All high schools across the country have been instructed to complete the final exam by February 15 to ensure students can take the aptitude test according to the new timetable, said education minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin.

The decision was made on Thursday at a meeting between the education ministry and Secretariat of the Conference of University Presidents and National Institute of Educational Testing Service.

Responding to concerns that students would be stressed because they have to take the aptitude test right after their school exams, the minister said that the General and Professional and Academic Aptitude Tests or GAT and PAT were for testing the students’ aptitude and could be taken anytime, he added.

The test had to be brought forward rather than after the election to avoid any effect on the university admission schedule, Teerakiat explained. This way the timetable would not be affected, he said.

PRIME MINISTER Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday distanced himself from a claim by his deputy Somkid Jatusripitak that the next head of government would “look similar” to the current one.

General Prawit Wongsuwan, another deputy premier, said Somkid had shared the same thoughts as “many of us” although he would not specify what he thought regarding the matter.

General Prayut was asked to comment on Somkid’s “premonition”, to which he responded calmly: “They may look similar but are they the same person?”

Deputy PM Somkid, who heads the government’s economic team, said on Wednesday that he “has a premonition that the next prime minister will look similar to the current one”. He was delivering his address at a conference attended by business executives and investors at a Bangkok hotel.

Prawit, who is in charge of security affairs, said the junta’s political restrictions would be completely relaxed by early December, to pave the way for campaigning in the run-up to the general election, which has been tentatively scheduled for February 24.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) is preparing to hold a meeting with political parties on November 22, the agency’s secretary-general Jarungvith Phumma said yesterday.

He said a variety of issues would be discussed at the meeting, including primary voting to select election candidates, campaigning through electronic media and debates on public television stations.

Asked to comment on reports that the government and ruling junta National Council for Peace and Order intend to call a meeting with the EC and parties in early December, Jarungvith said his agency has not been informed about that.

He also said that he expected the EC to designate all the constituencies throughout the country early next week. The senior official maintained that the agency was dealing with the matter carefully and abiding by the Constitution and relevant regulations to ensure fairness to all parties.

Jarungvith added that any political party which suspects unfairness involving the designation of certain constituencies may file a complaint with the EC.

In a related development, the Democrat Party was yesterday forced to postpone its voting to sound out party members on who should become its new leader due to a software glitch that affected all the computers at party offices throughout the country.

The party’s election committee called a press conference at the party’s headquarters before noon to apologise for the first-day fiasco. But the panel’s members maintained that the postponement would not affect the Democrat Party’s annual general assembly scheduled for November 11 to elect the new party leader and other executive members.

The Political Parties Act requires that executive members of political parties will be elected by their general assembly. However, the Democrats have agreed that the upcoming general assembly must

base its decision on the result of sounding out party members. Old and new Democrat members, totalling about 2.5 million, are eligible to vote.

Democrat members gathered yesterday morning at the party’s headquarters and at offices in Bangkok, central and northern provinces on the first day of voting. Many of them became agitated after learning about the computer glitch, which led to the postponement.

Chumpol Kanchana, who heads the party’s election committee, said that due to the computer problem, the panel had resolved to postpone voting until November 9. However, he added, it was believed that the postponement would not affect the party’s general assembly scheduled for two days later.

Thana Cheerawinit, a member of the election committee, told reporters that the voting machines had been imported from England and were set to that country’s time zone, which has a five-hour difference with Thailand. That would affect the voting, which is open from 8am to 6pm Thailand time.

He said all the 230 such machines needed to be returned from branch offices to the party’s HQ to readjust the time zone to Thailand’s, before voting could begin.

The recall of the machines and the time-zone readjustment would not affect voting by party members in the southern and northeastern provinces, which is scheduled for November 5, Thana said.

Jermmas Juenglertsiri, secretary of the election committee, said that although voting took place on different days, there would be no chance of someone tampering with the system. She explained that votes cast would be sent to a blockchain system with high-security features.

“Nobody will be able to fix the votes or know the result in advance,” she said.

Three candidates are competing in the race to become the new Democrat leader – incumbent Abhisit Vejjajiva, Warong Dejkitvigrom and Alongkorn Ponlaboot.

The current regulation, in effect since April last year, prohibits Cabinet members and their spouses from holding shares equal to more than 5 per cent in any company.

The shareholding of Don’s wife Narirat in the companies Panawong and Panawong Realty exceeded the legal limit of 5 per cent of all company shares when the current regulation took effect on April 4, 2017.

However, four days after the statute came into force, Don’s wife made a written request for about half of her shares to be transferred to their 35-year-old son, Puen Pramudwinai. As a result, her total shareholdings decreased to 4 per cent.

