Sudarat was seen on social media riding a vehicle advocating the planting of calendula flowers and their delivery for the King’s funeral.

The Deputy PM said Sudarat’s campaign was merely self promotion. People should know that this was not an appropriate time to engage in any political activities and they should use their judgment, Prawit said.

Prawit said he wated to emphasise that such an activity could not be held. He would send officers to talk to Sudarat about appropriateness while urging other politicians to refrain from similar activities.

If the bill was sent to the Constitutional Court for interpretation, the election planned for November next year could be delayed for another one or two months to February 2019, he said.

The MPs bill is one of the two remaining of 10 organic bills to be submitted to the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) for deliberation. The other is the Senate bill, which Wallop said would probably not pose any problem.

The legislator insisted the NLA would not reject the bills in order to hold up the election.

He also committed a lesser breach of the ethics code for illegal use of a vehicle during the flight, ruled the committee.

The committee will submit the finding to a disciplinary panel for further consideration of actions against Chairit, said its head, Pol Maj-General Panurat Lakboon.

In addition, the government will take legal action against those who intentionally misled the public by posting old news dating back to the country’s massive floods in late 2011, according to chief spokesman Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd.

As Bangkok was hit by heavy downpours from late on Friday night until the early hours of yesterday, some old news stories and images that appeared online suggested that a massive amount of water had been released from the Bhumibol Dam to Bangkok via the Saen Saep canal. These posts, which were extensively shared on social media, were disseminated to frighten the public, Sansern said.

He said those who posted the false information would be subject to criminal prosecution under the computer crimes and related laws.

According to Bangkok Governor Aswin Kwanmuang, the city’s administration has worked closely with the Department of Irrigation to manage the overall floodwater situation, and it is untrue that the Saen Saep canal would be shut as rumoured. He urged the public to update news on the current |situation via the Line ID @bkk_best, on |the website http://www.facebook.com/bkk.best |or the Bangkok hotline, 1555.

Aswin said the city had returned to normal with only a few major streets still flooded as of late yesterday. If there were no more heavy downpours spanning several hours, the situation would be all right, he said.

From 11pm on Friday until the early hours of yesterday, rainwaters reached the critical level of 214 millimetres, causing flash floods in 55 locations across Bangkok.

Meanwhile, the Meteorological Department forecast there could be more rain in and around Bangkok due to the influence of a monsoon and a high-pressure system, but the tropical storm Khanun would have no effect on Thailand after making landfall in upper Vietnam.

Earlier yesterday, Bangkokians who had no urgent business were urged to stay home as many city roads were still inundated, such as Si Ayutthaya Road from the Phaya Thai intersection to the Urupong intersection and Rama VI Road, Rajaprarop Road, Ratchavithi Road, the Din Daeng area and nearby Vibhavadi Road.

Bangkok’s Phra Nakhon district recorded its highest single-day rainfall in a decade after torrential rains lashed the capital late on Friday and early yesterday, recording 214.5mm of accumulated rainwater. This was followed by Phasi Charoen district’s 214mm, Saphan Mon’s 208mm, Yan Nawa district’s 195mm, and Bueng Makkasan pond in Ratchathewi district’s 177.5mm.

Officials said the city had a capacity to drain rainwater in real time as long as a downpour did not reach more than 60mm per hour.

Former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was one of the flood victims.

“It is the first time floodwater has got into my house. I did not lift things up. My car has already broken down,” he posted on his official Line account yesterday afternoon. The Democrat Party leader’s house is in Soi Sukhumvit 31.

Meanwhile, a former deputy Bangkok governor lashed out at the city administration for trying to please Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha by supporting his floating market policy and neglecting the draining of the capital’s canals.

Teerachon Manomaiphibui posted on his Facebook wall that from his experience as a deputy governor, he would urge the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to drain all canals in preparation for heavy rain.

“The BMA should not be worried about the floating market policy of the prime minister,” Teerachon said. “The BMA should explain to the prime minister about the management of flood prevention in Bangkok during the monsoon season. If all canals are kept brimming in line with the floating market policy, flooding will occur immediately,” Teerachon posted.

“All water pumping systems must be turned on at full capacity to drain water. The BMA should not try to please the prime minister without explaining the truth to him.”

The bump in the Thai bourse was also a vote of confidence by investors in the military government’s management of the economy, he said.

The SET is among the top-10-performing global bourses, said Sansern.

