NATIONAL Legislative Assembly (NLA) president Pornpetch Wichitcholchai denied yesterday that a “special agenda” has been scheduled for early next month.
Pornpetch said he had not made any special instructions to prohibit NLA members from taking leave or travelling overseas starting late this month to early next month.
The NLA president said he had just informally asked assembly members to be prepared for a meeting with an “important agenda” suggested by the government. “There may be some urgent matter. Judging from what the government has signalled, the NLA may need to endorse different treaties,” he said.
Pornpetch said there would be long public holidays in December and he had been worried that some NLA members would take extended breaks, so he asked them to be on standby.
“The NLA has scheduled a meeting with a normal agenda on December 1 and 2. There is no special agenda,” he said.
Pornpetch also dismissed suspicions that the NLA might change its deliberations on the organic laws being written in line with the new constitution in order to conform to preferences of the ruling junta.
He said the assembly would set up a committee to vet bills while also including representatives from the government and the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC), plus relevant independent agencies.
“There are no orders from anyone for the NLA to deliberate the laws in a particular way. The NLA is ready to heed advice from all parties. The laws must be intended mainly for the benefit of people and the country,” he said.
Meanwhile, CDC chairman Meechai Ruchupan said yesterday the NLA could make revisions to the original draft laws as it saw fit. However, he said changes must not conflict with provisions in the constitution draft that was backed by voters in the August referendum.
“If the NLA makes changes that are different from the constitution, they will have to be responsible for the consequences,” he said.
Meechai was responding to concern that the NLA might make many changes to the organic draft laws written by the CDC.
The CDC is responsible for drafting four organic laws required by the new constitution in preparation for the next general election – laws regulating the election of MPs, the selection of senators, political parties and the Election Commission.
Meechai also said that he would not oppose Pornpetch’s idea that government representatives be included in the committee vetting the organic laws. “If there are regulations about that, I would have to accept it,” he added.
Also yesterday, the chief constitution writer said the CDC would add the penalty of life imprisonment – in addition to capital punishment – for violations of certain provisions stipulated in the organic laws, including that any political actor that offers Cabinet seats for sale could be punished by death.
Meechai said the CDC would make changes to the drafts after politicians complained the penalty was too severe.

Auditor-General Pisit Leelavachiropas told The Nation yesterday that the investigation followed reports that Orapim might have received payments from the Army at much higher a rate that was suggested by the Budget Bureau.
According to the bureau’s regulations, government agencies are required to spend no more than Bt1,600 per hour for the services of private lecturers at training events.
“We will see if she really received Bt30,000 per hour from agencies under the Defence Ministry,” Pisit said. “We will determine the objectives behind the payments and also whether they followed the regulations.”
Pisit said designated rates were low when hiring well-known figures for events organised by government agencies. As a result, state agencies often paid celebrity speakers in the form of gifts in order to not break the budget regulations.
The auditor-general’s move came after Army personnel denied making any payments to the 30-year-old orator.
Video clips showing her speaking at Army compounds can be seen on YouTube.
“The Army never asked for such approval,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan yesterday.
“I don’t know her [Orapim]. But I think she has good intentions for the country so please be fair to all sides,” he added.
Army spokesman Colonel Winthai Suvaree said yesterday that Orapim had frequently been invited to speak before military personnel because of her ability to convey heartfelt stories about His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. But the spokesman maintained that the Army never paid her.
Online criticism of Orapim has grown since last week when a video clip surfaced of her seemingly criticising people in the Northeast. Critics questioned the appropriateness of her comments because the speech was related to the late King.

