House Speaker Asks Cabinet Members To Show Respect To Thai Parliament

[webfact]

House speaker asks Cabinet members to show respect to Parliament

By THE NATION

House Speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont yesterday asked prime minister-designate Yingluck Shinawatra and Cabinet members to attend a House session and answer MPs' questions.

He said their attendance would show their respect to Parliament.

Pheu Thai sources who asked not to be named said there was concern as to how Yingluck would handle the opposition Democrats' scrutiny during House sessions.

Her brother Thaksin Shinawatra was criticised for not attending House sessions while he was the prime minister.

Introducing his working principle at the beginning of yesterday's session, the new Speaker Somsak also cited the problem of the House being adjourned because of the lack of a quorum that occurred many times in the previous House sessions. He asked the MPs to attend the House regularly to make the sessions effective.

He also said he and his deputies would strictly follow parliamentary regulations.

Democrat chief adviser Chuan Leekpai said it should be clear how those attending the House should be counted, as during the past government, Pheu Thai MPs attended sessions but did not swipe their MP identification cards to register their presence.

Democrat MP Suthas Ngernmune asked Somsak whether the counting would be according to the MPs actually sitting in the sessions or would be checked from the electronic record.

Somsak asked the MPs not to mention the past and said he would decide on a proper method to count attendees.

To the media, Somsak said he would not join Pheu Thai Party meetings to ensure his neutrality as Speaker.

Somsak, who has been dubbed "Master Gavel", said he did not really need a gavel but he had the authority as the chairman of the House.

He earlier instructed security guards to remove opposition MP Chuwit Kamolvisit on grounds of violating House rules.

Chuwit's removal marred the proceedings on the vote to elect Yingluck as prime minister.

In opening the floor for consultation ahead of the vote, Chuwit aired his complaint about the seating arrangement.

Somsak ruled to defer the complaint for the next session. Chuwit insisted on speaking and stood up despite Somsak's order for him to sit down.

The Speaker ruled that Chuwit had violated the rules by standing to protest but using the occasion to complain.

Chuwit refused to comply with the ruling, prompting the Speaker's instruction for his removal. As two guards arrived to escort him out, he greeted them and sat down. This led to a protest by Democrat MP Boonyod Sukthinthai, who said the removal must be fully carried out.

Chuwit then walked out of the chamber under the guards' escort.

As the vote was called, the Speaker invited him to re-enter the chamber to cast his vote.

-- The Nation 2011-08-06

[timekeeper]

way to go Chuwit!

somebody needs to stand up against these bully boys.........

[sungod]

Love this line,

"Introducing his working principle at the beginning of yesterday's session, the new Speaker Somsak also cited the problem of the House being adjourned because of the lack of a quorum that occurred many times in the previous House sessions. He asked the MPs to attend the House regularly to make the sessions effective."

Now that his party are in government, it shouldn't be too much of a problem as in the previous house it was PT who always failed to show.

[geriatrickid]

way to go Chuwit!

somebody needs to stand up against these bully boys.........

Hopefully, you were attempting sarcasm. Otherwise.......

Bully boys? The MP did not follow the instructions of the Speaker. The Speaker's obligation is to maintain order and the preserve the dignity of the House. Not everyone can sit where they wish in the chamber. This particular MP was demanding that someone else be pushed out so he could have a better seat. Boohoo.

The Speaker offered the MP an opportunity to discuss the situation at a more appropriate time. The MP chose to misbehave and to act in a manner unbecoming of a sitting MP. The Speaker also showed restraint and patience by allowing the MP to return for the vote.

[geriatrickid]

Love this line,

"Introducing his working principle at the beginning of yesterday's session, the new Speaker Somsak also cited the problem of the House being adjourned because of the lack of a quorum that occurred many times in the previous House sessions. He asked the MPs to attend the House regularly to make the sessions effective."

Now that his party are in government, it shouldn't be too much of a problem as in the previous house it was PT who always failed to show.

????????

Democrat chief adviser Chuan Leekpai said it should be clear how those attending the House should be counted, as during the past government, Pheu Thai MPs attended sessions but did not swipe their MP identification cards to register their presence.

It would appear that the Democrat chief adviser disagrees with your opinion. The PTP members were there. They just didn't swipe their MP cards.

[Bagwan]

way to go Chuwit!

somebody needs to stand up against these bully boys.........

I've always thought that Chuwit was no better, or worse, than all the rest of them. Now I'm beginning to warm to him. Give 'em hell matey.

[sungod]

Love this line,

"Introducing his working principle at the beginning of yesterday's session, the new Speaker Somsak also cited the problem of the House being adjourned because of the lack of a quorum that occurred many times in the previous House sessions. He asked the MPs to attend the House regularly to make the sessions effective."

