The Criminal Court decided on Monday that it would hear from both the plaintiff and the defendant, with 11 hearings for each, after Watana had been accused of sedition and committing a computer crime for posting on Facebook his opinion regarding the disappearance of the historical plaque in the middle of this year.

Watana on Monday denied the charges, arguing that the post in question was just a matter of him exercising his constitutional right to freedom of expression.

Since the military coup in 2014, Watana – who held a number of ministerial portfolios in previous administrations – has faced several criminal charges, including violating the computer crime law for criticising the junta leader on the Facebook platform, and violating a release-from-custody condition set by the junta that banned him from making any political moves.

Prawit is facing an online campaign pressuring him to step down over off-hand comments he made about the death of a cadet, the remarks having grabbed national headlines.

The campaign founder is prominent figure Thicha Nanakorn, the long-serving director of the Ban Kanchanapisek Vocational Juvenile Training Centre for Boys, former charter drafter and ex-member of the National Reform Council.

Before the campaign was launched, the defence minister also landed himself in hot water due to his wearing of a controversial luxury watch and diamond ring, which he had not declared in his assets list to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) when taking office in 2014.

The anti-graft agency gave Prawit 30 days to explain how he had obtained a flamboyant Richard Mille wristwatch and diamond ring after the luxurious items raised widespread suspicion about the general’s “unusual wealth”.

It has been two weeks since the assets issue first hit the spotlight, but Prawit has remained silent on how he would explain his possession of the items to the NACC.

He said early on in the affair that he would submit a letter of explanation to the agency.

Local media reported, citing an aide of the deputy PM, that the watch had belonged to one of Prawit’s close friends who died earlier this year.

The aide said the pair had known each other for more than 60 years since their elementary-school days together.

The friend, who was a businessman and a watch lover, would always lend Prawit his watches and some were not returned, the aide is reported to have added.

“No, there is no such a thing. I don’t see it,” Prawit said to reporters at Government House when asked about the speculation.

Former Democrats MP Wathara Petchthong raised the issue over the weekend, saying there was an attempt to set up a military-backed party named Pracharat, which would be led by Deputy PM Somkid Chatusripitak.

Prawit also rejected speculation about Somkid leading the new party, saying he did not know anything about that.

Speculation about attempts to set up a military backed party have swirled since Maj-General Songklod Theprat, a former member of the National Committee for Peace and Order (NCPO) national reform working group set up his Volunteer Movement.

Songklod, who is seen as being close to the NCPO, has been setting up volunteer centres nationwide in a move seen as expanding the military’s political bases ahead of the election due late next year.

Earlier, ex-reformer Paiboon Nititawan also expressed a wish to set up a party, with speculation that such a party would throw its support behind the military.

In early November, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha refused to rule out the formation of a political party by the NCPO.

“I’m not thinking about [setting up a party] now but I’ll see how the situation is in the future. There is a year to think about it,” Prayut said.

Klanarong Chantik, who sits on the NLA ad-hoc committee vetting the Anti-Corruption Bill, said yesterday that his committee members would have to debate several topics, including one concerning partners without a registered marriage. “I personally think that it is going to be difficult to define who would have to submit assets declarations in that case,” he said.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) had usually investigated the former partners of political office-holders in the event that they were still financially connected, he added.

“By civil law, they are partners with assets connections,” said Klanarong.

The committee would also have to discuss a clause requiring the Administrative Court to alert the NACC should it accept any complaint about civil servants committing disciplinary offences.

“We will try to conclude our pending topics at Monday’s meeting because we have to present our conclusion to the NLA whip on Tuesday,” he said.

Klanarong expected the Anti-Corruption Bill to be put before the full NLA on Thursday this week.

During the past week, two political activists have been charged with violation of the Computer Crime Act and other allegations, including stirring social unrest and contempt of court. The seemingly brazen abuse of the law to intimidate opponents of the government was seen as a violation of the UN declaration on protection of human rights defenders.

The first person to be charged was lawyer and human rights activist Anon Nampha. He was accused of violating Article 14 of the Computer Crime Act by uploading false information to the Internet and contempt of court.

The other person charged was Lieutenant Sunisa Divakorndamrong, a former leading official with the Pheu Thai Party, who has been charged with violation of the Computer Crime Act and Article 116 of Criminal Code by supporting social unrest.

Human rights lawyer Pawinee Chumsri said the latest crackdown on activists was an attempt to intimidate opponents of the government from speaking out against the authorities, which is a serious violation of the right to freedom of expression.

“We can see that the Computer Crime Act is still being constantly misused against the activists, even though the law has been amended to prevent the use of this law on defamation lawsuits,” Pawinee said.

“However, the officers still widely interpret this law in their own way to silence those who disagree with the government.”

