ONLY THE Supreme Patriarch will be exempted among high-level officials in the public sector from making an asset declaration, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has decided.

Other high-level monks, who also sit on university councils, will not be given the exemption, and neither will current lay members of university councils. Many of them have threatened to resign if they were subject to the NACC’s new requirement.

“What we can do for them now is to consider postponing the day the new rule becomes effective,” NACC president Pol General Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit said yesterday. “But we can’t exempt them from asset declaration.” Promulgated in the Royal Gazette on November 1, the new requirement is scheduled to take effect on December 2. However, following a discussion between the NACC and the government’s legal expert, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, the date when the new rule takes effect could be delayed.

Wissanu stepped in after universities protested loudly. Watcharapol yesterday hinted that the new rule might be postponed by 30 days.

“This way, current council members will have more time to reflect and prepare themselves. Those who stay can prepare asset declarations. For those who will quit, they can do so. Affected university councils should have enough time to fill vacant seats,” he said.

The new rule expands the categories of persons required to declare their assets to the NACC.

Chairs and members of state university councils, top executives of public organisations and state funds, along with chiefs of the Armed Forces including the police forces are among those who will have to declare their assets.

So far, the loudest protests have come from the higher-education sector. Because the current Supreme Patriarch chairs the Mahamakut Buddhist University’s council, there are widespread suggestions that he too ought to be required to declare his assets to the NACC in line with other chairpersons and members of university councils.

However, Watcharapol yesterday made it clear that the NACC had exempted the Supreme Patriarch as he was chosen and appointed by the King.

“For others, we can’t exempt them because the current charter requires that they submit asset declarations to the NACC,” Watcharapol emphasised.

Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin, who initially urged university-council members to hold back their resignations, yesterday said all university councils and their members must comply with the law.

Thammasat University rector Assoc Professor Gasinee Witoonchart said five or six of her university’s council members had expressed the wish to leave.

“Several to-be council members, whose tenure will soon begin, have already expressed reluctance to work for our council now,” she said.

The Coordinating Centre for Public Higher Education (CHES) has, meanwhile, stepped up its calls for university council members to not seek an exemption.

Faculty Senate of Thailand president Asst Professor Wiriya Sirichanon said university councils had the power to approve budgets, including the budget used for investments.

“So, we can’t say university councils are free of interests. Policy-based corruption may happen,” he said. “Can’t you see some persons take turn being the chairpersons of university councils?”

Chaweewan Meekleub, an official at Khon Kaen University, said more than 700 legal cases had been filed against the institution’s council since last year.

“There are allegations surrounding the investments by the chairperson of the council,” she said.

Chaweewan said if people were willing to pay taxes and politicians were willing to declare their assets, those sitting on university councils should also not shy away from the requirement to declare their assets.

“If you oppose this rule, it may be a reflection that your intention is not pure,” she said.

The support of the two-time WBC super flyweight champion, now known as Pol Lance Corporal Wisaksil Wangek, was announced by “Muaythaionline Fan Club” Facebook page owner and lawyer Sukit Parekrithawet after a Bangkok meeting yesterday on the matter by Thai boxing insiders.

Chao Laem became a muay thai fighter at age 7, long before he became a boxer, the lawyer said.

Sukit’s comment was made after the meeting at 13 Rian Tower restaurant (Rama IX branch) involving high-profile persons in the muay thai circle, including Srimuang Singsuanngern, the owner and manager of Kaewsamrit Gym; muay thai fighters Khiewpayak and Panpayak Jitmuangnon, and Pathum Thani’s Rangsit Muaythai International Arena boss Amnuay Ketbumrung, as well as coaches and youthful fighters.

File photo // The Nation Photo

They were there to provide inputs on a draft amendment to the 1999 Boxing Act. Sport Authority of Thailand’s Muay Sport Committee Office director Prasert Tanmee was invited to the meeting, but said he was called to another urgent meeting on the same issue by Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat.

Prasert’s absence was a reflection of the Thai government’s lack of sincerity for public inputs on the bill, charged Sukit, adding that the muay thai people’s gathering was a peaceful way to express their views to related agencies.

“This is unstoppable because consideration of the draft law must be completed by November 30 to be in effect from next January,” said Sukit. “I talked to the boxing champion, Srisaket, who said he was a muay thai fighter since the age of 7 and he confirmed he wanted to join a protest march calling for justice. Since the government people won’t come to hear us, we will have to take it to the streets to make our demands in this matter,” he said.

Sukit said the law, if passed, would affect many people in the muay thai circles, go against a long-held tradition and the reality of muay thai tournaments, and cut the opportunities for physical training and financial earning for 300,000 youths nationwide.

