The group is planning to march to Government House that day to mark the four-year anniversary of the coup staged on May 22, 2014.

“Yut-nocchio” is a comic figure that resembles Prayut with an elongated nose like the classic figure Pinocchio, poking fun at the junta head for repeatedly promising to hold an election while instead delaying the poll several times.

The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) president, Pornpetch Wichitcholchai, on Thursday said that the budget, originally set to be around Bt3 billion, almost tripled following plans to install equipment such as microphones, voting machines and security systems.

The IT budget had been cut out once in 2013 when the then-Cabinet approved a Bt12-billion overall budget to construct the building.

“My duty is only to conduct the construction project to move forward. I have no authority to order or infringe on any operation,” Pornpethc said

“However, as there are complaints about too expensive procurement, I might ask them to consider decreasing the budget and also perhaps to tone down the expected quality of equipment,” he added.

Today’s meeting should resolve by how much the budget would be deducted, said Lower House secretary general Sorasak Peinwet.

“Some technology considered too costly today might become cheap in just a year or two,” Sorasak said. “If they said the microphones and clocks are too expensive, I will adjust the prices.”

He was referring to microphones and clocks, budgeted at Bt170,000 and Bt70,000 respectively, originally proposed to be equipped in the building with “advanced technologies”.

The microphones would be installed with a fingerprint scanning system to facilitate voting procedures while the clocks were supposed to be highly precise.

Some military officers went to notify the police at the Crime Suppression Division.

The move came as the junta government, which has come under increasing criticism for having accomplished little despite the long spell of military rule, plans to launch a “reform festival” next month as its major PR event regarding its much-hyped reform agenda.

The NCPO’s legal officer, Colonel Burin Thongprapai, said that the Pheu Thai statement could have violated the junta ban on political party activities and political gatherings of five or more people. As the statement was read via Facebook Live, they could be deemed to have violated the computer crime act, Burin said.

At yesterday’s press conference held under police surveillance, only three key Pheu Thai officials were on-stage to read the statement in order to avoid breaking the junta’s political ban on the gathering of five or more people. The five-page statement, issued as the NCPO is about to complete its fourth anniversary in power, accuses the junta of failing to achieve key promises, including reconciliation, dealing with corruption, protecting rights and democracy and improving the economy.

“They declared that they would reform the political structure but ended up with a Constitution and organic laws that pull democracy far backward and destroy the political party system,” said the statement. “They declared they would reform the economic and social structure but ended up making people poorer. They have not had tangible success with a single reform agenda, despite having invested much of the budget.”

It also slammed NCPO leader PM General Prayut Chan-o-cha for “failing to show leadership and delaying the election several times and aiming to stay in power for the long-term despite earlier promises”.

“The past four years under the NCPO will take the country into a dark and dangerous future,” it added.

“It is the duty of all Thai people to return to a constitutional monarchy and not allow the absolute regime to destroy democracy any further.”

The junta government is preparing to open a festival on June 6 to raise public awareness of its reform agenda through discussions on 11 aspects of reforms, to be tentatively held at CentralWorld department store.

POLITICIANS FROM leading parties warned yesterday that the junta-led national strategy and reform plans could obstruct the work of future governments.

Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan, a key member of Pheu Thai Party, said that though the reform was supposedly pushed for the national interest, public participation in the process was lacking.

“We have to think about the goal. Is the goal [to benefit] the people? If so, then their participation is essential,” said Sudarat, speaking on a panel on future politics hosted as part of this month’s anniversary of the “Black May” crackdown in 1992.

Though many assemblies and committees had been set up by the junta to plan national reform, Sudarat said their members might lack the first-hand knowledge that ordinary people had of the issues being tackled. So it was doubtful reform would really respond to the people’s needs and expectations.

Also, she said she failed to see the difference between the 20-year national strategy plan and the existing five-year economic and social development plan.

Sudarat expressed surprise that the junta government was confident enough to write a plan to cover 20 years when events and circumstances changed so fast. “Even well-prepared private companies revise plans every two or three year because of the rapid changes,” she said. 

Sudarat also echoed growing concern at how future governments would be limited by the junta’s national strategy. It would also curb voters’ choices since parties could not formulate policies that fell outside the 20-year strategy, she said.

Sora-at Klinpratoom, a key member of the Bhum Jai Thai Party, agreed that the 20-year strategy was a bold move but said he was willing to follow it and hoped the people would understand that parties had limitations.

However, the Bhum Jai Thai man was non-committal about joining the military to form a coalition. He said the party would wait for the election results before making a decision.

Meanwhile, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said he detected little sign of national reform in the past four years and remained doubtful about progress. The national strategy, for instance, was still only a draft paper despite years of junta rule, he said.

However, the former prime minister said he remained steadfastly opposed to the junta-drafted Constitution.

