March 8, 2021 Thai Enquirer Summary Political News The core coalition Phalang Pracharat Party (PPRP) has secured another seat in the parliament following the outcome of a by-election in Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Constituency 3 held yesterday after PPRP candidate Ayasit Srisuwan beat his rival Pongsin Senpong of the Democrat Party in its stronghold. According to unofficial results of the by-election in Constituency 3 of Nakhon Si Thammarat province, the PPRP won the by-election with 48,720 votes for its candidate, compared to d 44,620 votes for Pongsin. Kla (Bold) Party’s candidate Sarawut Suwannarat came 3rd with 6,222 votes and Seri Ruam Thai Party’s Apirat Rattanapan with 2,305 votes, according to unofficial vote count at 21.20 hrs last night. With the latest victory, the PPRP now has 4 MPs while the Democrat Party also has 4 MPs representing Nakhon Si Thammarat. The southern province has a total of 8 constituencies, each of which is represented by an MP in the parliament. Over the weekend there were 2 political protests and both were peaceful. The 1st was on Saturday organized by the REDEM group which has in the past seen a lot of its protest gone violent. The event remained calm and rough estimates suggest about 5,000 people joined the protest movement. The 2nd was the long march of 247.5 kms by Pai Dao Din or Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, who marched from Nakorn Ratchisma up until the Democracy Monument in Bangkok. The march was called “Marching Through the Sky” He reached the Democracy Monument yesterday and a small gathering (which was peaceful) took place at the Democracy Monument. Pai Dao Din has already announced the 2nd part of his “Marching Through the Sky” which he had asked his supporters to gather at the MRT entrance at Ladprao intersection @ 08:15 hrs today. On Saturday the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) had arrested Piyarat “Toto” Jongthep, leader of the WeVo volunteer guard group, 3 other guards and REDEM protesters near the Lat Phrao intersection at the car park of the Major Ratchayothin shopping complex. Police said they managed to force open the lock on the police vans and free some protesters, including Piyarat. Police said they found 15 slingshots, 50 steel pellets, 300 glass pellets, 30 smoke bombs, 30 plastic bags containing fermented fish, 13 crash helmets, 37 bullet- proof vests, a teargas canister and a police shield in their shoulder bags. MPB commissioner Pakapong Pongpetra said that they had launched an investigation into who fired shots, damaging 3 police buses near the Ratchayothin tunnel late on Saturday night. He disclosed that 7 police were injured and 9 prison trucks were damaged during an outbreak of violence. A bad timing for adverting hit Potato Corner Thailand Co, a maker of french-fries has apologised for a "careless" Facebook post about its Toto mascot that coincided with the police arrest of "Toto", a political activist. The fast food chain issued a statement late Saturday apologising for the fries promotion posted on its Facebook account earlier that day. "Urgent news!!! Potato Corner, the first powder-mixed fries in Thailand, is arrested for being "too delicious," the ad read. “Toto (assumed name) is arrested at a Potato Corner branch on the sixth floor of CentralWorld while eating three cups of power-mixed french fries,” the ad said. The ad was posted around the same time as the arrest of "Toto", Piyarat Chonthep, a leading member of the We Volunteer (WeVo) guard group, along with other activists, at the Major Ratchayothin shopping complex. The message angered protesters and other netizens, who called for a boycott of the company. The #banpotatocorner hashtag at one point topped Twitter trends in Thailand. Meanwhile, Panusaya “Rung” Sitthijirawattanakul, core leader of the pro-democracy Ratsadon Group (People’s Movement), showed up at Samranrat police station yesterday to acknowledge charges related to the protest on February 13 at the Democracy Monument, during which protesters wrapped a huge red cloth around the monument. The authorities are charging her with 5.9 million baht of damages to the flowers and flower pots at Democracy Monument. Panusaya said that she was the last person summoned by the police to acknowledge the charges of breaching the Emergency Decree, the Communicable Disease Act and the Cleanliness Act in connection with the protest. Panusaya and other key members of the Ratsadon Group are due to appear before the public prosecutor today to learn whether they will be indicted for their roles in the protests at Thammasat University and Sanam Luang on September 19 and 20. Panusaya is among other 18 people to face more serious charges, including lese majeste under Section 112 and sedition charges under Sections 116 and 215. Others are Panupong “Mike Rayong” Jadnok, Jatupat “Pai Dao Din” Boonpattararaksa, Chinnawat “Brite” Chankrachang, Anurak “Ford” Janetawanich, Chai-amorn Kaewiboonpan, aka “Ammy the Bottom Blues”, etc. The opposition camp called a meeting of the coalition parties today to discuss their stance towards the charter amendment push in the wake of senators’ threat to vote down charter amendment drafts in the 3rd reading. Pheu Thai secretary-general Prasert Chanthararuangthong said the opposition will meet today to discuss its next move if the Constitutional Court rules against the charter amendment process. The Constitutional Court is set to rule on March 11 whether parliament has the power to open the way for a rewrite of the charter in its entirety. The opposition Pheu Thai Party will call a meeting next week to rejig chairmanship of its 10 House permanent committees under the party’s quota. The rejig is the party’s tradition since former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s era. The overhaul of House permanent committee’s chairmen of the party happens after they serve 2 years on the panels, a source with the party said. The armed forces are embarking on an ambitious programme to trim the number of generals in its ranks by 25% by 2029, amid doubts that the plan will ever come to fruition. At present, the number of generals across the three branches of the armed forces, as well as the Royal Thai Armed Forces (RTARF) and the Defence Ministry is estimated to be about 1,400. This figure has remained largely unchanged since about a decade ago. According to the Defence Ministry, out of the total, 400 generals work in the Royal Thai Army (RTA), 250 in the Royal Thai Navy (RTN), 190 in the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF), 250 in the RTARF and 300 in the Office of the Permanent Secretary of Defence. To achieve the target, Maj Gen Teerapong Pattamasingh Na Ayuthaya, deputy spokesman of the RTARF, said the armed forces have agreed to start small by targeting a 5–10% cutback in the number of generals. Former transport minister Chadchart Sittipun emerged as the most favourite candidate to be the new Bangkok governor in a National Institute of Development Administration (Nida) opinion survey conducted 1,315 people eligible to vote in the election for Bangkok governor. A majority of respondents, 66 percent, said they preferred an independent candidate to a representative of a political party (17.11 per cent). When asked about their favourite candidates, 22.43 per cent of respondents said they supported Chadchart, ahead of the 15.51 per cent who backed former police chief Chakthip Chaijinda. Incumbent Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang had only 7.68 per cent support, with social activist Rosana Tositrakul trailing at 4.26 per cent. Meanwhile, merely 3.35 per cent of respondents picked Dr Suchatchavee Suwansawas, who is expected to contest under the Phalang Pracharat Party’s banner, and 1.75 per cent backed Sakoltee Phattiyakul, an incumbent deputy Bangkok governor. The strange number was the 29.96 per cent who said that they had not made up their mind on which of the candidates they would select. Economic News Thailand’s equity markets could see a boost as the oil prices have shot through the $70/barrel after an unsuccessful missile attack at one of Saudi Arabia’s most protected oil facilities. The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) is heavily weighted towards companies in the energy sector and with rising oil price, these companies could see their share price rise and in effect could raise the over SET Index. To dampen the euphoria in the oil market could be the better than the expected non-farm payroll and the unemployment rates in the United States. These numbers came well above the market expectations and this prompted the 10-year Treasury yields to rise to 1.6 per cent. The Bank of Thailand’s senior executive Don Nakornthab came out on late Friday night to say on ‘Clubhouse’ chat room that the rising bond yields in the United States are likely to have an impact on the Thai bond market as Thailand's yields are highly corelated. This, he said, could impact the corporate bond issuance and further slowdown the economic growth in Thailand. The Federation of Thai Industries demands the government’s Centre for Economic Situation Administration (CESA) to include the private sector at its next meeting chaired by Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha later this month. Supant Mongkolsuthree, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), said the private sector wants the CESA to accelerate its meeting to reassess the economic outlook as a result of the 2nd wave of the Covid-19 outbreak. The last meeting was held in December last year. Supant said the country’s economic situation has changed after the resurgence of the outbreak. The Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking (JSCCIB) wants the committee to listen to recommendations of the private sector.