The main opposition party of Thailand defended its decision to support the amendments to the disputed law of the Lese-Majeste country, affirming that it was indeed in its constitutional rights to request modifications to any legislation.
Last week, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) charged 44 former members of the dissolved part of moving (MFP) for having sponsored a bill to modify article 112 of the penal code, which criminalizes critical comments on the country’s monarchy.
Addressing journalists yesterday, Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, the leader of the People’s Party, the successor part of the MFP, insisted that proposing an amendment to an law was well in the rights of the legislators.
“The proposal for a bill is the authority of a legislator. This does not violate any law or ethical norm, “he said, according to a report from the country.
Natthaphong said the People’s Party had already brought together a legal team to respond to individual allegations. He also called on the NACC to maintain a fair and transparent approach, avoiding standard doubles or useless haste in the process.
The modification of article 112, which brings up to 15 years in prison, has become an objective of Thai Democrats and progressives, in particular since 2020 and 2021, when thousands of young Thai people, radicalized by the prohibition of the future Advanced party, the party in the future, the party in the future, the Forward party, the Forward party, the future, the future Forward, the part of the predecessor of the MFP and From the people of people, organized major events in Bangkok and other Thai cities. In addition to calling for the resignation of the Prime Minister of the time, Prayut Chan-O-Cha, the demonstrations openly violated the taboo against the discussion of the role of the Thai monarchy in the policy of the country.
This naturally turned into attempts to modify the Lese-Majeste law, which, according to these criticism.
Since the 2020-2010 demonstrations, the Thai establishment has sought to restore political taboo against any critical discussion of the monarchy. He exercised proceedings on article 112 to silence the dozens of leaders and participants in the 2020-21 demonstrations; At least 274 people faced accusations of Lese-Majete in September, according to the defense group of lawyers Thai Lawyers for Human Rights. He also continued any person advocating the revocation or modification of the Lese-Majeste law.
In August of last year, the MFP was dissolved by the Constitutional Court of its promise to modify article 112 before the general elections of 2023. (The party ended up coming first in the elections, but was prevented from Training the government after Parliament, stacked with soldiers, refused to approve its candidate to the Prime Minister.) The Constitutional Court had previously judged that the MFP promise to modify the law was equivalent to an attempt to overthrow the national system of constitutional monarchy.
The MFP was quickly reconstituted as the People’s Party, but the new party was examined on the number of article 112. Twenty-five of the 143 deputies of the People’s Party are among the 44 former MFP parliamentarians who were charged by the NACC; The others include former MFP leaders such as Pita Limjaroenrat who were disqualified from politics for 10 years when the party was dissolved by the Constitutional Court last year.
If the NACC notes that the 44 former MFP legislators have violated ethical standards, the Bangkok Post explains that the case will be subject to the Supreme Court for holders of political posts. If they are found guilty, “they could lose their positions as deputies and be prohibited from presenting themselves to the elections.”
Friday, in an article on Facebook, the deputy of the People’s Party Rangsiman Rome said that before the 2023 elections, the MFP had submitted its policy to modify article 112 to the electoral commission, which did not raise the possibility that it is ethically questionable.
“I do not understand how the sponsorship to modify a law is illegal, because it is the duty of a deputy,” he wrote. “In addition, there is no law prohibiting the amendment to article 112.” He also questioned the impartiality of NACC, arguing that the complaints filed by opposition deputies against those in power have seen little progress, while affairs against opposition deputies have advanced with a “Remarkable efficiency”.
This double standard is not an accident. As I noted during the Foundation of the People’s Party last August, “the dissolution of the MFP extended an elite intervention model in the political sphere, aimed at protecting the royalist-conservative establishment of any challenge serious policy. “
All this gives a certain inevitability to the accusations against the 44 former parliamentarians of the MFP. It seems that simply a question of time before they are also prohibited by the judiciary and ejected of the Thai political scene.