Four human rights groups – Cross Cultural Foundation, Human Rights Lawyers Association, Community Resource Centre Foundation, and EnLaw Thai Foundaion – released a statement on Friday to protest the action against Anon. They demanded that the government stop litigation against all human rights defenders.

In the statement, they pointed out that the lawsuit against Anon can be considered a strategic litigation against public participation, or SLAPP lawsuit, which is a violation of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), as he was on the forefront to promote human rights in Thailand and was helping those who had been deprived of their rights.

The groups urged the authorities to stop the legal action against Anon and all activists as per the UDHR.

AMID the plunging price of rubber latex to below Bt50 per kilogram, concerned officials are now eyeing the potential for eliminating the encroachment of rubber trees in forests. As well as returning forests back to nature, the move would help reduce the volume of latex and thus push up prices.

The Rubber Authority of Thailand recently contacted Natural Resources and Environment Minister General Surasak Karnjanarat for help as he oversees the newly-opened Forest Protection Operations Centre, tasked with suppressing all forms of forest encroachment nationwide.

Cheewapap Cheewatham, head of one of the centre’s special forest suppression taskforces, Phayak Prai, realises that suppressing illegal rubber plantations in forests is about more than pushing up plunging latex prices.

It’s about protecting the country’s precious forests, which have been extensively degraded by the expansion of this kind of plantation.

“Comparing the potential and role of pristine forests to that of plantations, you see very distinctive differences in the benefits and losses of these two types of tree plots. The fact is the benefits from our forests are shrouded by the growth of the economy, which does not reflect their true value and contribution to sustainable growth,” Cheewapap said, pointing to the remarks of a fellow researcher.

The origin of Thai rubber

Rubber is one of Thailand’s economic crops, a long-time champion export commodity with an annual volume of around 350,000 tons, as reported last year, worth Bt 155,684 million.

The first tree was reportedly introduced more than 130 years ago to Trang province by the so-called “Father of the Rubber Tree”, Phraya Ratsadanupradit (Khaw Sim Bee na Ranong).

It became popular among residents of the South, grown in vast swathes throughout the region, quickly becoming one of the country’s prime export crops.

During the height of the Thaksin government, the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry in 2005 introduced the one-million-rai rubber tree project, which was aimed at expanding rubber plantations in other regions to respond to growing demand around the world, especially from China.

Tree planting expanded extensively, exceeding the initial plans, while reports of forest encroachment by the new plantations continued to surge.

According to the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry (Monre), rubber plantations nationwide account for around 30 million rai (4.8 million hectares), about triple what they were in 1986.

Of these, 8.5 million rai are in the forest, with 5.2 million sitting in forest reserves, and another 1.04 million encroaching upon the protected forests, including national parks. Yet around another 2 million more are located in the forests protected under the ageing 1941 forest law and others.

Of the 5.2 million rai encroaching on forest reserves, the Royal Forestry Department has estimated that 1.2 million rai are occupied by “Nai Tun”, rich and influential figures, many of them organised crime groups.

Of the 1.04 million rai of plantations within the protected forests, the Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation has learned that around 120,000 rai are effectively under the control of Nai Tun.

Nai Tun have altogether encroached on around 1.32 million rai in various types of forests.

Ecological values

Also an academic, Cheewapap understands why rubber should not be grown in the forests.

Forests, especially those in watershed areas, have a complex system comprising components that include living organisms, whose interactions function to maintain a balance within the watershed system and the earth underneath, Cheewapap explained. This in turn provides ecological services downstream, including preservation of soil and water.

As the system is disrupted and changes occur, the rate of rainwater absorption by the soil surface, for instance, can be reduced by almost 50 per cent, thus affecting the system’s ecological services, including prevention of soil erosion.

What follows, he said, is an increase of overflows and runoffs over the soil surface, and thus flash floods.

A rubber plantation, when compared with a fertile forest, is not biologically diverse and the tree itself has shallow roots which cannot hold onto the soil underneath and thus increases the rate of soil erosion and runoff.

Worse, rubber planters tend to use fertilisers and pesticides to boost production in the forest, causing accumulative effects of chemical contamination in soil and water sources.

Cheewapap cited a 2012 study of 25 watersheds nationwide by the Pollution Control Department. It found that pollution caused by biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) occurred the most, followed by nitrogen, and pesticides, which were around 13.7 million kilograms, 4.2 million kg, and 1.15 million kg, respectively.

Southwestern and Southeastern coastal watersheds, as well as Mekong watersheds were the most affected areas as they had vast areas of rubber plantations.

Cheewapap cited another study by Dr Pongsak Witawatchutikul, a ministry forest expert, that found Thailand should have had watershed areas accounting for 25 per cent of the country’s land mass, but found that the entire forest area of the nation adds up to only around 23 per cent.

