Defence Ministry spokesman Maj-General Kongcheep Tantrawanit said the Defence Council yesterday gave a green light to the plan to reduce military personnel by 2.5 per cent by 2028 in line with the 20-year national strategic plan.

In 2008, 768 military personnel took early retirement including several major-generals, lieutenant-generals and generals who served as specialists and senior specialists. By 2028, the military is expected to have only 384 specialists on the rolls.

In 2008, there were 2,698 senior colonels who served as operation officers and 1,349 are expected to remain come 2028.

Kongcheep said the number of new graduates from the military cadet schools would also be reduced in line with the personnel-reduction policy.

Over the past three years, 15,000 military officials from all ranks have taken early retirement.

He rejected it, citing it did not respond to the country’s problems and challenges.

“Considering this … I will not accept this charter draft. This is the [sole] reason for me to consider whether I should accept this charter draft or not. It has nothing to do with politics,” Abhisit told a press conference.

“This draft… will not help us step across the old problems that we have, and that’s the reason I will reject it.”

Abhisit, highly expected to make a stance earlier as leader of one of the biggest parties in the country, stepped out yesterday to make his opinion clear.

Abhisit said he had made the decision in his capacity as party leader, sticking to the party’s ideology of serving the people through the democratic path. He based his stance on three main problems and challenges the country had been facing.

First, whether the draft had responded to the country’s development and served the people at large. In other words, has it given an opportunity for participation in any decision-making on public policies to make lives better or not?

Second, has the draft strengthened or weakened anti-corruption measures?

And third, has it come up with measures to resolve conflicts?

Abhisit said the fundamental element of the country’s participatory development was decentralisation. But he has learned that the draft’s guarantee of people’s rights and liberty has apparently gone backwards, even further than the 2007 constitution.

On the contrary, the draft has opened a way for the state to dominate any decision-making process, while limiting people’s participation through future law promulgation.

This condition would be hard to amend if the draft was passed at the referendum, he said.

Abhisit said the charter draft would not help tackle conflict and division. It had come up with a new mechanism of 250 appointed-senators, which could trigger new conflict, rather than allow normal checks and balances of the representative system to work.

The pre-referendum process, |he said, would add to conflict in years to come as it currently undermined legitimacy of the charter draft itself.

On corruption, the charter draft had removed the impeachment process, while relying heavily on two bodies – the National Anti Corruption Commission and the Court for Political Holders -which had been weakened following the new draft, he said.

Abhisit said considering all these reasons, and not using emotion or political gain, he would reject it.

Abhisit said he viewed that if the draft was rejected, it could offer an opportunity for the country to get something better.

“I can’t accept the draft only for the reason that if it is rejected, we will encounter something worse. On the contrary, if the draft is rejected the country will have a better opportunity.”

He allayed fears that this would lead to chaos, as some people had claimed, saying what many people wished to see was what was best for the country.

Abhisit suggested that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha take the lead in drafting a new charter if this draft failed to pass the referendum. He should stick to the road map to allay any fears, and allow people to take part from the beginning.

He said PM Prayut could start with the 2007 constitution as it was considered the best to guarantee people’s rights and liberties – a fundamental element leading to the country’s sustainable development path and true democracy.

“This stance is not a conspiracy theory of politicians vying for power or anything. No, it’s not. It has passed my thorough consideration, based on the use of reason and my party’s ideology.

“So, I would like you to take it back and find time to consider the essence of what I have shared today as I think that this is the heart of the issue – that we all must help the country to step [up from the old problems].”

 

“Everyone must have the right to hold opinions without interference,” said David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression in a press release issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The press release stressed the act’s Article 61 for criminalising anyone who disseminates “false”, “rude”, “inciting” or “intimidating” messages concerning the referendum and the charter draft. The punishment specified is up to 10 years in prison, a maximum fine of Bt200,000 and loss of voting rights for 10 years.

The junta government responded that these penalties were suitable to Thailand’s “[political] transitory period” that required “special” laws to keep the country in order.