Abhisit was critical of the constitutional role of the 250 junta-appointed senators, who are widely perceived as a force that will back the junta’s extended grip on power after the election. He said that the Senate should respect the people’s decision shown through the election of MPs. If it did not, it could lead to conflicts, he said.

POLITICIANS FROM leading parties warned yesterday that the junta-led national strategy and reform plans could obstruct the work of future governments.

Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan, a key member of Pheu Thai Party, said that though the reform was supposedly pushed for the national interest, public participation in the process was lacking.

“We have to think about the goal. Is the goal [to benefit] the people? If so, then their participation is essential,” said Sudarat, speaking on a panel on future politics hosted as part of this month’s anniversary of the “Black May” crackdown in 1992.

Though many assemblies and committees had been set up by the junta to plan national reform, Sudarat said their members might lack the first-hand knowledge that ordinary people had of the issues being tackled. So it was doubtful reform would really respond to the people’s needs and expectations.

Also, she said she failed to see the difference between the 20-year national strategy plan and the existing five-year economic and social development plan.

Sudarat expressed surprise that the junta government was confident enough to write a plan to cover 20 years when events and circumstances changed so fast. “Even well-prepared private companies revise plans every two or three year because of the rapid changes,” she said.

Sudarat also echoed growing concern at how future governments would be limited by the junta’s national strategy. It would also curb voters’ choices since parties could not formulate policies that fell outside the 20-year strategy, she said.

Sora-at Klinpratoom, a key member of the Bhum Jai Thai Party, agreed that the 20-year strategy was a bold move but said he was willing to follow it and hoped the people would understand that parties had limitations.

However, the Bhum Jai Thai man was non-committal about joining the military to form a coalition. He said the party would wait for the election results before making a decision.

Meanwhile, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said he detected little sign of national reform in the past four years and remained doubtful about progress. The national strategy, for instance, was still only a draft paper despite years of junta rule, he said.

However, the former prime minister said he remained steadfastly opposed to the junta-drafted Constitution.

Abhisit was critical of the constitutional role of the 250 junta-appointed senators, who are widely perceived as a force that will back the junta’s extended grip on power after the election. He said that the Senate should respect the people’s decision shown through the election of MPs. If it did not, it could lead to conflicts, he said.

VETERAN POLITICIANS say they are not convinced the Constitution can live up to its drafters’ claim of suppressing corruption.

However, a law professor who sat on the previous constitution drafting panel asserts the current charter will combat graft by preventing crooked people from entering politics – given the tough constitutional requirements for political officeholders.

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said the term “corruption-suppressing constitution” used for the present charter was just a “marketing ploy”.

The charter was promoted by the Constitution Drafting Commission, particularly its chairman Meechai Ruchupan, as a “corruption-suppressing constitution”.

Former prime minister Abhisit said that in reality the Constitution would not actually help combat graft as claimed. He pointed to clauses in the charter that he said would weaken rather than strengthen the fight against corruption.

Abhisit said, unlike its predecessor, this Constitution does not require that impeachment be sought against Cabinet members who are accused of corruption in a no-confidence debate. He said that censure debates alone would not lead to removal of corrupt Cabinet members as they would naturally get majority House support from government MPs.

Also, the Constitution does not allow MPs to directly sue any member of the National Anti-Corruption Commission suspected of failing to perform their duty, Abhisit noted. Any complaint must be submitted through the Parliament president, which makes it difficult for whistle-blowing politicians, he added.

Abhisit also said that although the Constitution has a clause that encourages public members to take part in scrutinising political officeholders, it is not easy for them to do so.

He was speaking during a panel discussion, “Will the Corruption-Suppressing Constitution Actually Work?”, held at Bangkok’s Miracle Grand Hotel. The event was organised by the National Legislative Assembly’s committee on political affairs, Public Administration Association, and National Institute of Development Administration (Nida).

Phongthep Thepkanjana, a key figure from the Pheu Thai Party, said the claim of suppressing corruption was “just propaganda” for the Constitution, which has been in effect since April last year.

He viewed that the charter instead contains some provisions that actually promote corruption, particularly Article 265 that guarantees the ruling junta’s power to issue orders that are regarded as law.

Phongthep, who previously served as deputy prime minister and justice minister, suggested that the charter must be amended to allow easier scrutiny of people in power and independent organisations charged with scrutinising officeholders.

Professor Banjerd Singkaneti said at the panel discussion that the Constitution by itself could not actually suppress corruption, which would need the addition of relevant laws and regulations.

“What the Constitution can do about suppressing corruption is to prevent dishonest people from entering the Thai political system. Qualifications have been clearly set,” he said.

The academic said a weakness in the charter regarding the fight against graft was that it gave “too much power” to state agencies. He called azfor empowering the civil sector through anti-corruption measures in a new organic law. Banjerd is former dean of Nida’s law faculty and a member of the post-coup Constitution Drafting Committee headed by Professor Borwornsak Uwanno, whose charter draft was rejected by the National Reform Council.