He said the NLA was screening outside candidates and a large number had applied to become committee members. The National Reform Steering Committee’s political reform had nominated three people.

“We have to screen members carefully. I do not have authority to approve, but every one in the committee must agree on members otherwise we might quarrel from the first meeting,” he said.

Besides, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha must also approve the list of committee members.

He dismissed criticism that the soon-to-be set up panel would decide on granting amnesty to those involved in political conflicts.

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, who is also National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) deputy chief, dismissed the significance of the NLA’s special committee to establish a peaceful and reconcilable society.

He said the reconciliation must be initiated by the NRSC not the NLA. “The NLA oversees the country’s legal affairs,” he said.

Prawit rejected a proposal from political parties to allow them to hold political meetings.

“They have not been given permission [to hold meetings] because the charter draft is not yet completed,” he said.

He said the government would wait and see if it would allow political party meetings before a public referendum, as urged by the Election Commission (EC). The EC has been calling on the junta to loosen its grip in the run up to a public referendum in order to facilitate freedom of expression. People needed time to debate the drawbacks and advantages of the charter draft to get full information before going to the poll.

“We are not sure yet [on the timing of a referendum]. It depends on the country’s situation at that time,” Prawit said.

Prawit dismissed concern about a move by major political parties to campaign for voters to reject the charter draft in the plebiscite.

He said the new charter should be different from previous charters. “If we have everything the same way and the country is back to square one, do you want that to happen?” he said.

Prawit also dismissed criticism from politicians that the charter draft gave too much power to independent agencies.

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam was not optimistic about allowing political parties to hold meetings, though he said the government would think over the idea.

He said politicians had already been making comments about the charter draft in an up-front manner. “They have the right to do so and we thank them for doing so. But if we allow them to speak out officially, it is as if allowing them to legally instigate people,” he said.

NLA president Pornpetch Wichitcholcha said as president he would not stop Akanit from establishing a special committee even though the PM has expressed concern about opposition from some sectors of society.

“The PM had said that it was not yet time [to have the committee],” he siad.

Some NRSA members have opposed the move since they believe it is the responsibility of their assembly not the NLA.

“As NLA president, since some NLA members want to establish it, I support them if they do not cause any damage to the country. I will not stop them. If they cannot continue, they may stop by themselves,” he said.

THE GOVERNMENT will call for a meeting with related agencies, including the Finance Ministry, Bureau of the Budget, and Council of State, today to discuss the Bt4.5-billion budget allocated to help rubber farmers.

Agriculture Minister General Chatchai Sarikalya said the Cabinet yesterday approved the measure proposed by the Ministry to use the budget to buy rubber directly from farmers for Bt45 per kilogram. The purchase would be conducted from January 25 onwards.

“We have not yet finalised the actual demand for rubber raised by individual ministries. However, we are trying to encourage all ministries to allocate their normal budget to support the rubber purchase domestically,” he said.

However, chairman of the Rubber Council of Thailand, Uthai Sonlaksab, was not enthusiastic about the plan. He said the government might not be helping the rubber price by contributing Bt4.5 billion to purchase 100,000 tonnes of rubber at Bt45 per kilogram.

He said the market price of rubber was increasing gradually and would go beyond the purchase price set by the government.

“We have seen the price of rubber increasing in the marketplace from the end of last month. The price of smoked natural rubber jumped significantly from Bt32 per kilogram to Bt39 due to less stock of rubber in the market and the end of the tapping season for rubber plants,” he said.

“What we want to see is the government encouraging the use of rubber domestically, which can be processed into many products for value added. This should be done under this NCPO-installed government. We need to accept that the lower price of rubber is not caused only by outside factors. Both Thai merchants and exporters have also dumped their rubber prices,” said Uthai.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday opened Government House to be a meeting venue between eight government agencies and private companies manufacturing rubber products. The move will allow ministers to have initial discussions with the private sector in finding a solution for the purchase of rubber, in line with the government’s measure to assist rubber farmers. The rubber products being displayed by the government have been divided into seven major categories, rubber products for: tourism, for agriculture, transportation, military, medical and cosmetics, accommodation and consumer goods, and rubber products for industry.

He said that rubber product manufacturers needed to concentrate on product quality and competitive prices. Such activities would help raise the standard of rubber products in the domestic market, rather than importing similar products from neighbouring countries.