“The impacts of rubber plantations on the ecosystem are overlooked just because they look like the forests when seen from afar. But structurally, the plantations cause an extensive change to the forest structures and functions needed to sustain ecological services,” Cheewapap quotes Pongsak as saying.

Pongsak has studied the economic values of the watersheds and found that pristine forests could yield higher economic values – a Bt14,000 per rai per year – than that from a rubber plantation. In contrast, changes to the ecological system by rubber plantations cause a loss worth Bt81,600 per rai per year.

Renewed suppression efforts

Realising how threatening rubber plantations could be, Monre recently came up with new measures to suppress their expansion in the forest. They aim to cut large quantities of latex from the plantations illegally encroaching on the forestland, and especially those owned by Nai Tun.

Despite the efforts to suppress illegal forest encroachment by the FPOC, the ministry learned that Nai Tun have applied a new trick by hiring migrant labourers to collect latex in confiscated plantations. It has thus come up with six additional measures to support the FPOC’s operation.

Besides extraditing the cases, which so far, have involved 160,000 rai of rubber plantations, the ministry has instructed the FPOC to integrate forces to block illegal latex collection from those confiscated plots.

Latex and plantations under the Forest Industry Organisation, estimated at around 86,000 rai, would also be aborted.

For cases concerning the poor, the ministry would work with the RAT to extradite classification of land uses among them.

Those sitting on Watershed levels 3, 4, and 5 would initially be allowed to continue their uses of forest land, but those sitting on Watershed levels 1 and 2, which are fragile, would be required to imitate the ecosystem of forest in their plantations to help maintain ecological balance.

To demonstrate how serious the state is on this issue, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha last Tuesday gave a directive for concerned officials to deal with the problem, stressing that for plantations owned by Nai Tun, no trees would be spared.

Cheewapap said based on academic findings, the argument should now be considered settled as to where rubber should be grown.

As it has long been wrongly grown in watershed areas, the solution could involve imitating a healthy forest ecosystem by planing other tree species alongside the rubber trees.

Confiscated areas in particular, he added, should be blocked from any attempts by encroachers to trespass to collect latex. They should be left undisturbed and given the chance to regenerate as natural forests again, Cheewapap stressed.

But given the recent move by the junta allies – former People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) leader Suthep Thaugsuban and former member of the nowdefunct National Reform Council Paiboon Nititawan – the unleashing they are getting could go beyond the political ban issue, and with dramatic impact.

Two months after the political party law came into effect, Paiboon last week, almost out of the blue, appealed to the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) to consider revisฌing the law in order to deregisฌter all members of all parties so that old and new parties could simฌilarly and fairly start over from scratch in the runup to the election.

The law states that existing party members could be exempted from paying membership fees for four years while new parties would have to collect at least Bt1,000 from each new member. That, according to Paiboon, was not fair.

A day after the card was played, Suthep, in a rare move, came out and voiced that to be fair with old and new parties alike, the political party organic law should be revised to fit with the current circumstance and to ensure political parties could exactly practise the law. Although he was not specific about the revision, the remark seemed to back and give more weight to Paiboon’s call.

It could be just a coincidence that two former leaders of the movement that paved the way for the 2014 coup came out around the same time to call for the organic law, already promulgated, to be amended to ensure fairness among parties. But if the regime really takes up the matter, interest will all be aligned to the NCPO’s side.

For one thing, if the promulgatฌed law were to be amended, the process would take several months at least to complete. And given that it is one of the four organic laws necessary for the holding of an elecฌtion, a vote delay could be expectฌed as a consequence. This was not to mention how the law associated with it – the MPs election organic law – will also need to be revised accordingly, hence prolonging the process as well as the rule of the current regime.

But on top of that, the revision could also have subtle effect on political polarisation both in the domestic and interparty levels.

By nullifying existing members of all parties as Paiboon proposes, party members and politicians would all be unleashed and become independent.

All cards would be jumbled and some could take this opportunity to shuffle and reposition themselves, getting out of an old party affiliaฌtion and into a new one with fewer hurt feelings among former allies.

The depolarisation would weakฌen existing parties but on top of that, it could be a plus for the militarybacked regime.

Given the legฌislative and other election preparaฌtions, ongoing military influence even after the election is on the cards. Some politicians may have seen this coming and are considerฌing joining up with a mediumsized party to back up the junta so they could be in the government, too.

In addition to the interparty level, a reshuffling would also take place in each party, too, after the deregistration of party members.

This could be the case for the Democrat Party, where there is a power struggle between the tradiฌtional democrat faction led by Abhisit Vejjajiva, who is backed by former leader Chuan Leekpai, and the emerging power of the PDRC led by Suthep, which enjoys strong political currency gained during the 2013 movement.

If the junta decided to push the reset button, Abhisit’s party leadฌership and the current party execฌutive members would be removed inexorably as their membership to the party is terminated.