Now that his party are in government, it shouldn't be too much of a problem as in the previous house it was PT who always failed to show.

????????

Democrat chief adviser Chuan Leekpai said it should be clear how those attending the House should be counted, as during the past government, Pheu Thai MPs attended sessions but did not swipe their MP identification cards to register their presence.

It would appear that the Democrat chief adviser disagrees with your opinion. The PTP members were there. They just didn't swipe their MP cards.

??????????? to you too, sorry I forgot you were a Thaksin groupie,

Let me slightly rephrase it then, 'it shouldn't be much of a problem as in the previous house, it was his own party Peau Thai who always failed to swipe their cards'

Make you feel better?

[Thaddeus]

way to go Chuwit!

somebody needs to stand up against these bully boys.........

I've always thought that Chuwit was no better, or worse, than all the rest of them. Now I'm beginning to warm to him. Give 'em hell matey.

The rubber hammer was a work of art.

[jonclark]

way to go Chuwit!

somebody needs to stand up against these bully boys.........

I've always thought that Chuwit was no better, or worse, than all the rest of them. Now I'm beginning to warm to him. Give 'em hell matey.

Have to agree It's always good to have the proverbial fox amongst the chickens and ruffle a few feathers.

[OzMick]

Love this line,

"Introducing his working principle at the beginning of yesterday's session, the new Speaker Somsak also cited the problem of the House being adjourned because of the lack of a quorum that occurred many times in the previous House sessions. He asked the MPs to attend the House regularly to make the sessions effective."

Now that his party are in government, it shouldn't be too much of a problem as in the previous house it was PT who always failed to show.

????????

Democrat chief adviser Chuan Leekpai said it should be clear how those attending the House should be counted, as during the past government, Pheu Thai MPs attended sessions but did not swipe their MP identification cards to register their presence.

It would appear that the Democrat chief adviser disagrees with your opinion. The PTP members were there. They just didn't swipe their MP cards.

And why didn't they swipe their cards? Because they were trying to disrupt proceedings, either by the sitting failing to make a quorum, or by voting and giving a vote count out of synch with the official count of those present. Pettier Than Puerile, Pray Thaksin Pays, Pass The Payola - pick your acronym!

[473geo]

way to go Chuwit!

somebody needs to stand up against these bully boys.........

I've always thought that Chuwit was no better, or worse, than all the rest of them. Now I'm beginning to warm to him. Give 'em hell matey.

I guess he really upset people by removing himself from the proceedings....only to be allowed to return to vote if he behaved like an adult

[473geo]

Love this line,

"Introducing his working principle at the beginning of yesterday's session, the new Speaker Somsak also cited the problem of the House being adjourned because of the lack of a quorum that occurred many times in the previous House sessions. He asked the MPs to attend the House regularly to make the sessions effective."

Now that his party are in government, it shouldn't be too much of a problem as in the previous house it was PT who always failed to show.

????????

Democrat chief adviser Chuan Leekpai said it should be clear how those attending the House should be counted, as during the past government, Pheu Thai MPs attended sessions but did not swipe their MP identification cards to register their presence.

It would appear that the Democrat chief adviser disagrees with your opinion. The PTP members were there. They just didn't swipe their MP cards.

And why didn't they swipe their cards? Because they were trying to disrupt proceedings, either by the sitting failing to make a quorum, or by voting and giving a vote count out of synch with the official count of those present. Pettier Than Puerile, Pray Thaksin Pays, Pass The Payola - pick your acronym!

Really, and the Democrats were not smart enough to stamp it out......but fair play to them a good show of unification to assist on the improvements now

[hammered]

I think it is good that the speaker has said the PM and cabinet should attend parliament and answer questions as this was a criticism and failing of Thaksin

Obviously if someone is in the house they should be counted as there whether they have swiped a card or not. If this was a problem in the previous parliament then the speaker should have resolved it. It is ridiculous and childish to say you are not there because you didn't swipe a card but were in the room. Parliamentarians are elected to represent the people. They should be there for every meeting they can and register a vote on all issues. That is their job. If this was a problem previously lets hope the behaviour doesn't continue.

[OzMick]

Love this line,

"Introducing his working principle at the beginning of yesterday's session, the new Speaker Somsak also cited the problem of the House being adjourned because of the lack of a quorum that occurred many times in the previous House sessions. He asked the MPs to attend the House regularly to make the sessions effective."

Now that his party are in government, it shouldn't be too much of a problem as in the previous house it was PT who always failed to show.

????????

Democrat chief adviser Chuan Leekpai said it should be clear how those attending the House should be counted, as during the past government, Pheu Thai MPs attended sessions but did not swipe their MP identification cards to register their presence.

It would appear that the Democrat chief adviser disagrees with your opinion. The PTP members were there. They just didn't swipe their MP cards.

