The move was believed to be the result of raids on local government offices in Chiang Mai and a company owned by the family of a well-known politician on Saturday, during which security officers found copies of letters “distorting” the draft charter content.

The Royal Gazette yesterday published the National Council for Peace and Order chief’s order announcing the fifth list of officials facing investigation.

“Security officials have found that state officials at some local administrative organisations may have committed offences related to the referendum law and the matter must be handled urgently to prevent it from disturbing peace and order or incurring damage to the state,” the statement said.

Boonlert, who is on an overseas trip, is suspended from duty without pay until the order is revoked. The order also said that officials should expedite the probe and report to the prime minister if they find that Boonlert is innocent.

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said he had ordered the chief of Provincial Police Region 5 to issue arrest warrants for “five big politicians” if they are found to be linked to the allegedly distorted charter draft letters found in Northern provinces.

“We will take action in accordance with the evidence. I do not know if the evidence links to national politicians,” Prawit said.

Meanwhile, police in Chiang Mai have not concluded that the Buranupakorn family is behind distribution of the letters, which were found in Chiang Mai, Lamphun and Lampang.

Police are trying to find other people who are involved.

Provincial Police Region 5 Commissioner Pol Lt-General Thanitsak Theerasawat said they would gather evidence to ensure the cases were handled in accordance with due process.

“We will take action against those involved from the lower levels to the masterminds. Right now we have found three groups involved including the masterminds, publishers and those who delivered the documents,” he said.

Police have also identified suspects who deposited the documents in post boxes in Chiang Maiafter they inspected fingerprints left on the envelopes, checked security cameras and identified several people who allegedly carried out the act. Police, military officers and local officials are searching for the suspects in Lamphun and Lampang.

Thanitsak said some evidence linked close aides of the “famous” family to the “distorted” charter letters, but police still have to collect more evidence before pressing charges.

Meanwhile, Thassani Buranupa-korn, a former Pheu Thai Chiang Mai MP, met police after officials raided her house and company.

She has not been charged with a crime.

Police said four of the people arrested were all from the same group, which allegedly put the documents in envelopes and delivered them.

Wissarut Kunanitisarn, who has been charged with delivering the letters, has sought a temporarily release on bail and will apparently become a witness in the case after he voluntarily applied to join a witness protection programme.

The fifth suspect, Samart Kwanchai, who allegedly distributed 407 leaflets with the message “Damn Dictatorship and Long Live Democracy, August 7 Vote No”, was not from the same group, according to police. Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) chairman Meechai Ruchupan expressed concern that opponents of the draft may resort to “dirty tactics” 10 days before the referendum.

“They have staged such campaigns even before we finished the draft.

“We think it is not fair to distort content of the draft to mislead the public. They have dirty minds to cheat the public,” he said.

Meechai said the CDC was working to the best of its ability and hoped people would pass the draft, adding he would rather not evaluate his work.

“We drafted the charter with an honest intention to steer the country on a peaceful path,” he said.

Meechai said a statement circulating in public – “If you want ‘Lung Tu’ [Prayut] to stay in power, vote down the draft” – was causing a misunderstanding.

“This is misleading because if the charter draft is rejected, ‘Lung Tu’ will leave faster because people will rally to oust him. If the charter draft is rejected, the reform procedures will be in disarray,” Meechai said.

In Korat province, village heads and kamnan met with teachers and more than 100 students to impart knowledge about the referendum. They told the students to tell their families to come out to vote.

In Lampang, governor Samart Loifa led the campaign by riding a traditional horse cart across the province to grab public attention and share information about the referendum.

Angthong Provincial Election Commission handed out traditional fans to 160 school directors and teachers. These fans will be distributed among students to encourage voting at the plebiscite.

Parinya Kemachit, Anthong’s Pa Mok district chief, led a group of bikers as part of a referendum-awareness campaign.

In Yala province, 150 Reserve Officer Training Corps students from five schools distributed leaflets to persuade people to cast their vote at the referendum.

Meanwhile Army chief General Thirachai Nakwanich, who also serves as secretary-general of the National Council for Peace and Order, said the council would not set up a centre to monitor situations or a war room when the referendum is being held.

The council will also not boost security measures in the deep South during the referendum.

“We will apply the same measures as other provinces. The problem there is that local people do not understand the charter draft content as the language used is not very clear. The PM has ordered provincial governors to solve this problem,” he said.

A survey by Yala Rajabhat University on 1,320 people from Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces found that 93 per cent would vote, 2.4 per cent said they were either too busy, not interested or did not know about the referendum, while 4.5 per cent were not sure.