The vacuum opens an opportuฌnity for the PDRC influence to take hold of the reins of the Democrat Party.

And given the alliance between the PDRC and the current regime, it is not hard to imagine how poliฌtics after the election would turn out under this scenario.

To amend any law, the NLA must comply with Article 77 of the current charter, which states that a law amendment needs to listen to the opinion of the agencies concerned, he stressed.

In response to suggestions to amend the law to bring about fairness and equality for all political parties, Peerasak said such an amendment depends on the Election Commission, which will implement the law, and the government.

“We are not authorised to propose the amendment because the law requires budget commitments – so it is the government who has the authority,” he said.

This past week, many political heavyweights have come forward to propose amendments to politics-related laws. This has prompted speculation that they may have something to do with the government’s road map, because an amendment would take some time and delay the election scheduled for late next year.

Peerasak also responded negatively to a proposal to amend the 2017 charter to free MP candidates from the apron strings of their parties, as suggested by political heavyweight Somsak Thepsuthin of Matchimathipataya Party.

“It is not easy [to amend the charter]. And again, it is authorised by the government,” he said, adding that the chief of National Council for Peace and Order, General Prayut Chan-o-cha, could exercise his absolute power via Article 44 to solve the deadlock

Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw) revealed that the NHRC Act, which came into effect on Tuesday, limited the power of the commission to set up a subcommittee to investigate complaints about human rights violations. iLaw quoted former NHRC commissioner Sunee Chairos as saying the new NHRC Act will lessen the agency’s ability to perform its duty.

According to iLaw, the problematic point in the new law was Article 29 which stipulated that the NHRC must consider the worthiness of a case in order to set up a subcommittee to investigate specific issues, and the NHRC should consider hiring outside people or institutions to do this task.

Sunee said she had previously warned about the limitations imposed by the new law and how it would impact the performance of the NHRC. She argued that hired academics or institutions cannot investigate human rights violations as well as the NHRC’s subcommittee, which is made up of experts in that field.

She cautioned that in order to properly understand the nature of each case, the subcommittee must go into the field to interview the people, see the situation in the real environment, and invite related agencies for their side of information. This cannot be done by hired academics or institutions, she said.

Under the old law, the subcommittee had a duty to help the NHRC committee consider specific complaints on human rights violations and investigate these issues such as land conflicts over special economic zones, dams on Mekong River, or coal-fed power plant projects in the South.

“I listen to what people say about politics and think them through. But I would not be able to follow all that they say,” Prayut said.

Somsak, a former key figure in the now defunct Thai Rak Thai Party, emerged from obscurity yesterday and held a press conference to express his political views. HE suggested that MPs be freed from the apron strings of their parties, but such a move would require an amendment to the new Constitution.

This week, many political heavyweights have come forward to propose amendments to politics-related laws, prompting speculation that they may have something to do with the government’s road map because an amendment, if it were to be carried out, would take some time and delay the election scheduled for next year.

Aside from Somsak, the junta-appointed former reformer, Paiboon Nititawan, proposed on Monday that the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) should amend the political party law to require parties to re-register all of their members to “create a fair field for all old and new parties”.

While new members would have to pay registration fees to parties as required by the bill, existing members who were signed up before the promulgation of the law in early October could maintain their membership without paying, Paiboon, a founder of the People’s Reform Party, suggested.

The former leader of the now defunct People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), Suthep Thaugsuban, also submitted a letter to the NLA, proposing amendments to the bill. He reasoned that the law should be fixed “in accordance with the country’s situation” and “to bring about fairness and equality for all parties, whether old or new”.

Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-ngam said amending the charter was a big issue and deemed impossible. He declined to say whether these proposals suggested that the election could be delayed by the junta. He said he had no knowledge about this and it was hard to predict. Legally speaking, Wissanu said, the charter addresses clearly the path to be followed.

Wissanu said an amendment to the political party law is not clear. There are two approaches to this: One is enforcing Article 44 to override it, something that he has not yet been assigned to do by the National Council for Peace and Order. The other way is through the NLA, but this needs one-fifth, or 25 NLA members, to propose the amendment.

Chusak Sirinil, who chairs Pheu Thai’s legal team, rejected Somsak’s proposal, saying it would return politics to the old era, arguing that political parties were already in existence and accepted as representatives of the people for pursuing political activities. Chusak said any attempt to amend the charter would be interpreted as an attempt to delay the election and stall the road map, because an amendment is a long process, including a referendum.

Chusak also disagreed with the idea to amend the political party law, saying it did not pose a disadvantage to any parties as claimed.

Democrat parties deputy leaders Ongart Klampaiboon and Nipit Intrasombat said yesterday the call by Somsak Thepsuthin to amend the charter to allow independent MP candidates and reduce the size of the House to 400 members, could affect other organic laws or even the Constitution.

The amendment ultimately could cause an election delay, they said.