Government Deputy Spokesperson Maj-General Werachon Sukondhapatipak claimed the government adhered to international rights principles and never obstructed public expression of opinion on the draft.

“Should you be worried, as stated in the press release, we are concerned about the appropriateness of personal opinions that may infringe Thai laws,” Werachon said. He added the government was willing to listen to suggestions “if they are useful”.

Chief charter drafter Meechai Ruchupan countered Kaye by asking rhetorically whether the UN truly understood the difference between freedom and acts of reporting false information to the public.

“Only distorted and false information is prohibited from being spread during the campaign period,” Meechai said. “It’s not that people are banned from expressing opinions at all.”

It has been reported that at least 86 people have been investigated or charged under the government clampdown since June, the UN’s press release said. Numbers of activists, including a journalist, were also charged under the act for a campaign urging voters to reject the draft earlier this month.

Kaye urged the Thai government to halt enforcement of the Referendum Act and drop all charges under the act and related military orders. It should also uphold its international obligation to safeguard the broad and expansive right to freedom of expression guaranteed to everyone, he said.

A FORMER Pheu Thai MP and 10 others face charges of criminal association and of violating the referendum law after the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) filed complaints and demanded that they be tried at both civil and military courts.

The NCPO took action after security officers raided local government offices in Chiang Mai and the company of a well-known political clan on Saturday and found copies of letters “distorting” the draft charter.

Maj-General Kosol Pathumchart, chief of the 33rd Army Circle, said a legal team from the NCPO filed a complaint at the Crime Suppression Unit in Bangkok accusing the 11 individuals of violating the Criminal Code’s Article 116.

“This case is under the jurisdiction of the military court so the suspects have been summoned to the 11th Army Circle in Bangkok. The Crime Suppression Unit will take over the investigation later,” he said.

A source said the NCPO accused the 11 individuals of violating Article 116 by expressing opinions without honest intentions and for violating Article 210 due to criminal association.

Seven out of 11 suspects allegedly involved in the letters “distorting” the charter draft showed up at Kawila military camp in Chiang Mai yesterday to face interrogation.

The seven who showed up include included mayor of Tambon Chang Puak Kachen Jiakkachorn, Tharnthip Buranupakorn, Wissarut Kunanitisarn, Aim-orn Dabsok, Atipong Kammoon, Supawadi Ngam-Muang and Kobkan Sutika.

The remaining four who did not show up are Chiang Mai Provincial Administrative Organisation president Boonlert Buranupakorn, former Chiang Mai MP Thassani Buranupakorn, Krittikorn Photaya and Thewarat Inta.

Boonlert, who has been dismissed by the NCPO over offences related to the referendum law, is currently on an overseas trip, while security officials escorted Thassani from Bangkok to Chiang Mai.

Thassani had sought to meet national police chief Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda in Bangkok yesterday to show she was sincere after security officials raided her family’s company in Chiang Mai on Saturday. She was also hoping to ask Chakthip to release her sister Tharnthip. However, before she could meet the police, military officers showed up to escort her to the 11 Army Circle for the seven-day detention. The team was led by staff judge advocate Colonel Burin Thongprapai.

Meanwhile, Chiang Mai mayor Thassanai Buranupakorn turned at the Kalawin military camp to provide moral support to his sister Tharnthip and left.

Those who failed to surrender yesterday will face arrest warrants, while Boonlert has been told to report to the 11 Army Circle immediately after returning from overseas, Kosol said.

He added that the seven suspects would be moved from Kalawin military camp to the 11th Army Circle in Bangkok for investigation over the “distorting” letters.

Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan said police had solid evidence that Boonlert was involved in alleged offences related to referendum law, so he has been suspended from duty. He downplayed threats from the Local Administrative Organisation Association to rally against Boonlert’s arrest since he is president of the association.