“I would like to urge the private sector to purchase rubber domestically. Rubber product manufacturers should also conduct surveys to find out the actual demand for rubber from government agencies, such as for military vehicles and machines so that they will be able to manufacture and supply the right products demanded by the government agencies,” said the Prime Minister.

“We need to check out the real volume of rubber demanded by local manufacturers. Similar measures should be launched as those that assist the rice farmers.

“With this measure, the rice farmers were urged to reduce their plantation area for rice from 30-35 million rais to about 25 million rais. Rubber farmers should be urged to do the same by reducing their plantation areas for rubber to be replaced by other plants,” said Prayut.

An exhibitor, Sitanon Amatawet from Prince of Songkla University’s Science Park, was also satisfied that some officers from Thai Industrial Standards Institute supported the park in enhancing innovation of its rubber medical and cosmetic products. The park also gained support from the Budget Bureau in registering its innovations, he said.

However, Sathaian Techapanyarak from Yong Thai Rubber Industrial said he was only half-half content with the exhibition “We’ve talked to officers from the Industry Ministry and Science and Technology and they supported us.”

“If they had volunteered to represent people and to administer the country, they should have been creative with how to fix problems rather than the conflicts that they took part in,” the general said of politician’s roles during his press briefing after the Cabinet meeting.

“They actually should have to volunteer to solve them and promise that there won’t be any more problems,” he continued, lamenting over how politicians have criticised his regime’s reforms and corruption issues.

Politicians are counted as mere fractions of the populace, he continued, and voices from a majority of people need to be listened to as well.

In response to ex-foreign minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul’s queries to the prime minister on Monday on how he would handle the situation if the charter is rejected again, Prayut only replied: “I have plans in my head.”

Prayut also stressed that he did not want to talk to any politicians in person and would rather do the talking in court.

“But if they enter the judicial process, will they accept things [as they are]? Just don’t do the talking here [in public]. Why didn’t they do these things during their political terms?”

Prayut refused to comment on the latest draft. He just said: “I don’t want to say what is right and what is wrong.”

The PM made a brief remark on the increased authority of the Constitutional Court in solving political conflicts, saying it would be essential to help tackle the country’s crises, as previous mechanisms were not able to accomplish the task.

Deputy PM General Prawit Wongsuwan insisted that political parties were still prohibited from gathering to discuss the new charter draft, as it was against the policy of the military’s ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).

Asked what he would do if the parties lead mass demonstrations regarding the matter, he replied: “We haven’t finished explaining things yet. Why do they bother coming out?”

Asked if there is worry if the two key political parties agreed to reject the draft, he said: “They can shake hands or whatever. The CDC will explain [this] later. But don’t be curious now. [The draft] is not finished yet. I’m not worried.”

Meanwhile, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday during a visit to the Northeast that concerned parties should not quickly jump to a conclusion that the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) would not listen to them and make changes to the charter draft.

However, he said the constitutional issues needed to be debated, and the NCPO should loosen its grip on political parties so that they can hold forums to discuss the issues.

He said several points in the current draft were vague and needed to be made more specific.

Meanwhile, Sompong Sakawee, a member of the National Reform Steering Assembly, yesterday raised four issues he believed would cause the public to reject the charter draft in a referendum.

The four issues are allowing a non-elected PM, having all senators from indirect elections, giving too much power to independent agencies and making it tough to amend the charter.

He said the overall picture of the charter was not good because the CDC had discriminated against politicians by assuming they enter politics to commit corruption.

“There might be a problem, but we have tried our best to get the work done. Some deals and regulations have been amended already to facilitate the work,” Prayut said.

He said the charter draft also aimed to increase the power of independent agencies relative to the people unlike the 2007 charter.

Nuttawut alleged that the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) charter draft, an effort led by Meechai Ruchupan, aimed to help political parties to form the next government and provided a political mechanism to allow outsiders to rise to power. The charter also sought to empower the Constitutional Court to punish elected governments and to empower independent agencies.

“The CDC must embrace a new way of thinking by writing a charter that is democratic and only then can a general election be held. We still have conflicts because we do not have democracy. If we do not correct the situation, we will continue to face a vicious circle,” he said.

“It is just a designation or nickname not an official name,” he said, adding he had not seen details of the charter draft.