Netizens took to social media to mourn his death, with people admiring the academic for being a genuine pro-democracy political scientist.
The professor had been receiving cancer treatment at Phramongkutklao Hospital since late last month. His funeral bathing ceremony was held yesterday at Wat That Thong in Bangkok.
Recognised as a great contemporary political scientist, Likhit was born on May 11, 1941. He graduated from the Faculty of Law at Thammasat University in 1966 and finished three master’s of arts degrees in international relations, law, and political science as well as earned a PhD in political science from renowned universities in the United States. The professor was popularly recognised as a fellow of the Royal Institute and as a political science lecturer at Thammasat University where he had served as a vice rector for Research and External Relations in 1988 and as dean of the university’s Political Science Faculty in 1983.
His works include the classic Thai political science book “Political Development in Thailand”, first published in 1976, among many other works. It is still studied by many political science students today.
Apart from academic roles, Likhit was also one of the most active technocrats from late 1980s to the early 2000s. The political scientist served in adviser roles to a prime minister, several ministers, and scores of government committees.
Years after his government service, Likhit made an entry into politics. He became a deputy minister of interior in 1997 under the Chavalit Yongchaiyudh’s administration and became a member of the House of Representative from 2001 to 2006 as a party-list member of the Thai Rak Thai Party.
After parliament was dissolved in February 2006, Likhit left Thai Rak Thai and with other politicians and founded the Palang Pandin Thai party, of which he was the leader. The veteran political scientist retired a year after that but was constantly invited to give lectures as a guest lecturer in many universities across the country.
During the final phase of his life, Likhit was recognised as a trenchant critic of the current coup-installed regime. He was invited to speak on many news programmes and at numerous public seminars and he often heavily criticised the National Council for Peace and Order and its government.
Scholars, politicians, and political activists, some of whom were his students at Thammasat University, took to social media to express their condolences and share their impressions of Likhit.
Satithorn Thananithichot, an expert on political institutions from King Prajadhipok’s Institute, wrote on his Facebook page that he had great respect for Likhit, labelling him a “genuine political scientist”.
He said Likhit’s remarks had always proved that political science was underpinned by principles that all political scientists should uphold.
Pheu Thai politician Pichai Naripthaphan wrote: “My deepest condolences at the loss of Ajarn Likhit Dhiravegin, a teacher and an academic who had truly sided with democracy.”
Pro-democracy journalist Atukkit Sawangsuk wrote on Facebook that Likhit had proved himself to be a sane political scientist amid all the insanity in society today.
Fugitive red-shirt activist Jaran Ditapichai wrote on Facebook that he mourned Likhit’s death. He said he had been on the same stage as Likhit in a seminar marking the fifth anniversary of the Constitutional Court.
Jaran said Likhit had been on the pro-democracy side during the political crisis of the past 10 years.
Netizens widely shared banners featuring Likhit’s remark that everything was ruined since the coup in 2006.
Virot Ali, a political scientist at Thammasat University, quoted Likhit as saying: “Everything is screwed up today because people my age have not upheld the principles. I hope people your age won’t do that to the country.”

The drafters were writing organic laws in accordance with the charter approved in the recent referendum, he said yesterday.
The CDC chairman was speaking at the opening ceremony of a seminar in Parliament yesterday to solicit opinions on the organic laws.
Earlier, EC member Somchai Srisuthiyakorn said the CDC “was out of its mind” to write provisions regarding disqualification in the new law that will govern the EC’s affairs.
Meechai said many people wanted the CDC to make a decision over qualification criteria, but the selection committee would judge whether commissioners were qualified to continue their terms at the independent agencies.
He said the CDC’s work was in the interest of long-term reforms and suppressing corruption, which meant the regulations and prescribed punishments could be considered harsh and unacceptable by some people.
Meechai reassured critics that every independent agency would be treated equally, but the organic law governing the EC had to be deliberated on at the outset because the body is responsible for organising an election, implying that the CDC was not being biased in its work.
In a separate interview, the CDC chairman said drafters had attempted to find solutions to avoid the removal of the current EC members, but the new constitution stated clearly that if they lacked qualifications they should leave office.
The CDC was not in a position to make exceptions or it would be blamed for contradicting the constitution, Meechai said.
The debate came amid controversy and confusion over the potential disqualification of independent agency commissioners. The CDC members have said that some might have to leave office if they lacked the qualifications required under the new laws, prompting EC commissioners – including Somchai – to question whether dismissals would be fair given that they were qualified under the current law.
Somchai added that some people had left their previous jobs to take up positions in independent agencies because they were qualified, so it would not be fair to dismiss them before their tenure expired under the terms of unexpected new laws.
Regarding the potential dissolution of provincial EC branches, Somchai said it appeared that very few people had faith in his agency given the public opinion that the drafters seemed to be acting upon.
Meanwhile, Meechai said provincial branches could not fulfil their job of preventing election fraud, so they should be replaced by outsider “election inspectors” who could be appointed temporarily.
Somchai said his agency had three main tasks: make elections as convenient as possible for voters; convey a good understanding of candidates and their policies to voters; and prevent fraud during an election as much as possible.
The organic law governing the EC should be designed to enable it to fulfil those duties, Somchai said, adding the EC had proposed an appropriate draft law. But the CDC had rejected the most crucial points of that document and written an entirely different draft, he complained yesterday.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam yesterday backed the CDC proposal for election inspectors to replace the existing provincial officials, saying it was intended to ensure free and fair polls.
Wissanu said inspectors would be appointed for every election, adding that under the existing system provincial officials accumulated power and influence during their four-year terms. “This proposal may have both strengths and weaknesses. We have to weigh the pros and cons. The goal is to ensure free and fair elections,” he said.
Besides the organic law on EC, the seminar at Parliament yesterday also considered opinions regarding the organic law governing the selection of the Senate, which included a stipulation that senators should be “cross-elected” by 20 occupational groups and candidates would be selected by a group outside of their profession.
Many attendees at the seminar showed strong disapproval for the method, saying it was confusing and it would not make sense for voters from one occupation to select representatives from another occupation.
Participants at yesterday’s event included members of the National Legislative Assembly and National Reform Steering Assembly as well as politicians. However, politicians from the two major parties, Pheu Thai and Democrat, did not attend.