Chavalit, 86, refused to say how often he talked to Thaksin and who had made the call in their latest conversation.

He suggested that Thaksin needed to “do good deeds for the people” to gain support from the majority of Thailand’s 65 million population, who would then back his return home.

“Khun Thaksin did not have to tell me he wanted to return home. I knew that he did, judging from his voice. All of us want to return [be] home,” Chavalit said, adding that Thaksin had retained his loyalty to the Thai monarchy and his homeland.

Thaksin left Thailand in 2008, shortly before the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders sentenced him in absentia to two years’ imprisonment for abuse of power. He has since lived in self-exile overseas. Chavalit talked to reporters at a restaurant in Bangkok’s Rama III Road area.

He called for the formation of a “provisional government” at least five months before the next general election is held, explaining that the administration would be charged with solving certain problems to prepare for the poll.

A former Army General, Chavalit yesterday defended the ruling junta – the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) – which is blamed for failing to solve the country’s problems after four years in power.

He said a vicious cycle of election, military coup and a new constitution had taken place again and again since Thailand became a constitutional monarchy in 1932. “Thailand is the only country to have 20 constitutions. Most other countries have only one or two each,” he said.

Chavalit served as the Royal Thai Army commander-in-chief from 1986 to 1990, and was prime minister from 1996 to 1997.

Chusak Sirinil, who heads Pheu Thai’s team of legal advisers, said he would wait for the formal charges to be pressed by police after legal officials from the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) on Thursday filed a complaint against key party figures.

“If we find the charges are too severe, we will exercise our legal right to take legal action against them in order to protect our rights,” he said.

The politician said that as representatives of the people, the former ruling party had the duty to protect the country’s and the public’s interests.

“Whether it has been elected or not, the government is accountable to the people. It can be criticised for bad work and damage done to the country,” he added. Chusak is one of eight senior Pheu Thai figures named in a complaint the NCPO officers filed with the Crime Suppression Division on Thursday night.

The others named are caretaker party leader Wirode Pao-in, caretaker secretary-general Phumtham Wechayachai, Watana Muangsook, Chaturon Chaisang, Noppadon Pattama, Chaikasem Nitisiri, and Kittiratt Na-Ranong. Police investigators have summoned the eight Pheu Thai politicians, as well as administrators of the party’s website, to acknowledge the charges against them by next Tuesday, deputy national police chief Pol General Sriwara Ransibhramanakul, said yesterday.

They are accused of violating the junta ban on political gatherings of five or more people, inciting civil commotion or sedition, and entering false information into a computer system.

Phumtham yesterday said the Pheu Thai figures involved simply exercised their constitutional rights and liberties in criticising the government.

On Thursday, Pheu Thai held a press conference under police surveillance at the party’s headquarters. Three key Pheu Thai figures read a five-page statement accusing the junta of failing to achieve key promises made when staging the coup, including reconciliation, fighting corruption, protecting rights and democracy, and improving the economy.

“The past four years under the NCPO will take the country into a dark and dangerous future … 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 Pheu Thai statement said. NCPO spokesman Maj-General Piyapong Klinphan yesterday maintained that the police complaint was not meant as persecution or bias.

“The NCPO has tried to keep peace and order in the country. We need to take legal action when there is provocation for public commotion or violation of the NCPO’s orders,” he said. “We won’t tolerate violation of law. We have to maintain peace.”

The spokesman said that Pheu Thai leaders had ignored a warning by police officers present at its headquarters that the NCPO ban on political activities had not yet been lifted. “They refused to cancel the press conference, so the NCPO had to take legal action accordingly,” he added.

Deputy Premier and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan yesterday was asked by a reporter if the NCPO’s legal action would lead to the dissolution of Pheu Thai.

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said he did not think the NCPO’s legal action would lead to the party’s dissolution.

However, he said, it was possible the Pheu Thai figures involved could be deprived of electoral rights – and barred from contesting future elections – if they were found guilty.

“This could be a problem for them,” said Wissanu.

The sophisticated system, with a price tag of more than Bt6 billion, was this week rejected by the Cabinet.

The construction budget approved by the House for this fiscal year was more than Bt8.5 billion, with more than 70 per cent of it earmarked for an IT system with top-notch equipment.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Tuesday complained that some of the items were too expensive. Subsequently, the president of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), Pornpetch Wichitcholchai, ordered involved agencies to clarify the matter.

Sorasak insisted that the Bt8.5-billion budget was not too high but said he had given up some of the items that were targeted for criticism such as the microphone systems, which were priced at Bt700,000 per set, and a Bt75,000 clock.

The purchase plan had been made taking into consideration future technology, he said. In addition, all the equipment in the plan matched the needs and use of Parliament, he added.

They were of industrial grade, Sorasak explained, noting their durability would have ensured they could take heavy workloads such as continuous use for over 24 hours, which was in line with the parliamentary affairs.

Some of the technology planned in the purchase had also been designed as a solution for Parliament work, the official added, such as preventing illegal voting by MPs on behalf of their absent colleagues. The new voting system also involved fingerprint scans for identity verification in addition to the use of an ID card, Sorasak said.

However, he admitted that the prices quoted in the budget plan did not refer to those set by the Bureau of the Budget. He said the equipment with such specific specifications for Parliament were generally not available in the market.

Both the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) and the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) had already sought information from the office and may investigate the issue, he said.

Following a furore over the additional Bt8.5-billion budget, Sorasak said involved agencies had considered reducing the quality as well as quantity of equipment. For instance, from planning to give each MP their own microphone, now two MPs might have to share a microphone, the official said.

‘Critical to pass budget plan’

The working committee would convene next Monday to reach a conclusion, he added.

But it was not clear by how much the initial Bt6.5-billion budget could be reduced, Sorasak said.

“But we hope that the budget plan will pass this time. If does not, it would affect the whole construction plan,” he said.

Completion of construction of the new Parliament had already been delayed a couple of times. Officials were now concerned that the construction company would exploit the rejection of the budget as an excuse to further delay the plan.

Currently, officials had set December next year as deadline to make sure it would be ready for the new Lower and Upper Houses expected also next year.

Chavalit, 86, refused to say how often he talked to Thaksin and who had made the call in their latest conversation.

He suggested that Thaksin needed to “do good deeds for the people” to gain support from the majority of Thailand’s 65 million population, who would then back his return home.

“Khun Thaksin did not have to tell me he wanted to return home. I knew that he did, judging from his voice. All of us want to return [be] home,” Chavalit said, adding that Thaksin had retained his loyalty to the Thai monarchy and his homeland.

Thaksin left Thailand in 2008, shortly before the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders sentenced him in absentia to two years’ imprisonment for abuse of power. He has since lived in self-exile overseas. Chavalit talked to reporters at a restaurant in Bangkok’s Rama III Road area.

He called for the formation of a “provisional government” at least five months before the next general election is held, explaining that the administration would be charged with solving certain problems to prepare for the poll.

A former Army General, Chavalit yesterday defended the ruling junta – the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) – which is blamed for failing to solve the country’s problems after four years in power.

He said a vicious cycle of election, military coup and a new constitution had taken place again and again since Thailand became a constitutional monarchy in 1932. “Thailand is the only country to have 20 constitutions. Most other countries have only one or two each,” he said.

Chavalit served as the Royal Thai Army commander-in-chief from 1986 to 1990, and was prime minister from 1996 to 1997.

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.