Meanwhile, Pornpetch Wichitcholchai, the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) president, has decided to go ahead with the earlier plan of using 5,018 pieces of teakwood in building the new Parliament after the Forest Industry Organisation (FIO) confirmed that it can provide the wood.

Pornpetch met concerned parties yesterday, including the designers, contractors Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction Plc and project consultants.

The NLA president said the company in charge of the design has insisted that teak is necessary because it exudes Thailand’s identity and uniqueness and also because it is part of the “Thai DNA”.

The plan for using teakwood for the new Parliament building became controversial after FIO said it could not fell teak trees at a plantation in Chiang Mai‘s Mae Hor Phra area as a community nearby also claimed rights over the plot. This is despite the fact that the plot was rented to the FIO.

Since the FIO’s contract with the Royal Forest Department expired last year, it no longer has the right to stake a claim on the plot until the contract is renewed.

PM Prayut later stepped in, instructing the Natural Resources and Environment Department to consider declaring the plot as part of a forest reserve so the teak trees can be freely felled.

Pornpetch said he had spoken to the FIO, and it has confirmed that the teak required for the construction could be provided, though it did not say exactly where the wood would be taken from.

However, he said the wood would come from trees planted by the FIO and not felled from natural forests. Pornpetch explained that the source of the wood should no longer be a problem, adding that the bigger problem is clearing the site and preparing it for construction.

The NLA is also considering the contractor’s request to extend the construction period by 600 days.

The teak controversy prompted reactions from different agencies, including the National Reform Steering Assembly’s public health and environment committee. Committee member and spokesman, Khwanchai Duangsathaporn, who is also head of Forestry Management Department of Kasetsart University’s Forestry Faculty, offered recommendations to settle the conflict.

He said the Mae Hor Phra plot became a point of conflict partly due to the Royal Forest Department’s decision to use the land itself. The department had given the FIO permission to use the plot as a commercial forest 30 years ago, before it declared the area as a royal project, which allows local communities to also use the site.

He suggested that the department makes a clear decision over the use of its forest reserves, and that only pristine forests be reserved as natural reserves.

Secondly, he said, the FIO should not just be planting commercial forests, but also replant degraded forests and barren mountains, because it has the personnel, tools, experience and expertise in planting trees on large plots of land.

Lastly, he said, the National Economic and Social Development Board should take up the responsibility of drawing up policies related to forest zoning as indicated in the master plan to tackle forest destruction problem, encroachment into state land and sustainable management of natural resources. The master plan was National Council for Peace and Order on August 1, 2014.

POLICE WILL seek arrest warrants for at least five people including politicians suspected of involvement in the production and distribution of “distorted” draft constitution content in Chiang Mai.

Deputy national police chief Pol General Sriwara Rangsibhramanakul yesterday said the Provincial Police Region 5, which covers the northern provinces, has discovered an unnamed “old political clique” has been active ahead of the August 7 referendum on the draft constitution.

“They [police] have collected evidence to seek court permission to issue arrest warrants for five people,” he said.

Sriwara was speaking at a press conference at the Provincial Police Region 1 headquarters on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road in Bangkok, where he met with senior police officers to discuss preparations for the national vote.

Chiang Mai police chief Pol Maj-General Montri Sambunnanont said police know the identities of the five suspects and are gathering evidence to support their request for arrest warrants.

“We believe there are at least five people in the initial batch,” he said, adding that police have forensic evidence to back their accusation against the suspects.

“The initial evidence links some well-known local politicians and a famous family [to alleged wrongdoing],” the Chiang Mai police chief said, without elaborating.

On Saturday, hundreds of police and military officers conducted searches of 10 locations in Chiang Mai, including the Chang Phuak municipal office and a company owned by the family of Chiang Mai‘s Provincial Administrative Organisation chief executive Boonlert Buranupakorn.

A number of letters with allegedly distorted content of the draft charter were found at the company and the municipal office. Police also confiscated clothes that looked similar to those worn by a man seen on security camera footage putting copies of the letter in postal boxes in the northern city.

Another search was conducted yesterday at the same municipal office in Chiang Mai and police confiscated a computer and a motorcycle suspected of being used in the alleged wrongdoing. They also found evidence linked to the letters, police said.

Chiang Mai Governor Pawin Chamniprasart said a fact-finding committee had been set up to investigate a suspected link between the letters and local administrators.

However, he added that a further investigation is needed to determine whether Boonlert is involved in the matter. The governor said Boonlert has been on leave since July 11 and left the country last Wednesday. “There is no evidence yet to link him to any wrongdoing,” he added.