Documents on Narirat’s share ownership transfers were dated April 27, 2017 for Panawong, and April 30, 2017 for Panawong Realty. The share transfers took place within the legal deadline of 30 days after the current regulation became effective.

By majority vote, the Constitutional Court found that Don’s wife had complied with the law relating to share ownership by Cabinet members and their spouses and he should therefore not lose his Cabinet post.

The case against Don was brought to court by the Election Commission (EC) following a complaint filed by Pheu Thai Party politician Ruangkrai Leekitwattana in May last year.

Don, 68, said after the court ruling that this case had affected his work as he was preoccupied by the need to prepare relevant documents for the court.

The foreign minister said on Tuesday on the sidelines of a mobile Cabinet meeting in Chiang Rai that he was not worried about the case and that he would attend the reading of the court verdict yesterday.

The verdict made a Cabinet reshuffle unnecessary, as the foreign minister’s seat did not need to be filled. A veteran diplomat, Don has served as foreign minister since the post-coup government was formed in 2014.

In June, Don declared that his wife’s stockholdings should not disqualify him from holding his ministerial seat, saying the assets had been reported to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) on at least four occasions in accordance with the law.

At that time, the Foreign Ministry said Don’s wife received the shares from her father as an inheritance 37 years ago. They were not concessionary shares but were shares held within the family and not listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, it explained.

The shareholders consist of his wife’s relatives and the shares have remained untouched ever since they were inherited, the ministry added.

The EC confirmed that Don had declared his wife’s stockholdings to the NACC on four occasions, more than the legal limit.

Narirat’s shares in Panawong, as shown in Don’s second asset declaration in August 2015, showed that she held 7,200 shares, equivalent to a 12-per-cent stake, according to the Isra News Agency.

Her shareholdings in Panawong Realty totalled 3,500 shares, accounting for 17.5 per cent of the total.

THE DEFENCE Ministry yesterday called on relevant authorities to review the music video of the rap song, “Prathet Ku Mee” (My Country’s Got…), which has already garnered more than 23 million views on YouTube, particularly the scenes that refer to the 1976 massacre at Thammasat University.

Defence Ministry spokesman Lt-General Kongcheep Trantravanich said he wanted to ask why the producers had decided to refer to the October 6, 1976 massacre by depicting men taking turns hitting a corpse hanging from a tree.

“The scenes only depict their personal satisfaction from violence,” he said, adding that relevant authorities should examine the video to see if it reflects violence in society or if it intends to stir violence.

He said he was speaking on behalf of a government subcommittee on building reconciliation in the country.

Some professors, meanwhile, applauded the song, saying it was a challenge to the “dictatorial” junta government, which has for long stopped people from expressing their views. They were speaking at a seminar on “Art, Power and Disobedience” held by Thammasat University yesterday.

Visual Arts lecturer Thanom Chapakdee said the song was liberating for people affected by censorship and the limits put on their freedom of expression by the government via the use of laws such as Article 44.

“The people are starving and looking for someone to speak for them. Now people are brave enough to press ‘like’, but too afraid to sing along,” he said.

‘Art no longer free’

He pointed out that art was being screened and artists had to look for alternatives. This rap number, for instance, was released online using blockchain technology, which makes it impossible for the government to delete the file or block access.

Sawatree Suksri, Thammasat law lecturer, said dictators ban political art because it can have a very strong impact on people. It is easy to understand and makes convoluted political issues understandable, she said.

Earlier, anti-government songs could easily be banned for reasons like being a threat to “national security” or “morality”. But “Prathet Ku Mee” is different. It was uploaded to YouTube on October 22 by the Rap Against Dictatorship group and had attracted 23.6 million views as of press time yesterday with tens of thousands of comments.

The number of views skyrocketed after some senior government officials, including Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, made harsh comments. Police threatened to take legal action against the band, but later changed their mind and chose to stay quiet.

Nutthapong Srimuong, who raps under the alias Liberate P, said he had rejected an offer from “somebody” to produce a rap song for the election campaign earlier.

“I don’t think rapping is okay in campaigning for votes. It’s more about saying what you think and what you feel,” he said.

Sawatree said the authorities have had to swallow their words because they realised that the more they tried to close people’s eyes and ears, the more people will want to hear it.

However, she does not believe this small victory would end censorship. “The rappers are lucky to get away this time, because it is in the public interest,” she said.

Earlier, the government had said that the group might be violating the Computer Crime Act, which prohibits information that is inconsistent with the truth and might undermine national security.

