Weekly highlights

Weekly highlights

Even before the new government begins functioning, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is feeling the political heat from the activities of her exiled elder brother and from inquisitive reporters keep pestering her with embarrassing questions.

Convicted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was the focus of media attention throughout most of the week.  It all started with the meeting last week between Foreign Minister Surapong Tovijakchaikul and Japanese ambassador to Thailand Seiji Kojima, during which Mr Surapong asked that Japan allow Thaksin to visit the country from Aug 22-28.When asked about the matter by the media, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said she had nothing to do with it and it was a matter for the foreign minister, who immediately claimed he was approached by the Japanese.

Eventually, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano disclosed in Tokyo that the Thai government had made the request that Thaksin be given special permission to visit Japan. Permission was granted.

The fugitive former prime minister, who donated an undisclosed amount to the tsunami relief efforts, is due to visit areas struck by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.  He also plans to give a lecture there too.

With the dust over Thaksin’s Japan visit yet to settle, a media report emerged that the fugitive former premier also planned to visit Cambodia this week to play golf with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and to discuss investment in oil and gas exploration in the overlapping territorial waters in the Gulf.

Thaksin’s personal lawyer, former foreign minister Noppadon Pattama, denied that his boss planned to visit Cambodia. Prime Minister Yingluck also went into a state of denial, saying the  the Cambodian visit – if there is one – was Thaksin’s personal affair and had nothing to do with her government.

The Democrats quickly lodged a complaint with the police charging Foreign Minister Surapong with helping Thaksin avoid arrest.  The opposition also said it planned to impeach Mr Surapong and the prime minister for acting beyond the bounds of the constitution.In a surprise move, House Speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont early this week proposed a fast-track approach to amend the  constitution, a move widely seen as an effort to pave the way for the early return home of Thaksin without his having to face the two-year jail term handed down by the Supreme Court.

Mr Somsak’s approach calls for the setting up of a charter drafting assembly to amend the entire constitution with the exception of chapters 1 and 2, which are to be kept, and to include most of the content of the 1997 charter into the constitution.

His approach does not need a referendum to endorse the new charter.

This is different from the approach of Weng Tojirakarn, a Pheu Thai list MP and red-shirt core member, who suggested that article 291 of the current charter be amended to pave way for the formation of a charter drafting assembly, and that there should be a referendum for the people to say whether they want to use the 1997 charter or the current 2007 charter as the basis for the amendments.  After the draft charter is completed, there would be another referendum.

The Pheu Thai Party has included constitutional amendment as one of its 16 urgent priorities in its policy statement to be delivered in the parliament by the prime minister in the coming week.

In response to Pheu Thai list MP Jatuporn Prompan’s proposal that the families of each of the 91 people killed during the April-May riot in Bangkok last year should be compensated to the tune of about 10 million baht, the Yingluck government has set up a panel to consider the matter -- although no timeframe has been given for when the issue will be finalised.

Mr Jatuporn’s proposal has kicked started a debate on the pros and cons of paying millions of baht in compensation.  There were strong   suggestions that victims of violence in the far South, such as families of the Tak Bai tragedy, should also be compensated if the compensation payment is part of the reconciliation effort.

As for red-shirt protesters jailed since the riots in Bangkok last year, Pheu Thai MPs have joined forces sign as guarantors for bail for the detainees, held in Bangkok and several northeastern provinces.  Twenty-two of them were bailed earlier this week from Udon Thani provincial jail and more were expected to be released on bail very soon.

The National Parks Department apeared determined to deal harshly with owners of resorts which encroach on the forests of Tap Larn national park in Wang Nam Khieo of Nakhon Ratchasima province.

The department head Sunant Aroonnopparat was adamant there would be no let up in the crackdown on the encroachers.  He totally rejected the resort operators’ pleas to lease the land, so that can stay in business. He said the leasing of park land to the private sector is against the national park law.

All the 104 illegal resorts in the national park have been notified to move out by Oct 30 and demolish the buildings. If they fail to do so, the department will demolish them and bill them for the cost, he said.