Meanwhile, caretaker Pheu Thai deputy secretary-general Chavalit Wichaisut claimed that police did not have enough grounds to press charges against Boonlert under the referendum law, which was why the premier had resorted to using absolute powers under Article 44 to take action against him.

He also wondered if police were too scared to wrap up investigations against those who are allegedly involved in the “distorted” letters.

“That’s why they handed the case over to the provincial Election Commission, which then forwarded it to the central Election Commission,” he said.

Chavalit went on to say that it was unfair to detain Tharthip and Thassani using special powers, as it was not in accordance with the referendum law.

“I am concerned about the country’s image since the government is exercising special powers as the referendum draws near,” he said.

Meanwhile Wicharn Puwiharn, 48, was rounded up at a market in Ubon Ratchathani’s Phibun Mangsahan district for loudly calling on people to not vote at the August 7 public referendum.

Superintendent Pol Lt-Colonel Sopon Kruachao said Wicharn looked like he was mentally unstable, but a doctor at Phra Sri Mahapho temple insisted that he was normal after a physical check up. Police then pressed charges against him for causing disturbance.

 

AS POLITICAL FACTIONS grapple to impose their notions on what the referendum result would mean in a final bid to influence voters, the labyrinth that is the charter poll will not really bring an end to the junta’s mission. Instead, it will just be a transition to a new phase in the long-standing power struggle.

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva’s rejection of the draft charter yesterday did little to ease matters, and instead dealt a major blow to the junta and supporters of the People’s Democratic Reform Foundation who helped topple the elected government more than two years ago.

As drafted, the charter draft would do little to tackle conflicts and divisions, and its new mechanism of 250 appointed senators could trigger new conflicts rather than let a normal system of checks and balances work, Abhisit said.

Also, he said, the government’s pre-referendum actions will only add to the conflicts as they undermine the legitimacy of the draft charter.

Shortly after Abhisit’s announcement, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha responded yesterday by calling on the public not to let others’ opinions influence their vote. “I want people to be strong and not listen too much to others,” he said.

Asked if the Democrat’s stance would affect the referendum results, Prayut said, “You have to ask people if they [the politicians] look down upon them. I believe people know how to think.”

Meanwhile, political analyst Sirote Klampaiboon said the referendum next month was not just about the charter, but also about how the public views the junta.

“The advocates of democracy will vote one way, and coup supporters will vote another,” he said.

“However, there are the non-partisan voters, and their decision will most likely be based on their impression of the NCPO [National Council for Peace and Order],” he said. “When deciding whether to vote yes or no, they might consider the NCPO’s performance over the past two years and perhaps the personality of the leading figures.”

This possibly explains the paranoia the regime has been exhibiting by arresting and taking legal action against those allegedly breaching the referendum law, including little children, teenagers and even monkeys who have innocently vandalised lists of eligible voters’ names.

There are other signs of desperation, as people like Constitution Drafting Commission chief Meechai Ruchupan insist that the rejection of the draft would not extend the stay of this coup-installed government.

Abhisit, on the other hand, has said that rejecting the draft would allow the country to have a better constitution with better people participation.

Attasit Pankaew, a political scientist at Thammasat University, said the junta’s legitimacy would be badly affected if the draft charter failed.

“The regime still needs to stay as it has set a time frame for its so-called road map. Hence they are trying to secure their position now. Why? Because the road will be bumpy unless the charter is endorsed in the referendum,” he said.

The margin of the vote will also be significant.

“Conflicts will arise even if the charter pulls through the referendum,” Piyabutr Sangkanokkul, a law professor and leading figure of the Nitirat group said at a recent assembly of the pro-democracy group on the constitutional agenda.

“The draft charter suppresses a lot of people and a rejecting |vote is a way for those against |the coup to express themselves. Even if the junta does stay on, its legitimacy will not be intact,” he said.

Piyabutr suggested that if the charter fails in the referendum, the NCPO should step down and stop playing a part in the drafting process. He warned that history had shown that there are only two options for dictators.

“They either step down |gracefully or face public insurgence disgracefully,” the academic said.