Thai Cabinet to Review Thai Nationality Bill on Tuesday

29 January 2011

The Thai Cabinet is set to review the new Thai Nationality Bill this Tuesday, which will provide for tens of thousands of Thais living as “stateless” individuals along the Thai-Burmese border to apply for Thai citizenship.

The bill would replace the old bill which provides for individuals with stateless status to apply first for Burmese citizenship status, and then transfer their Burmese nationality status to Thai nationality status.

A committee would be created under the new bill, to include the permanent secretary to the interior and the provincial administration department chief, to check and verify the citizenship status of stateless persons and then approve Thai citizenship status for them.

The passage of this bill will grant legal status to thousands of the descendants of Siamese, whose families moved to modern Burma prior to the timeframe when the map of the country was redrawn 143 years ago. These stateless people now live in Chumphon, Ranong, Tak, Prachuap Khiri Khan and Phangnga and all lack legal documentation.

Numerous people that back the bill, members of the Network of Stateless Thais, walked around 320 kilometers to meet with House Speaker Chai Chidchob. Around 300 members of the network traveled this distance to hand Chidchob their petition to act affirmatively on the proposed bill. In response, Mr. Chidchob stated he would make the bill a priority.

End in Sight for Completion of PPP Draft Bill

26 January 2011

The director-general of the State Enterprise Policy Office stated today that a draft bill entailing public-private partnerships (PPPs) is set to be finished by the month’s end.  Before the draft bill is sent on to the finance minister and cabinet for approval, a public hearing will held on the draft bill.

The Thai government is attempting to use the bill to decrease corruption due to loopholes in the Public-Private Joint Investment Act from 1992.

The bill includes provisions intended to help decrease the process of scrutiny and endorsement from two years to as little as seven months. It also provides for transparency in the calculation of asset valuations, which has continuously caused problems in the past.

If approved, the bill would enable the PPP committee and chairman (the prime minister of Thailand), to function as a small-scale cabinet to review and approve any investment project valuing over 1 billion baht. This would shorten the entire process.

A post-auditing process would also be added after the shortened approval time frame. This is not currently thought to affect the transparency of asset valuations. 

In addition, criminal charges and jail terms will be levied against anyone that tries to avoid following the requirements of the bill.

Currently, more than 60 PPP projects are on standby while they wait for rulings by the Council of State.

Charter Bill Passed by Thai Parliament

26 January 2011

A proposed amendment to the Thai constitution involving the endorsement of international agreements has now been passed by the Thai parliament.

Another proposed change regarding the makeup of the lower house is still under consideration.

The first bill being reviewed entails a change to Section 190 of the constitution to provide clarification of which treaties or international agreements have to received approval from the parliament before international negotiations can begin.

The second bill still under debate involves amending Sections 93 to 98 of the constitution to alter the makeup of the lower house to 375 constituency MPs and 125 from the party lists. This amendment is strongly supported by the Democrat Party, and the Democrats’ junior coalition partners favour a 400:100 formula. Currently, the makeup of the lower house is 400:80.

After debating for six hours, members of the two chambers voted 343 to 205 to provide endorsement of the bill to amend Section 190, a change suggested by the joint parliamentary committee. The head of the joint committee stated that one of the major changes to be instituted was the proposal to create a law to govern the category of international treaties and an outline to follow for negotiations.

MPs from the junior coalition parties who, prior to this point, disagreed with the 375:125 ratio stated during the debate that they had reached an agreement to follow the decision made by government whips  who in turn resolved to support the Democrats’ proposed formula.

The opposition Puea Thai Party MPs also took the floor to voice their support of the proposed 400:100ratio.

The President of the Parliament, Chai Chidchob, has planned for the final reading of the two proposed bills to take place on Feb 10. If the bills are approved, they would then be made into enforceable laws.

To pass the proposed bills, more than half of the votes for the two houses are needed, totaling at least 313 votes or more.

It was reported that the leader of the coalition Bhumjaithai Party had asked MPs of the party to support the 375:125 formula. This would signal a favoring of the smaller scale constituency system, and also Bhumjaithai’s intention to benefit from the increase in the number of MPs included in the proposed bills.

The coalition Chart Thai Pattana Party was also said to be backing the Democrats’ formula, as it does not want to put too much pressure on the Democrats and thus lead to an impasse in the ruling.