Besides barring children under 12 from muay thai and requiring that older teen fighters wear protective gear and be formally registered, the draft legislation also threatens boxers and referees who rig bouts with up to five years in prison and fines of up to Bt100,000.

Referees caught accepting a bribe to fix a match could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined Bt200,000.

The amendment has been welcomed by children’s rights and health advocates, academics and medical professionals. They are concerned about possible violations of the rights of under-15 muay thai fighters and the potential for punches and kicks to cause brain damage.

They plan to sue the Bangkok hospital for Bt10-million compensation, and the lawyer said he would also press for the private hospital to be closed, if possible.

Atchariya cited Cholladda Tharawan’s relatives as claiming that she had not received timely treatment at the hospital that would have saved her life, as the staff had reportedly told Chorladda and her accompanying 12-year-old daughter at 5am on November 9 to get treatment at another hospital.

Praram 2 Hospital had allegedly claimed the woman’s symptoms at the time were non-critical and that she had expressed a wish to get treatment at Bang Mod Hospital, with which she was subscribed for “gold card” medical care under the universal healthcare scheme. “We have already done our best,” the hospital’s director Wanlapa Chaimanowong said yesterday.

Dr Phira Kananuwat, a surgeon at the hospital, said there were CCTV recordings related to the case that authorities could examine.

“Hospital staff did not demand her to register for a patient’s card first. They said she could seek treatments right away,” Phira said.

Atchariya said the family had petitioned the director-general of the Public Health Ministry’s Health Service Support Department (HSSD), the president of the Medical Council of Thailand and the president of the Thailand Nursing and Midwifery Council to punish related parties, including Praram 2 Hospital executives, as well as doctors and nurses on duty at the time, as they allegedly “lacked the morality” to assess the patient’s condition and merely looked at her healthcare scheme subscription.

According to the ministry’s regulation, the hospital could treat any emergency patients, the lawyer said, adding that it was also unacceptable for it to have allegedly allowed a nurse to conduct a diagnosis. As he presented the petition to HSSD deputy chief Dr Prapas Jittasirinuwat, the lawyer urged the department to take action against the hospital within three days.

Prapas, offering condolences to the family, said department officials would later yesterday check whether the hospital had adhered to the Health Facility Act in its actions.

If the hospital were deemed to have failed to help the patient to its full capacity, it could be held accountable for a violation of the Act, an offence punishable with a maximum two-year imprisonment and a maximum Bt40,000 fine, he explained. Dr Akom Pradittasuwan, who heads the Bureau of Sanatorium and Healing Arts, said it would take about one week to investigate the complaint against Praram 2 Hospital. “If it is found guilty, we will forward the case to the Medical Council too,” he said. Chorladda’s mother, Thong-art Tharawan, said she had assigned Atchariya to act on the family’s behalf as they wanted the Public Health Ministry to take action against Praram 2 Hospital for denying treatment for her daughter. She also said the hospital had not yet contacted the family to provide any aid.

Thong-art also said she would not forgive her acid-splashing son-in-law as his action was “too cruel”.

Meanwhile, Chorladda’s husband, 50-year-old Lop Buri native Kamtan Singhanart, was arrested on Sunday night at his friend’s house in Nakhon Sawan’s Banphot Phisai district.

The extra subsidy will be handed out from next month onwards, according to the joint plan of the EEF and the Office of Basic Education Commission |(Obec). “The EEF has agreed to provide financial help on top of the financial support we normally give to students from cash-strapped families,” Obec secretary-general Boonrux Yodpheth said yesterday after his agency signed a cooperation agreement with EEF. At present, Obec offers financial support to nearly 1.7 million poor students across the country.

If they are at the primary-education level, they receive Bt500 per semester from Obec. At secondary level, they receive Bt1,500. However, as surveys have discovered that some 600,000 students are very poor, the EEF plans to provide an extra Bt800 per semester to these students.

EEF manager Supakorn Buasai said his fund would cover very poor students from Prathom 1 to Mathayom 3 levels. “We will use the Bt1.6 billion budget to subsidise their travel and living costs during their studies,” he said.

“Moreover, we intend to help them with the development of life skills and occupational skills, and food.”

According to him, schools will submit the list of very poor students to Obec and EEF by early next month.

“After that, class teachers of those students will have to visit their homes with local leaders to determine whether they are really very poor,” Supakorn said. He expected the EEF to start paying these students via their schools around December 15.

“After that, we expect to see evidence of reimbursement and a student-care plan. “For example, schools receiving the budget should provide proof that the money can be used to keep children in class throughout their semester,” he said.

Although Thailand offers free education to its citizens, some children leave schools because their families are too poor to cover related expenses.