Six new panels join 'Five Rivers' as reform plan takes shape

[webfact]

Six new panels join 'Five Rivers' as reform plan takes shape
WASAMON AUDJARINT
THE NATION


Representatives from the civic sector present a proposal to Anothai Ritpanyawong, chairman of the NRSA committee on social reform, at Parliament.

BANGKOK: -- THE CABINET has endorsed a new structure to drive reforms, said Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha at his weekly press briefing yesterday.

The "Five Rivers" of power had initially formulated a new framework. Now the six newly set-up subcommittees assisted by deputy prime ministries would put their reform initiatives and recommendations into practice, based on the "pracha rat" [people's state] concept, said PM Prayut.

The number of the committees, chaired by the prime minister himself, have shrunk from eight to six. As reported last week, it was agreed during the Cabinet meeting that all committees under deputy PM and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan be merged into one, said Government Spokesman Maj-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd.

Working top-down, the six committees will direct policies to local organisations and cooperate with the Interior Ministry. The organisations include sheriffs and village headmen, with district chiefs expected to play an increasing role in assisting provincial governors, said Prayut. They would be regarded as "pracha rat" mechanisms.

The NCPO will also assist every committee to facilitate policy-making procedures in local levels, he added.

The new structure is another attempt by the government to put reform policies into practice. The NCPO's strategic reform committee has been dissolved, while the government's committee would change its role to help coordinate between the six, as well as the Five Rivers, which would also work together via its coordinating committee.

The now-defunct National Reform Council (NRC) has come up with at least 69 reform proposals that would be translated into around 13 reform action plans, expected to be forwarded to the new structure for implementation as well.

The NRSA spokesperson team yesterday updated the assembly's progress in working on reform plans, including guidelines given by the NRSA president Captain Tinnapan Nakata.

According to spokeperson Kam-noon Sidhisamarn, Tinnapan said the subcommittees had to prioritise reform issues considering their urgency and importance as stated in the 2014 interim charter.

The panels also had to make clear the three-step timeline on reforms in accordance with the premier's order, Tinnapan said. It was expected to submit the plans within 30 days.

If more funds were required to complete responsible reform issues, the subcommittees needed to clarify their sources of budget to related agencies, Tinnapan added. The subcommittees also had to inform the NRSA of other agencies working on the reform issues.

The NRSA is up to the second phase of the 1+1+18 reform scheme, with its subcommittee now preparing reform plans to be proposed to the Assembly by December 9, Kamnoon added.

Meanwhile, another spokesperson, Pornthip Rojanasunand, revealed that the NRSA had set up its 21-member panel on anti-corruption and misbehaving, led by Panthep Klanarongran. The panel would focus on preventing and suppressing corruptive acts, as well as raising awareness about the issue, Pornthip added.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Six-new-panels-join-Five-Rivers-as-reform-plan-tak-30273178.html


-- The Nation 2015-11-18

[Thailand]

Looking somewhat like a pyramid scheme.

[deckape]

If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullsh*t.

[waldroj]

Oh no, not more committees!

This seems to be the panacea for almost any political issue in Thailand.

In committees, according to Nature on 22 August 2008, work expands to fill the time available while growth brings inefficiency.

Another problem is that too many committees simply provide too many opportunities for special interest groups to pursue their own agendas and bog down effective decision making.

There is also the bureaucratic issue of who can make an effective decision where the boundaries of these committees overlap. The more committees, the harder it is to reach a consensus, and the result will be that you will need to include co-ordinating committees!

As noted in the Financial Times on 6 March, if you create a bureaucratic structure to deal with a problem, that structure will invariably end up creating other problems that seem as if they, too, can only be solved by bureaucratic means. In other words, “creating committees to deal with the problem of too many committees”.

As if realising this, The Nation tries to make a point that the number of the committees chaired by the leader of the junta has been reduced from eight to six. Although, it is hardly correct to say that the number has “shrunk”, only that it has “lowered – slightly”.

If ever one needed to see how inefficient the ever-expanding committee system of the junta is, they need only read the following extract from the British TV series “Yes Minister”, when Sir Humphrey says:

“It is characteristic of all committee discussions and decisions that every member has a vivid recollection of them and that every member’s recollection of them differs violently from every other member’s recollection. Consequently, we accept the convention that the official decisions are those and only those which have been officially recorded in the minutes by the officials, from which it emerges with an elegant inevitability that any decision which has been officially reached will have been officially recorded in the minutes by the officials and any decision which is not recorded in the minutes has not been officially reached even if one or more members believe they can recollect it, so in this particular case, if the decision had been officially reached it would have been officially recorded in the minutes by the officials, and it isn’t so it wasn’t”.

(from Series Two, 1987-88, Episode One: Man Overboard)

[Krataiboy]

Five rivers and six tributaries. So where's the <deleted> drought?

[Thai at Heart]

So now it's the eleven ........? How does one spin the number 11?

[heybruce]

Instead of announcing reforms and setting up organizations to implement them, they are keeping the reforms secret but setting up the bureaucracy to implement these secret reforms. I can't decide if that's stupid or sinister.

[Siammodels]

What a lot of rubbish when should I laugh Sir.

I tell you what the reform should be sacking the 5 rivers and the CDC and bringing in equal interest people. Not puppets from your sideshow Sir

No ones listening anymore, they are hinging like grim death on a election date

Good Luck you not get our vote