PRIME Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has threatened to take strong action against money-losing state enterprises opposed to the government’s restructuring programme.

He said state-owned TOT and CAT Telecom had resisted drastic changes as required by the State Enterprise Policy Committee, the so-called superboard, despite their growing losses and bleak futures.

Prayut said TOT and CAT would not be economically viable if they did not adapt to changes in the telecommunications sector.

Both state enterprises once enjoyed financial benefits thanks to their monopolies in the sector. The superboard recommended that they needed to be reorganised to survive after the end of their monopolies.

They were ordered to consolidate core businesses that are similar, and they may have to form joint ventures.

Face big job losses

TOT currently has about 15,000 employees and CAT about 6,000. They are expected to face big losses because they no longer enjoy big concession earnings from privately owned telecom companies.

Some senior executives in the agencies are opposed to the changes and have refused to sign documents to kick-start reorganisation measures.

The prime minister said it was necessary for state enterprises to implement the reorganisation programme.

“Please do not protest. I will take action against those who are opposed to these necessary measures. If we don’t do it, these state enterprises will be heading for bankruptcy,” Prayut said.

He was speaking at the opening of an institute that trains the public on how to use digital technology.

Digital payment scheme

He urged the public to embrace digital payment technology by registering for the government-sponsored PromptPay system.

He insisted that the system was safe and he would personally register if necessary to boost public confidence in the payment service, in which money transfers of Bt5,000 or less are free.

PromptPay is designed to serve low-income earners while providing the government with financial data that will be used to improve disbursement of welfare funds.

Prayut said low-income earners registering for PromptPay would allow the government to manage public money better.

Pledging to be a president for “all Americans,” the former secretary of state received thunderous cheers from thousands of delegates in the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia where she called for unity in a nation at a “state of reckoning.”

Clinton repeated the convention’s theme of “stronger together,” declaring that her lifelong goal has been to ensure that Americans can use their talent and ambition to strengthen the nation.

“And so it is with humility, determination, and boundless confidence in America’s promise, that I accept your nomination for president of the United States,” she said, as her president husband Bill and their daughter Chelsea looked on.

While she soaked in the historic nature of her accomplishment, the 68-year-old Clinton spent much of the biggest speech of her career taking aim at her Republican opponent, slamming him as a fear-monger with no policy credibility.

A president for all

In an hour-long address, she laid out an optimistic plan to improve the US economy, stressing that “my primary mission as president will be to create more opportunity and more good jobs with rising wages.”

Her efforts will focus particularly on places “that for too long have been left out and left behind, from our inner cities to our small towns, Indian Country to Coal Country,” she said.

And in a bold admission for a candidate seeking to build on Obama’s policies, she said the economy “is not yet working the way it should.”

After a bruising primary campaign against Bernie Sanders, and as she savaged Trump, Clinton extended an olive branch of sorts to her skeptics and critics.

“I will carry all of your voices and stories with me to the White House,” she said.

“I will be a president for Democrats, Republicans, and independents,” she added. “For the struggling, the striving and the successful. For those who vote for me and those who don’t. For all Americans.”

’We are not afraid’ –

The four-day convention has been a parade of party heavyweights — including President Barack Obama who stirringly hailing Clinton as his political heir — and tweeted after her Thursday speech that “she’s tested. She’s ready. She never quits.”

Clinton spoke of the strains that have been placed on US society during the toxic year-long campaign featuring heated rhetoric from Trump and other candidates.

“We are clear-eyed about what our country is up against. But we are not afraid,” Clinton said. “We will rise to the challenge, just as we always have.”

Clinton also rejected much of the Trump rhetoric that has been a constant on the trail, while mocking him as a thin-skinned candidate who “loses his cool” at the slightest provocation.

“Imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis,” she said. “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.”

There are now just 101 days until the election, and the pair will face off in their first presidential debate in late September.