An estimated 100,000 police officers will be deployed to ensure the referendum is carried out smoothly, Royal Thai Police deputy spokesman Pol Maj-General Piyapan Pingmuang said.

He added that National police Chief Pol General Chakthip Chaichinda has instructed police across the country to step up security and urged the Election Commission to deploy more officials to prevent illegal activities at provincial and district levels.

Meanwhile, police are investigating seven cases related to the destruction of lists of eligible referendum voters in Bangkok, Kanchanaburi, Khon Kaen, Satun, Supan Buri, Rayong and Phichit, Piyapan said, adding that most of the cases were caused by accidents or human error.

At least four cases involved children and none are linked to politics, he said.

Election Commission deputy secretary-general Thanit Sriprathet said vandalism of eligible voter lists was not uncommon during the run-up to any vote and ongoing cases have not been linked to political motivations. “It happens all the time, either naturally or deliberately.

“In some cases, ballots have been blown away by the wind or soaked by rain. Other times, kids are being kids and play around with the lists resulting in damage,” Thanit said. “But now it’s just that the situation is intense with all the ‘vote yes’ and ‘vote no’ campaigns. So, everyone is a little too anxious.”

Police are investigating the cases following procedures regardless of the age of violators, he said.

Chakthip said that a new list of 306 eligible voters had been posted at Had Moon Krabue Temple in Tambon Yan Yao in Phichit’s Muang district, after the previous list displayed in the temple hall was destroyed by more than 10 monkeys.

Phichit Election Office director Prayoon Chakpattarakul said the Phichit Provincial Election Commission put the 19-page eligible voter list on a board following the incident.

He said he wanted politicians to focus on the country’s future and not to argue about politics. He said the country’s problems lie in poverty and an education system in serious need of reform.

He said reform of education as stated in the charter draft has both advances and drawbacks. For instance, the draft focuses the significance of primary school education but in terms of providing free education and welfare for the less privileged, the draft seemed like a step back.

“But we have only discussed reform ideas without coming up with any concrete measures,” he said.

“Education reform cannot be achieved if the state is solely responsible for the task. The local and private sectors are needed to give a hand to succeed in reforming the country’s education. The problem is the charter draft does not support distribution of power or allow any venues for the private sector to join forces in education reform.”

Abhisit said the draft was also weak on human rights and liberties. “To tackle poverty, we must start from strong human rights and liberties. If the public is not allowed to participate or access information, other issues become difficult,” he said.

“The charter draft vows to crack down on seven generations of corrupt officials, but if the public cannot get information on corruption projects or details on who are involved in corruption, it is difficult to enforce the law. Our current laws have strong punishment but we are weak on enforcement,” he said.

Key Democrats had earlier shown their standpoints on the draft. Most of them opposed the draft written by the Constitution Drafting Commission led by Meechai Ruchupan.

Abhisit said party members had the right to express their view on the draft.

He said people must agree what the country’s problems are in order to find the right solutions. “If we have different questions for the country then it is difficult to come up with the right answers.” Future Innovative Thailand Institute (FIT) president Dr Surin Pitsuwan hoped that after the country has a new charter and an election is held, changes will be allowed that improve the country.

He was speaking at the seminar titled “FIT Education: Truth and Dare” attended by some key politicians.

“We must be open to change to build the country’s future in order to survive in the globalisation era. If we fail to build the foundation for our future, our children will blame us for not preparing for the country’s future,” he said.

Meanwhile Country Protecting Citizens’ Network led by Lt Col Kamolpan Cheewapansri submitted a request with the Election Commission to join the debate on the charter draft.

She said her network wanted to discuss Article 178 of the draft, which stipulated that if Parliament failed to consider the bill on territory issues within 60 days, it would be regarded that Parliament approved of the bill.

“This Article may cause damage to the country because we – Thailand and Cambodia – have border disputes and related agreements,” she said.

She also opposed Article 54, which stipulates that free education is provided till students complete lower secondary school, whereas presently it is provided till upper secondary school.

She also had issues with Article 136, which stipulates that if the Senate fails to scrutinise a bill within 30 days, it is regarded that the Senate backs the bill.

She said Article 146 also stipulated that if His Majesty the King has not endorsed any legislation within 90 days, it is regarded that the law can be enforced.

She also opposed Article 279, which stipulates that any action by the National Council for Peace and Order is not an offence. She said her group would vote to reject the draft, as she believed Article 178 alone would be detrimental to the country.