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Thai reformist faces second uphill battle in bid to become PM

Reformist Pita Limjaroenrat seeks endorsement as Thailand’s prime minister, facing opposition from military-appointed senators and potential disqualification, while a compromise candidate and political unrest loom as possibilities.

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BANGKOK, THAILAND — Reformist Pita Limjaroenrat will again ask Thailand’s parliament to endorse him as prime minister Wednesday but with little chance of wooing the military-appointed senators who scuttled his first bid.

Pita’s Move Forward Party (MFP) won the most seats in the May elections, buoyed by the hopes of young and urban Thais wearied by nearly a decade of army-backed rule, but its efforts to form a government have stumbled.

Thailand’s conservative establishment vehemently opposes the party’s pledge to soften the kingdom’s strict royal defamation laws, and Pita’s first tilt at the premiership fell 51 votes short last week.

Few believe that Harvard graduate Pita, 42, has managed to turn the numbers in his favour and he has vowed to step aside to make way for a coalition partner to form the government if his second attempt fails.

“Pita is less likely to get the vote passed,” Napisa Waitoolkiat, a political analyst with Naresuan University, told AFP.

Thailand’s senate is stacked with military appointees — a reliable handbrake on the kind of liberal reforms sought by MFP and its progressive voter base.

Only 13 of 249 serving senators voted for Pita last week and Napisa said his only likely pathway to power was to successfully court many more members of the chamber.

“And I don’t think the senate is going to be brave and courageous enough to do that,” she said.

Pita was optimistic on Monday that several MPs who missed the vote could be persuaded to rally behind him.

“We still are talking to find more support,” he told reporters.

‘You cannot allow that’

But other roadblocks have been thrown in front of his candidacy.

A possible motion by military-aligned lawmakers could see parliament rule Pita ineligible to be considered a second time.

The Constitutional Court will be in session as parliament meets and may decide to proceed with a case about whether Pita should be disqualified from parliament entirely for owning shares in a media company.

Doing so is prohibited by Thailand’s constitution, even though the station has not broadcast since 2007. Pita, who made his fortune in a family-run agrifood business, has said the shares were inherited from his father.

If the case does proceed, Pita could be given an interim suspension from parliament while his candidacy for prime minister is being considered.

The court has also agreed to hear a case alleging that MFP’s campaign promise to amend Thailand’s royal defamation law is tantamount to a plan to “overthrow” the constitutional monarchy.

Pita’s party has ignored strident opposition to its pledge to revise the law, which can allow convicted critics of the monarchy to be jailed for up to 15 years.

Napisa said MFP’s reformist platform also posed a threat to powerful, family-owned business monopolies that play an outsized role in the kingdom’s economy.

“If you are those people, you cannot allow that,” she said.

‘Justification for crackdown’

If Pita’s next bid fails, the eight-party coalition backing him is expected to fall in line behind property tycoon Srettha Thavisin, 60, a political novice who campaigned strongly in the election.

Srettha’s Pheu Thai party is seen as a vehicle for the Shinawatra political clan, whose members include two former prime ministers ousted by military coups in 2006 and 2014.

But as a successful entrepreneur liked by business leaders among the Thai elite, he is seen as a potential compromise that would smooth the way for the coalition to take office.

Prawit Wongsuwan, 77, a former Thai army chief who served as number two in the junta that took power in 2014, has also been floated as a candidate by the parliament’s military bloc.

Thai voters roundly rejected army-backed parties in May’s election, and political analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak said the prospect of a Prawit premiership could spark a backlash in a country that is no stranger to political unrest.

“If Move Forward is excluded, there will likely be protests… if protesters overreact, a Pheu Thai-led government would have some justification for a crackdown.”

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore hangs 14th drug convict since last year

Singapore executed Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted of drug trafficking, amid a resumption of executions in 2022. Another woman prisoner, Saridewi Djamani, faces execution.

Amnesty International urged Singapore to halt the executions, questioning the deterrent effect of the death penalty.

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1 year ago

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26 July 2023

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore on Wednesday hanged a local man convicted of drug trafficking, officials said, two days before the scheduled execution of the first woman prisoner in the city-state in nearly 20 years.

Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted and sentenced to death in 2017 for trafficking “not less than 49.98 grams” (1.76 ounces) of heroin, was executed at Changi Prison, the Central Narcotics Bureau said in a statement.

The 57-year-old was the 14th convict sent to the gallows since the government resumed executions in March 2022 after a two-year pause during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hussain’s previous appeals against his conviction and sentence had been dismissed, and a petition for presidential clemency was also denied.

A woman drug convict, 45-year-old Saridewi Djamani, is scheduled to be hanged on Friday, according to the local rights group Transformative Justice Collective (TJC).

She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, Djamani would be the first woman executed in Singapore since 2004, when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, according to TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws — trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis or over 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the executions, saying there was no evidence the death penalty acted as a deterrent to crime.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

Singapore, however, insists that the death penalty has helped make it one of Asia’s safest countries.

Among those hanged since last year was Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, whose execution sparked a global outcry, including from the United Nations and British tycoon Richard Branson, because he was deemed to have a mental disability.

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore to execute first woman in nearly 20 years: rights groups

Singapore set to execute two drug convicts, including first woman in 20 years, despite rights groups’ calls to stop.

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1 year ago

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25 July 2023

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore is set to hang two drug convicts this week, including the first woman to be sent to the gallows in nearly 20 years, rights groups said Tuesday, while urging the executions be halted.

Local rights organisation Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) said a 56-year-old man convicted of trafficking 50 grams (1.76 ounces) of heroin is scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday at the Southeast Asian city-state’s Changi Prison.

A 45-year-old woman convict who TJC identified as Saridewi Djamani is also set to be sent to the gallows on Friday. She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, she would be the first woman to be executed in Singapore since 2004 when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, said TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

TJC said the two prisoners are Singaporeans and their families have received notices setting the dates of their executions.

Prison officials have not answered emailed questions from AFP seeking confirmation.

Singapore imposes the death penalty for certain crimes, including murder and some forms of kidnapping.

It also has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws: trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis and 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

At least 13 people have been hanged so far since the government resumed executions following a two-year hiatus in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the impending executions.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty’s death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

“There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs.

“As countries around the world do away with the death penalty and embrace drug policy reform, Singapore’s authorities are doing neither,” Sangiorgio added.

Singapore insists that the death penalty is an effective crime deterrent.

— AFP

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