Personally, Sawatree said, she believes the song is telling the blatant truth: “This is a country where the government is untouchable and the police uses the law to threaten people.”

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said yesterday that though he had not listened to the song yet, police would deal with it if there were anything wrong with it.

“I don’t know why I have to listen to the song. There can only be two reactions to it, you love it or you don’t,” he said.

The lyrics also mention Prawit’s controversial collection of luxury watches, which is still being investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

Meanwhile, National Police chief Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda said the band should consider coming up with a song about tourism and the conservation of Thai culture. “I want the band to write a song that shows all dimensions of the country, which has many aspects,” he said.

THE NATIONAL university entrance exams may be brought forward to avoid clashing with the general elections, tentatively set for February 24.

Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin said yesterday that the General and Professional Academic Aptitude Tests, known as GAT and PAT, can be held a week earlier than previously scheduled.

He said the decision to bring the tests forward was to ensure the schedule of the Thai University Centre Admission System is not delayed.

The minister said he would discuss the issue again with the Secretariat of the Conference of University Presidents of Thailand tomorrow to reach a final conclusion, but promised that the examination date will not clash with the elections. In fact, he said, it would be probably a good idea to hold the examination before the election so that the students were not distracted.

This development comes in response to previous concerns that holding the GAT/PAT exams on the same day as the election would not give first-time voters a chance to cast their ballots.

The exams will be taken by Mathayom 6 or high-school students, most of whom are 18 years old and eligible to vote.

Many parties and political observers believe these first-time voters will be especially eager to cast their ballots, especially as Thailand has not had a successful general election since 2010 when Yingluck Shinawatra was elected as the Kingdom’s first woman prime minister. First-time voters will account for 7 million of the 52 million eligible voters.

Meanwhile, political campaigns have kicked off, now that the junta has partially eased the ban on political activities.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday that the authorities will meet politicians in November or December to discuss how the ban could be fully lifted.

However, political parties have been campaigning actively for party members over the past couple of months.

Leaders of new parties, such as Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit from the Future Forward Party and Piyabutr Saengkanokkul have been travelling around the country to set up branches and to encourage people to join their party.

Veteran politician Suthep Thaugsuban, representing Action Coalition for Thailand Party, visited several areas of Bangkok last week to encourage people to join the Action Coalition Party. However, he encountered mixed reactions, with some recognising him as a former protest leader and welcoming him, while others denounced him for not keeping his word. Suthep had promised that he would not return to politics after ousting Yingluck’s government almost five years ago.

Pheu Thai Party, meanwhile, selected its new executive last weekend. Its new head of the election strategy committee, Khunying Sudarat Kayuraphan, is heading to Nakhon Ratchasima province today to meet up with local voters as well as encourage people to become members of the party.

Former Nakhon Ratchasima MPs yesterday asserted that they remained with Pheu Thai, denying news reports that some might move to Pheu Thai’s sister party to skirt the threat of party dissolution.

HIT WITH harsh comments for threatening to file charges against the Rap Against Dictatorship group, Deputy Police Chief Pol General Srivara Ransibrahmanakul appeared to make a U-turn yesterday, saying the police had taken no action.

He said that initially nothing had been found in the lyrics of “Prathet Ku Mee” (My Country’s Got…) that could implicate the artists, adding people can freely watch and even share the smash hit.

Srivara also said that he has told the police to look into and press charges against media outlets that have been sharing “false news” about police arresting the rappers.

The “Prathet Ku Mee” music video had garnered close to 20 million views on YouTube as of press time, with the number of views rising by the minute.

The track caught the public’s attention only after comments from Srivara and the government last week. Prior to that, there were less than 1 million views on YouTube.

Netizens also began posting catchphrases such as “My Country’s Got Srivara” or “My Country’s Got Police Officers Like This” as soon as Srivara threatened the group with legal action last week.

However, Srivara said the Technology Crime Suppression Division was still examining the song to see if there was anything in the lyrics that could be violating the Computer Crimes Act or sedition laws.

“Prathet Ku Mee” touches on several serious social and political issues, among them the black-panther case, which made headlines when a billionaire was accused of illegally hunting this rare species in a national park. The song also refers to a photograph of Srivara bowing in a deep “wai” to the billionaire, Premchai Karnasuta, at a police station in March.

Members of the public responded by saying the deputy police chief was so humble that he would probably let the billionaire walk free even if he were found guilty.

The deputy police chief admitted that he was uncomfortable about this reference, saying the black-panther case was still in court and mentioning it in the song would only cause further controversy. He also decried the rappers for trying to link this controversy with his work.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, who is on a mobile Cabinet trip in Phayao province, also said the song’s reference to an authoritarian military regime was not true, as this government is not what the song suggests.