Personal moment

Clinton faces a major trust deficit among a US public that has known her for the past quarter century. Rocked by a series of scandals, she is now about as unpopular with voters as her Republican rival.

Her remarks signalled a plan to focus attention on down-and-out communities that have felt ignored by the slow and erratic recovery from the Great Recession.

Clinton and running mate Tim Kaine will seek to carry her momentum straight onto the campaign trail Friday, taking a three-day bus tour into Rust Belt communities in swing states Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Helping Clinton with her task of appearing as the steady hand at the tiller were retired US military generals, Republicans furious over the rise of Trump, and in one of the night’s most poignant moments, a Muslim father with “undivided loyalty” to America and whose son was killed in a suicide bombing in Iraq.

“Donald Trump, you are asking Americans to trust you with their future. Let me ask you — have you even read the United States Constitution?” Khizr Khan said, brandishing a copy to loud cheers.

“You have sacrificed nothing, and no one!”

Clinton also sought to portray Trump as deeply ignorant on foreign policy, mocking him for saying he knew more about the Islamic State group than US generals.

“No, Donald, you don’t,” she sneared.

Pitch to middle America

While Clinton must play to the party’s base — and seek to soothe bruised Sanders supporters — a key mission was to appeal to crossover voters and independents wary of Trump.

In a moment designed to appeal to more conservative Americans, Clinton forcefully said: “I’m not here to take away your guns.”

And she expressed strong support for the US military, offering a shout out to Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence, whose son serves in the US Marines, and to Senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war who Trump said was not a hero.

But she spent considerable energy berating her November election rival, saying no Americans should trust a candidate who pledges that “I alone can fix it,” as Trump said last week in Cleveland.

“Here’s the sad truth. There is no other Donald Trump. This is it.”

– AFP

“The NCPO’s action against the suspects has deprived them of their rights and liberties because it has accused them of violating Article 116 of the security law,” he said.

The junta’s drastic action stemmed from their fear that the charter would fail to pass the referendum. The military should release them on bail to fight the charges, he said.

Key Pheu Thai politicians saw their request to meet with former Pheu Thai MP Thassani Buranupakorn and the six others turned down. The seven have been detained for questioning on suspicion of violating the referendum law and committing criminal association.

They had dropped by the 11th Army Circle in Bangkok to visit Thassani.

The politicians were told to submit a formal request for a visit the next day.

Besides Chaturon, former commerce minister Wattana Muangsook and former deputy prime minister Pongthep Thepkanchana were among the group.

Salil Shetty, secretary-general of Amnesty International, called on Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to take measures to ensure that people can exercise their rights freely and peacefully without fear of suppression in regard to the August referendum.

“In particular, I urge you to allow individuals to freely receive and impart information,” he said in an open letter.

The public should also be allowed “to engage in public debate and campaigns concerning the draft constitution, to peacefully gather and demonstrate, and to express dissenting viewpoints”, he said.

Chamnong Chaimongkiol, the attorney for Thassani’s family, said Thassani had not been formally charged and he would like to post the bail for her release, citing her health problems from stress, a thyroid condition and a urinary tract infection.

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan denied allegations that the government had targeted the famous business clan in Chiang Mai because they belonged to a rival political camp.

“We do not harass anyone. We do everything according to evidence. The case is being investigated by police, the military and administrative officials working together,” he said.

The action against the Buranupakorn family was not a case of “killing a hen before the monkeys”, a Thai proverb that means “killing one to warn a hundred”.

“Anyone committing any offence will face action. No one knew there would be such an incident inChiang Mai,” he said.

A source said Boonlert Buranupakorn would turn himself in today at the 11th Army Circle.

Kritsada Bunrat, permanent secretary of the Interior Ministry, circulated urgent letters to governors across the country for them to support the public relations campaigns in their provinces for the charter referendum and ensure no offences under the public referendum law are committed.

Maj-General Kongcheep Tantrawanit, spokesman for the Defence Ministry, said Prawit had ordered all military units under the ministry to scrutinise social media messages that deviate from the truth or stir up panic among the public.

