Dems see red after live TV debate of govt’s record pulled

The opposition cried foul yesterday after Channel 11 suspended its live broadcast of a House session to cover the opening of a trade fair by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Democrat MP for Nakhon Si Thammarat, Apichart Sakdiseth, brought the issue to the attention of the House about 3pm while MPs were discussing the government’s first-year performance review.

Fellow Democrat Atthaporn Ponlabutr slammed Ms Yingluck for skipping the meeting and inviting a Channel 11 crew to cover the Commerce Ministry-organised ‘‘Thailand Innovation and Trade Expo 2013’’.

Democrat MP Boonyod Sukthinthai opened his tablet computer and showed the House a live stream of Channel 11, confirming the state-run station was not covering the parliamentary session.

Opposition MPs called for the suspension of the meeting until Channel 11 was ready to broadcast the session.

Deputy House speaker Charoen Chankomol then called a 10-minute recess to coordinate with Channel 11.

When the session resumed, chief opposition whip Jurin Laksanavisit accused the government of reneging on its deal to cover the session. He said it had been agreed that the House meeting would be broadcast in its entirety except during royal news programming.

He criticised the prime minister for mixing up her priorities.

‘‘[The trade fair] is probably a prior engagement. But why then did the government schedule the House session for Sept 24-25?’’ he said.

‘‘The House speaker also asked the government to broadcast the meeting.’’

Deputy speaker Wisutr Chai-arun apologised to the House, saying it was a mistake. His apology brought the House to order and the session resumed.

The second day of the government’s first-year performance review covered a wide range of issues, including the southern unrest and water management projects.

Democrat MP Chamni Sakdiseth said government policy towards the South was failing and should be reviewed.

Deputy Prime Minister Pracha Promnok defended the policy, saying peace talks with the Barisan Nasional Revolusi separatist group were the key to restoring peace to the region.

He also insisted the government had never considered setting up a special administrative zone in the region.

Democrat list-MP Kanok Wongtrangan said the government should pay more attention to education because it was the only means of reducing social and economic disparity.