“I would not have been able to stay this long if I was a dictator. Don’t pay much attention to it,” Prayut said.

PHEU THAI PARTY’S first general assembly yesterday retained its current acting leader Viroj Pao-in as party chief while Phumtham Wechayachai will serve as secretary-general.

Political critic Sukhum Nualsakul said the structure could be a reflection of the party’s preparation to deal with the possibility of being dissolved.

If the party were dissolved, those in leadership could face a political ban, he said. So, by placing some influential members in other positions, the camp can avoid losing important players in an unfair game, the critic added.

“This arrangement may not tell much about the party’s plan for the election. The party leader is not necessarily its PM candidate. Those three candidates could still be anyone,” he said.

Strong leadership candidates such as Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan and Chaturon Chaisang were given different roles. Sudarat was appointed chairman of the party’s election strategy committee while Chaturon will chair the policy committee.

The names of three PM candidates, however, have not been finalised yet.

After yesterday’s voting, Pheu Thai leader Viroj said the party was ready to contest the upcoming election and expressed no concern about the threat of dissolution. The party has always watched its step and abided by the law, he said.

The party is now under the scrutiny of the Election Commission (EC). If it were to be proved that the party was influenced by an outsider such as former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, the party could be dissolved – a punishment imposed by the new law.

Viroj denied that Thaksin had any connection with Pheu Thai’s internal activities.

Phumtham, meanwhile, admitted that there was a threat of dissolution. But no matter what happens, the spirit of Pheu Thai will remain unchanged and it could transform as a new entity to carry out its mission, he said.

“Nothing can destroy Pheu Thai’s spirit,” he said.

Sudarat said the party was not intimidated by the threat of dissolution. However, it was prepared for the worst-case scenario to ensure party members could get through any situation and be able to serve the people.

As head of the election strategy committee, Khunying Sudarat said she would do her best to lead Pheu Thai in the next election.

Although she did not get the official leader position as previously speculated, she said she was not disappointed. “In fact, I’ve made it clear from the first place that I didn’t want to become the leader.”

The assembly at Pheu Thai’s headquarters yesterday was joined by some 200 members. They voted veteran politician Sanoh Thienthong as the party’s chairman.

Kittiratt Na-Ranong, Plodprasop Suratsawadee, Kriang Kaltinand, and Somsak Chantaping were chosen to be the party’s deputy leaders.

Danuporn Punnakanta, Theerachai Suthibongkoch, Anuttama Amornvivat, and Phaophum Rojanasakul were chosen to be deputy secretaries-general.

The executive selection outcome was in line with previous news leaks. Although Pheu Thai’s popular politician and former transport minister Chatchart Sitthiphan had recently been tipped as a possible leader, he did not take any leadership position.

He was not ready to lead the party as he still worked as an executive in a private company, Chatchart said. But he was willing to help with the party work, he said.

Incumbent Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said he joined the party when he was 27 and never thought of leaving.

“My bond with the Democrat Party began when I was in primary school. This is the only political party in my life,” he added.

Warong Dechgitvigrom said the Democrat Party was his home and whatever happened, he would stay on and would help others to work for the party.

If he won the race, he would invite Abhisit and the other candidate – Alongkorn Ponlaboot – to join his team in running the party, Warong said.

“My goal in contesting this leadership race is to make our home stronger,” he said.

Answering the same question, Alongkorn said he experienced “much hardship” making his comeback to the party. The politician had been appointed by the junta to post-coup reform councils.

The trio took part in a public debate entitled “The 2018 Democrat debate: What Thais will get from it” and answered nine questions selected from party members.

The debate, held at the party’s headquarters in Bangkok, was broadcast live on the pro-Democrat, satellite television station Blue Sky Channel and its Facebook fanpage.

Responding to a question about their vision and political standpoint over the next general election, Abhisit said the political party with the highest number of MPs must get the right to form a government first.

He said the Democrat Party under his leadership would work with a coalition that can bring about benefits to the people, without any bargaining for political positions or interests.

Warong said his goal was to lead the party to an election victory and he would not allow himself to be influenced by anyone.

“I will go ahead with suppressing corruption. All political parties must respect the justice system,” he said.

Alongkorn said the Democrat Party under his leadership would not support an outsider prime minister. That would renew a political conflict and lead to a new crisis and a political “vicious cycle”.

“Under my leadership, the Democrat Party is ready to be in either the opposition or the government. Most importantly, we adhere to the public interest,” he said.