And why didn't they swipe their cards? Because they were trying to disrupt proceedings, either by the sitting failing to make a quorum, or by voting and giving a vote count out of synch with the official count of those present. Pettier Than Puerile, Pray Thaksin Pays, Pass The Payola - pick your acronym!

Really, and the Democrats were not smart enough to stamp it out......but fair play to them a good show of unification to assist on the improvements now

The man with the facile answers speaks up! Pray tell, how do you stamp it out? Refuse PTP MPs entry because they "forgot" their card - what propaganda that would make! Or abandon the card system and bog the proceedings down while counting heads, as PTP members flit in and out.

Opposition MPs are there to keep the govt honest, not to prevent the govt from achieving their goals. I would hope the games will now stop, now that PTP has the reins.

[473geo]

Good grief.....300 baht a day for a security guard to insist all members swipe in.......use the fire/bomb evacuation excuse......"we must have all the names of people present if an evacuation should take place, so if you would be sure to swipe in please"

[OzMick]

Good grief.....300 baht a day for a security guard to insist all members swipe in.......use the fire/bomb evacuation excuse......"we must have all the names of people present if an evacuation should take place, so if you would be sure to swipe in please"

Refuse PTP members entry and all across Isaan the red media goes into overdrive - "Your representatives refused entry to Parliament", "Only happens to PTP", "Dems pushing through legislation by refusing opposition entry."

The worst part is the muppets will believe it.

Sometimes life just isn't as simple as like to look at it.

[siampolee]

I wouldn't worry too much chaps, those P.T.P.. members will be there in the house swiping in merrily as their boss and his cronies are very keen as has been proved in the past at , "swiping ."

"Swiping" will be the key word on the lips of the P.T.P faithful.

Edited August 6, 2011 by siampolee

[473geo]

Good grief.....300 baht a day for a security guard to insist all members swipe in.......use the fire/bomb evacuation excuse......"we must have all the names of people present if an evacuation should take place, so if you would be sure to swipe in please"

Refuse PTP members entry and all across Isaan the red media goes into overdrive - "Your representatives refused entry to Parliament", "Only happens to PTP", "Dems pushing through legislation by refusing opposition entry."

The worst part is the muppets will believe it.

Sometimes life just isn't as simple as like to look at it.

Actually it is as simple as I look at it....................your imagination creates the fog of confusion

[geriatrickid]

[

The man with the facile answers speaks up! Pray tell, how do you stamp it out? Refuse PTP MPs entry because they "forgot" their card - what propaganda that would make! Or abandon the card system and bog the proceedings down while counting heads, as PTP members flit in and out.

Opposition MPs are there to keep the govt honest, not to prevent the govt from achieving their goals. I would hope the games will now stop, now that PTP has the reins.

Nothing stopped the previous government from using the Roll Call Vote (RCV) method. It is used in the European parliament, and the US Congress and other elected bodies around the world. Attendance in legislative bodies is usually measured by voting activities. Thailand takes it a step further with the use of logging by way of swipe cards. RCVs are requested by party group leaders in the name of their political group. Some of the reasons for using a RCV are that it can be used to discipline parliamentarians, to express a certain policy position of a party and to show the voting position of other political parties. In defense of the Thai method, it is more exacting. A quick comparison to NZ, AUS and Canada supports this point. Many countries do not have an accurate or "honest" method to track attendance outside of voting. Here's an eyeopener from one democracy that I lifted right out of the referenced government website;

The Parliament of Canada Act provides for deductions for non-attendance from the Member's sessional allowance. At the end of each month and at the end of each session, each Member is required to provide the Clerk of the House with a statement of the number of days of attendance during the month or session, as the case may be, for which they are entitled to receive their sessional and expense allowances. For the purposes of this declaration, those days on which a Member was absent due to illness, a military commitment, the adjournment of the House or because the Member was on "public or official business", are considered days of attendance. Since there is no regulatory mechanism to monitor Members' attendance, calculations of Members' allowances are made on the basis of their statements and deductions are made only when absences exceed 21 sitting days.

You might want to have a look at Australia and the UK's system of tracking attendance as it is similar.

Edited August 6, 2011 by geriatrickid

[AleG]

I think the issue is not swiping cards, during the first part of the year, if I remember correctly from the news, PTP MPs were simply not showing up at all in large numbers. Too busy campaigning or who knows.

[Ricardo]

FWIW my wife tells me, Chuwit had arrived early & taken a seat at-the-front, which was later 'annexed' by someone else, which upset him. The incoming government don't want any non-government MPs to be visible, on the TV-cameras, perhaps ?

Maybe seats in Parliament might be allocated by playing 'musical chairs', in this Red Democracy ?

Edited August 7, 2011 by Ricardo