The index on Tuesday broke 1,700, the highest in 23 years after Prayut announced that an election would be held in November next year. He was apparently confirming for Thai citizens what he had already promised US President Donald Trump during their White House meeting earlier this month.

Prayut’s announcement created confusion because Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan had earlier denied the election timetable.

“Prime Minister General Prayut did not want people to believe that the announcement of the election timetable was the only thing pushing the index up,” said Sansern.

Quoting Prayut, he said the market had also risen “because investors have confidence in the government’s management of the country that has restored peace and initiated a series of reforms that would underpin the country fundamentals in the long run”.

The PM was also please that the Stock Exchange of Thailand had advanced into the top 10 bourses as rated by Corporate Knights magazine in a report titled, “Measuring sustainability disclosure: Ranking the world’s stock exchanges 2017”. The evaluation was sponsored by Aviva plc, a British insurance multinational.

The Thai bourse jumped from 40th place in 2013 to 10th place in this year’s rankings, as announced on September 27.

SET reported to Prayut that it has pressured listing companies to disclose information and to be accountable to the public, said Sansern.

They are also encouraged to practise international standards for employee turnover, energy and water conservation, waste management, addressing |climate change and workplace |injuries.

Prayut also wants to the general public to view the stock market as not being only for rich investors, but also as a place for savings and investment for the wider general public, said Sansern.

The two remaining organic laws – one on the election of MPs and the other on the selection of the Senate – must be in place before a general election could be held by November 2018 as announced last week by the junta government.

According to the new charter, the CDC must complete drafting a total of 10 organic laws by 240 days after its promulgation in April 2017.

The CDC chairman, Meechai Ruchuphan, recently affirmed that the body should be able to finish the tasks by next month before forwarding them for the National Legislative Assembly’s deliberation.

One of the law drafts outlines the work of the constitutionally independent National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), and was written with the aim of speeding up probes in graft cases. But the current NACC argues that some of the draft’s points may go against the charter and worries about conflicting language that blurs its authority under the new mechanisms.

One concern, as published on the NACC’s website, is that while the charter assigns the Supreme Court to appoint independent investigators to probe an accused NACC member, the draft of the organic law specifies that the authority to order a probe should also go to the auditor-general, and thus contradicts the charter.

NACC president Pol General Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit said earlier that the NACC planned to elaborate on their concerns to both the CDC and the NLA. Amorn has said that the CDC’s |draft law on the NACC does not violate the charter, but that the CDC would take comments from various sides into |consideration.

AS A ROYAL Court Security police officer in touch with young and energetic students protesting against the military government of General Thanom Kittikhachorn during October 1973, Pol General Vasit Dejkunjorn appreciated the spirit of the students.

Vasit wanted to see that spirit of public service nurtured and continued.

“Thinking about what I wrote at the end of October 14, 1973, my feeling about it is the same,” said Vasit. “I still strongly feel that the students’ spirit to serve the country at that time should be nurtured and carried on, following His Majesty’s royal guidance given to them the day before the tragic day of October 14 broke. Besides being responsible to their times, our young students should indeed be responsible for the people, something that I see missing during the modern political periods.”

In his speech on His Majesty the late King and the events of 1973, delivered to an audience at the October 14 Memorial yesterday, Vasit recalled the country’s well-being as the emergence of communism challenged the region. The ideology, in fact, was growing in Thailand, he said. The United States clearly opposed the ideology, with the Thai military government of General Thanom followed their lead. Political suppression became prevalent and there was violence in the country, with politicians suspected of communist sympathies arrested.

Thus came the emergence of young university students who stepped out in protest against the military government’s hard-line actions and its refusal to return democracy and the constitution to the people.

From hundreds, the number of these political novices grew into thousands publicly opposing the government. The military, in turn, had low tolerance for the protests and made arrests.

Vasit observed the situation becoming more confrontational despite the relatively peaceful behaviour of student protesters.

On October 13, the royal court security police were instructed to bring in student representatives to speak to His Majesty at Chitralada Palace from around 5.30pm until about 8pm.

One student leader, Seksan Prasertkul, was absent at first before being brought in and helped resolve misunderstandings.

“The fact is a number of students waiting for their fellow students outside did not agree with their decision to dissolve the protests. They moved close to the palace, and it’s the first time that we see thousands of protesters near the palace,” recalled Vasit.

“His Majesty then informed them that the government had agreed to release the 13 protesters who had been arrested and promised to deliver a new constitution within 20 months, much sooner than the government’s promise of three years. I was the one who read this news to them, and his guidance to them about reconciliation.

