Thai politics: Article 44 cannot be a shortcut to solve urgent problems

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BURNING ISSUE
Article 44 cannot be a shortcut to solve urgent problems
Attayuth Bootsripoom

BANGKOK: -- During a period of a little over a month, General Prayut Chan-o-cha, as leader of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), has issued 10 orders under the power given to him by the post-coup provisional charter.

The orders can be divided into six groups and most are aimed at solving the country's long-standing problems, such as encroachment of national forests and public land, illegal fishing and lottery-ticket overpricing.

Prime Minister Prayut invoked Article 44 of the interim constitution in issuing the orders.

The first group of orders involves lifting of martial law, which had been in force since before the coup in May last year. The NCPO Order No 3/2558, which is about national security, appoints military officers as "peace and order maintaining officers".

Later, the NCPO chief issued Order No 5/2558 to revise that previous order, also appointing Army rangers as assistants to the peace and order maintaining officers.

The second group is about the fight against encroachment on national forests and public land. The NCPO's Order No 4/2558 empowered government ministers to seek help from military officers in protecting forests and public space from encroachment.

The third group of orders involved removal of senior public officials from office and appointment of their replacements. The NCPO's Order No 6/2558 removed the permanent secretary of the Education Ministry and some other senior officials there.

Order No 7/2558 removed all board members of the Teachers Council of Thailand, the Welfare Promotion Commission for Teachers and Educational Personnel, and the commission's Business Organisation. The problem of corruption was cited for the abrupt changes at those three agencies.

Order No 9/2558 sacked a senior Department of Employment official in Chon Buri, as part of an effort to solve the problem of illegal migrants and human trafficking.

The fourth group of orders was issued to get rid of some legal obstacles. The NCPO's Order No 8/2558 stated that the remaining members of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) should be regarded as fully functional after one left and the National Legislative Assembly refused to select any of the four nominees suggested by a government selection committee.

The fifth group involved efforts to solve the problem of illegal fishing. The NCPO's Order No 10/2558 was aimed at solving the problem of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, an issue that led to a threat by the European Union to ban Thai seafo od products. A command centre to deal with the problem has been set up and will report directly to the prime minister. It is headed by the Navy commander-in-chief.

The last group of recent NCPO orders was aimed at tackling the problem of overpriced lottery tickets. The NCPO's Order No 11/2558 removed all board members of the Government Lottery Office (GLO) after they failed to solve the problem. The order also imposed penalties on those selling lottery tickets higher than the stated price of Bt80 each. The violators risk a maximum imprisonment of one month, a fine of no more than Bt10,000, or both. Another NCPO order appoints Maj-General Apirach Kongsompong, deputy commander of the First Army Region, as the new chairman of the GLO's executive board. Three more board members were also appointed.

It seems the NCPO has tried to solve the country's problems with the special power under Article 44. The government is well aware that those complex problems cannot be solved through ordinary means. Also, they want their efforts over these problems to be the NCPO's selling point to win public support.

This may be "constructive use" of Article 44, as stated earlier by General Prayut. But the question is, can we still solve the country's problems through normal means and processes? And if Article 44 also fails to help solve the problems, do we have any other measure to use?

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Article-44-cannot-be-a-shortcut-to-solve-urgent-pr-30259489.html


-- The Nation 2015-05-07

[thesetat2013]

Wow! All those orders and so far very little happening with them. I wonder if P realizes that has orders have not made much difference yet. I also wonder if the police will just make s show when the lottery vendors continue selling tickets overpriced and whether it will really be strictly enforced?

[Tatsujin]

Wow! All those orders and so far very little happening with them. I wonder if P realizes that has orders have not made much difference yet. I also wonder if the police will just make s show when the lottery vendors continue selling tickets overpriced and whether it will really be strictly enforced?

Given the years and years that previous "parties" have had to effect change, and completely and utterly failed to do so (and to not even admit that there are problems in a lot of cases), I'll not expect the General to solve all the problems that there are in Thailand overnight.

To his credit, he's seeing the problems, and trying to do something about them, but change takes time, especially when there are so many "people" entrenched within the system that are working against those goals, the Police being a major one of them.

The bigger issue is changing the attitudes of the "society" as a whole ... morality, ethics, corruption etc ... when that changes, other things will change also, but it's not going to happen in the next few months, or even years.

[rubl]

Interesting posts. Complaints about the lack of immediate action as if an Infantry Batallion should have sent upon invoking A44. Next complaints that a proper legal framework is needed as if the EU should be willing to wait for another few years.