They were instructed to check the source of the messages and urge the public to be aware of false information going viral.

Pol Maj-General Ampol Buarabporn, chief of the Chon Buri provincial police, presided over the send-off ceremony of 320 police and volunteers to crack down on criminals and vices in Pattaya ahead of the August 7 referendum.

The officials will target those dealing in illicit drugs, possessing guns and war weapons and trading in contraband.

WITH LIMITED public debate and limited distribution of copies of the charter draft, voters will likely believe trusted “influencers” such as political leaders and activists when they vote in the August 7 referendum, analysts say.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and other powers that be shrugged off key politicians’ decision to take a stand against the draft charter recently. Prayut said yesterday that only a handful of politicians had rejected the draft, while eligible voters number several million.

“If voters let [politicians] influence them, then it’s up to them. You are the ones casting the ballot, you can choose,” the premier said, laughing off politicians’ negative views on the draft charter.

The PM also urged voters to look back at the political unrest before the 2014 coup. “They should decide for themselves whether they want to see that happen again after the next election,” he said.

Prayut‘s reaction came after Democrat Party leader and ex-premier Abhisit Vejjajiva publicly announced on Wednesday that he would not accept the draft charter. Many other well-known public figures have also said that they will vote “no” in the referendum.

Despite the authorities’ seeming indifference, political observers said yesterday that politicians’ comments would have a great impact on voters’ decision in the upcoming national vote.

“We have to admit that the dissemination of information concerning the charter is rather limited. It is possible that very few voters know of the charter content. Hence many of them who have very little information are likely to be swayed by political figures,” political scientist Attasit Pankaew from Thammasat University said.

Major public influencers, including politicians, activists, and academics have declared that they are opposed to the draft charter. The only individuals who stand firm in support of the draft are members of the post-coup “Five Rivers” organisations and the People’s Democratic Reform Foundation and its leader Suthep Thaugsuban. Suthep is a former secretary-general of the Democrat Party.

‘Consider the country’s future’

Suthep, a politician-turned-political activist, yesterday urged voters to base their decision on the country’s future, saying that politicians were “selfish and narrow-minded” and focused on their personal political goals.

“I will vote for the draft constitution, though my decision may go against that of many politicians. For me, national interest comes first,” he said. Democrat deputy leader Nipit Intarasombat said voters would very likely vote in line with their favourite politicians’ stance. “Politicians are way closer to the public. And I believe they trust us and will vote as we do,” he said.

Another Democrat politician Watchara Peththong said yesterday that the rest of the Democrats would follow their leader, in line with the 70-year-old party’s ideology.

However, Prawit Wongsuwan, a key figure of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), expressed confidence that not all Democrat supporters will share Abhisit’s opinion. “No one can have control over another in this [referendum] matter,” he said.

Meanwhile, Prayut yesterday reiterated that if the charter were to be rejected in the referendum, a new one would be written to ensure that an election could be held next year. He cited Abhisit’s statement on Wednesday that he would support the drafting of a new charter.

Prayut, who is head of the NCPO, also reminded people of what had led to the seizure of power in 2014. “Think about what you want to happen after the election. That’s the answer,” he said.

In a related development the spokesman of the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC), Udom Rathamarit, said yesterday that the drafters welcomed different opinions on the charter, but refuted Abhisit’s objections, saying the charter had enough mechanisms to combat graft.

As for the 250 junta-picked senators, the spokesman said the 500 elected-MPs would still outnumber them and they would carry more weight in any parliamentary decision anyway.

Meanwhile, most people surveyed recently by the National Institute of Development Administration refused to disclose how they would vote in the referendum.

More than 59 per cent of the respondents said they were undecided, compared to 33 per cent who said they would vote “yes” and 6.3 per cent who said they would vote “no”.

The survey was conducted on 1,500 eligible voters across the country on Monday and Tuesday.