“His Majesty actually hardly slept for seven nights, being concerned about the situation,” Vasit told those at the memorial yesterday.

Vasit remembers students singing the royal anthem song while heading to the palace before breaking up.

“I knelt down and cried for the situation being over,” he said.

But it was not over.

As students broke up, bombs exploded and police moved in. The chaotic scene continued throughout the night, with many students fleeing into the palace to seek refuge from His Majesty, marking the beginning of the tragic October 14 bloodshed that some reports place at 77 dead and 857 injuries.

The following day, His Majesty was on television, declaring the ending of the situation.

“I never saw him sad like this. The situation was eventually returned to normal when people heard what he said,” recalled Vasit.

“Some might argue that students nowadays have done their best in serving the country, but my feeling is in several political crises in recent years, I can’t see what role students played,” Vasit concluded.

On the positive side, the number of very poor people has dropped substantially over the past 44 years as Thailand moved from an underdeveloped country to middle-income status. However, the Thai economy has more recently begun to lose its competitiveness, as diversification of the economy has been reduced compared to 10 years ago, said Teerana Bhongmakapat, former dean of Chulalongkorn University’s Economics Faculty.

“In the 1970s, we largely depended on a few export products such as rice, and now we also depend on a few sectors such as tourism, automotive and food processing,” said Teerana. Unless this is addressed, “we’re going to be like prolonged crisis-hit Greece, where people largely depend on tourism and live on welfare”.

Lack of economic reform over the past 10 years has led to today’s over-dependence on a few sectors, Teerana said. Domestic consumption was very small 44 years ago, with the majority still too poor to be able to play a crucial role in supporting the economy through their spending. Since then domestic consumption has grown and become one of Thailand’s economic engines. Yet it now faces constraints due to high household debt.

The consumerist tendency of Thai society may be contributing to the high household debt along with propagating populist policies, the latest one being the welfare card for the poor, said Teerana.

This country’s middle class may have purchased more iPhones per capita than the US middle-class – an indicator of Thai people’s obsessive consumption, he lamented.

History repeating itself?

During 1970s, when commodity prices were high worldwide, Bangkok’s middle class was faced with high prices for rice and foods, and this played a part in the political uprising.

Corruption was a major issue back then, with news reports of corruption among ruling families leading to public resentment. The public was angry with dictators and military officers who took control of government and state enterprises. The result was widespread irregularities in management of state enterprises, including the State Railway of Thailand, said Teerana.

The academic is not alone in his sense of history repeating itself. Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand director Mana Nimitmongkol sees parallels between the 1970s and the economic management model of the junta-backed government. The junta has appointed many military officers and senior officials to board positions of state enterprises and public organisations.

“It may not be an obvious corruption, but such practices run against principles of good governance,” said Mana.

He raised an example of the junta government’s appointments to the board of the Anti-Money Laundering Office. Most board member are state officials and retired officials.

“This organisation has excessive power. It should be balanced by board members who are specialists and are not state officials,” Mana said, expressing a sense of disappointment.

When the public put pressure on the military during the 1970s uprising, the military backed off. Years later the military was back in power and the people took to the streets in the May 1992 uprising, said Mana.

After the 2014 coup, people have again begun questioning the quality of military governance. A current worry is the close relationship between the military rulers and large businesses that some believe is leading to biased policy decisions favouring big businesses at the expense of the people, Manna said.

Anusorn Tamajai, an economist at Rangsit University, said that Thailand’s repeated coups and political violence have disrupted economic development. That in turn has widened the income gap, increasing inequality between the haves and have-nots.

Anusorn said the military has to keep its promise to restore democracy, along with fair capitalism and a just economy.

“It was the first time floodwater has got into my house. I did not lift things up. My car has already broken down,” he posted on his official line account, @mark_abhisit, on Saturday afternoon.

The Democrat Party leader’s house is located in Soi Sukhumvit 31.

Heavy rains lashed Bangkok from midnight on Friday and continued into the early hours of Saturday, leading to flooding on many Bangkok roads.

Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha led Cabinet members and their spouses in giving alms to 89 Buddhist monks at the compound on Friday morning along with several state agencies, including the National Anti-Corruption Commission, led by its President Pol.Gen.Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit.

Other top bodies including the National Legislative Assembly and the Constitutional Drafting Commission also held the merit making ritual at Parliament.

At the court of justice, Supreme Court President Cheep Jullamon led more than 500 judges and judicial staff in merit making to mark the occasion.