously ruling party. There they met with Chaiyot and Anucha, two of the Sasomsap brothers, in what observers viewed as a Pheu Thai attempt to woo the faction back into its fold.

On Tuesday, the PM had said that authorities were trying to determine whether the gathering of Pheu Thai politicians at the golf course constituted a violation of the junta ban on political activities.

PM staying aloof

Deputy Prime Minister Chatchai Sarikulya yesterday said he saw nothing strange about Wednesday’s round of golf.

When asked if he would play golf again at the course owned by the Sasomsap family, General Chatchai said he was too busy these days. He noted that the last time he went there with PM Prayut.

Last December, General Prayut and certain other figures from the ruling junta were photographed with the Sasomsap brothers after playing a round.

Yesterday, the PM also attempted to stay aloof in response to a question asking if he wanted to become a full-fledged politician.

“I don’t want to get involved in politics. If I do so, I have to enter the election and become an MP and that’s impossible now,” Prayut said. He referred to the fact that the deadline had passed for junta figures to quit the posts if they wanted to contest the next election.

Prayut, who not long ago declared himself a “politician” after repeatedly denouncing the occupation, is now the focus of speculation about whether he is wants to be selected as PM after the next election, thanks to mechanisms in the Constitution that favour the military remaining in power.

“I don’t want to be a politician. But whether it is necessary? It depends on the future. It depends on what people want,” Prayut said, adding that: “You should wait until June.”

June is when the junta expects to call in political parties for a talk, a move seen as a possible junta attempt to influence political parties prior to the election.

After more than four hours of closed door discussion, the legislators voted 118 to 25 to reject the list entirely.

The scrutinising committee had found more than half of the candidates had been stakeholders in businesses involved in the areas regulated by the Commission in the past year, thereby disqualifying them from taking the post.

Legislators viewed that the list should be forsaken in its entirety to avoid issues arising in the future. However, those on the rejected list could re-apply for the position if they have the qualifications.

According to Jade Siratharanon, spokesman for the NLA whip, the law requires that the next selection process starts from the beginning.

The news about the rejection, however, had been spreading for days before the official decision was made yesterday.

A source close to the NLA said that the legislature had been split into two camps. One argued that because some of the candidates did not possess the right qualifications, the whole list should be nullified

The other group of legislators argued that those who were qualified should be selected even though not all seven vacancies would be filled. They said the rest could be selected at another time, the source said.

Observers believe that the junta might invoke their special powers under Article 44 to deal with the decision.

The current NBTC board is expected at its board meeting next week to discuss how to proceed, following the NLA decision. It is also expected to discuss if it should go ahead and auction the 1800MHz licences as planned.

Earlier the board declined to consider whether to proceed with the auction, pending the results of the selection of new commissioners yesterday.

The six-year term of the current commissioners ended on October 7 last year, but the new NBTC law allowed them to continue in the same capacity until they are replaced.

The legislators voted 64 to 117, with 19 abstentions, rejecting Paranee’s nomination, after an hour of apparently heated debate behind closed doors.

A source in the NLA said that the decision was due to complaints against Paranee that she had claimed to have a connection with a senior official to enable her to gain a previous promotion.

In addition, the scrutinising committee found Paranee had not had a health check-up as legally required before applying for the ombudsman position, the source said.

Paranee, who formerly was an associate justice of Nonthaburi Provincial Court Juvenile and Family Division, was therefore disqualified, he added.

Aside from that, the selection process had also been problematic, the source said. As many as 12 of the 14 candidates had been misinformed by the recruitment announcement and applied for the post although they did not have sufficient qualifications, he added.

“Only two people made the cut in the initial selection process, namely Paranee and Laddawan Tantiwittayapitak, a former secretary-general of the Law Reform Commission of Thailand. Still the election committee proceeded to vote between the two instead of finding more candidates,” the source explained.

“Regardless of the criticism, Paranee won the vote unanimously,” he said, adding that legislators raised many questions during the assembly to approve her before then rejecting her application.

Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan opened her house in Bangkok’s Ladplakao district to receive well-wishers from over 20 Pheu Thai politicians and residents to mark the end of Songkran.

“Please succeed in whatever you do, be loved by people and be popular,” Sudarat said to the ex-MPs during the wishing. “I wish you become MPs and even ministers after the next election.”

Former minister Watana Muangsook, who also visited Sudarat’s house, vowed that the party would not join hands with the junta and supporting parties despite recent cooperation with the Palang Chon party.

The party’s leader Sontaya Kunplome and his brother Ittthiphol were appointed to advise the prime minister and a minister on Tuesday. Democrat ex-MP Sakoltee Phattiyakul was also appointed as deputy Bangkok governor last week.

“There would be no effect to the Pheu Thai Party as we have different bases from Palang Chon,” Watana said “But if we win the election but cannot form the government because pro-junta parties do not support us, we’ll be ready to be the opposition.”

In Nakhon Pathom, meanwhile, ex-PM Somchai Wongsawat, the party’s secretary-general Phumtham Wecheyachai and former minister Varathep Ratanakorn led around a dozen Pheu Thai politicians to a gold course owned by the Sasomsab political clan.

“We didn’t know about their arrival in advance. We just knew that some VIP guests would come,” Anucha Sasomsub told reporters “Our golf course is so fine, everyone wants to have a swing here.”

Somchai, unlike Watana, refused to make political comments. “I’m just the party’s ex-member who just requested to reaffirm my membership. It doesn’t mean that I’ll have to be politically active afterward.”