ABOUT Politics
The Move Forward Party leader’s commitment to democracy is being questioned after his absence from key House votes Return of Uttama Savanayana and friends with new party has observers anticipating a juicy battle with their old PPRP colleagues
Wherefore art thou Pita?
The year may not have started out on a positive note for Move Forward Party’s (MFP) Pita Limjaroenrat, some of whose supporters are having second thoughts about his sincerity in forging democracy.
The young politician has pulled in crowds with his exceptional oratory skills and was elected to lead the MFP which rose from the ashes of the dissolved Future Forward Party (FFP). He comfortably filled the shoes of Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the former FFP leader and now chairman of the Progressive Movement.
The MFP has inherited not only most of the FFP’s MPs but also its founding ideology and mission to work to accomplish full democracy by taking down the products of dictatorship and any legacy of the defunct National Council for Peace and Order that are alive and well in the laws and regulations the coup-makers passed after staging the putsch in May 2014.
According to a source, the MFP has been branded the political arm of the youth-led protesters who have marched against the government and advocated monarchy reform.
More often than not, several MFP lawmakers have used their position as MPs to secure bail release for protest co-leaders and to speak out in defence of the protesters’ cause.
The MPs, however, sometimes eclipsed Mr Pita who, according to observers, seems to have faded into obscurity especially when it comes to voting on important pieces of legislation.
Pro-democracy supporters of the MFP and the protest groups were dismayed by Mr Pita’s absence from a House session convened on Dec 15 last year to vote on the two draft bills seeking to repeal 35 announcements and orders made by the 2014 coup-makers.
The bill was voted down in the House of Representatives, sparking an outcry among supporters of the rejected bills.
The first, proposed by Jon Ungphakorn, director of the Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw), along with 12,609 eligible voters, was dropped when only 162 MPs voted in favour while 234 MPs voted against it.
There were three abstentions while one MP didn’t cast a vote.
Another bill proposed by Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, secretary-general of the Progressive
Movement, never saw the light of day as it received only 157 votes in favour while 229 MPs voted against it.
Four abstentions were recorded. The outcome enraged supporters of the bills who had counted on the legislation being passed or at least garnering wider acceptance in the Lower House.
Yingcheep Atchanond from iLaw admitted he was angry that the lawmakers refused to accept a bill drafted by people who had campaigned for it since 2018.
Mr Yingcheep added that some MPs who appeared to embrace the bills voted against them in the end. He suggested people should take note of the names of those who betrayed them by not voting them back into parliament in the next election.
However, it became known that one of the most vocal proponents of dismantling the bills that perpetuated the coup-makers’ powers was missing from the House session that day.
It was Mr Pita who was marked as absent, prompting Rangsiman Rome, a party-list MP, to call a press conference to explain why the MFP leader failed to attend the House session.
Mr Rangsiman said Mr Pita had to attend to an urgent family matter which could not be postponed. He added the MFP accepted criticism directed by supporters against the party over Mr Pita’s failure to vote on the crucial bills.
He insisted the MFP would go to any lengths to pick up where the FFP had left off and push for the remnants of the NCPO to be torn down. “We will never give in until our mission is accomplished,” Mr Rangsiman said on Twitter shortly after the Dec 15 vote.
However, his explanation did little to pacify the displeasure with Mr Pita having gone “missing in action”, which was played out on social media. Some supporters said it was unthinkable that the MFP leader, who preached the value of democracy, would skip the very chance of terminating the NCPO’s legislative legacy.
A tweet said nothing could have been more important than honouring the party’s ideology by being physically in parliament and voting on the bills.
Critics said it was not the first time Mr Pita has missed House meetings.
On May 26, 2020, he did not turn up for a session that voted on huge government borrowing to finance the Covid-19 relief programmes.
On June 9 last year, Mr Pita was absent from a House committee vetting the 500-billionbaht loan for Covid-19 alleviation and economic stimulus schemes. He said he was sick and had to be hospitalised.
On Feb 20 last year, the MFP leader surprised many political watchers when he abstained from casting a no-confidence vote against Capt Thamanat Prompow, secretarygeneral of the rival ruling Palang Pracharath Party. Mr Pita insisted it was a technical mistake, blaming it on a faulty voting machine.
Back with a vengeance?
After several months of rumour and speculation, it is now official that former finance minister Uttama Savanayana is making a political comeback and posing a challenge to the ruling Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) that he once led.
The former PPRP leader posted a message on his Facebook account this week to announce the upcoming launch of a new political party that he and former energy minister and former PPRP secretary-general Sontirat Sonthijirawong are creating with people who share a common ideology.
Speculation about the pair plotting a political comeback surfaced just months after they left the Prayut administration in the middle of 2020 following a power struggle within the PPRP.
Mr Uttama and Mr Sontirat left the cabinet along with former higher education, science and innovations minister Suvit Maesincee and former prime minister’s office minister, Kobsak Pootrakul, shortly after they resigned from the PPRP.
Their exit came after the group, dubbed “See Gumarn” (Four Boys) by the Thai media, were ousted from the executive board at the party’s general assembly in which Mr Uttama was replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon as PPRP leader.
Saying goodbye to the cabinet with them was former deputy prime minister Somkid Jatusripitak, head of the government’s economics team and hailed as the country’s economic guru.
Despite the group’s insistence that they left the party on good terms, observers said it would be understandable that they might have gone bearing grudges against the PPRP, given how humiliating it must have been for them to have been sidelined and left to feel unwelcome in their own party.
Following Mr Uttama’s announcement about the new party, observers are watching closely to see if Mr Somkid will be brought on board.
However, he offered no details about the new party’s name, leadership and political agenda, saying all this would be announced later this month.
He assured that the party would be joined by people from all walks of life, including prominent figures in the business sector, civil society and academia as well as former and present lawmakers.
“This new political party is not owned by us. We are just taking part in it,” the announcement said.
Observers were quick to take note of the point about Mr Uttama and Mr Sontirat “not owning the new political party” and saw it as their attempt to distinguish the new party from others which are considered under the influence of, or are dominated by, “string pullers”.
However, there are concerns about Mr Uttama’s political future stemming from the disqualification of former PPRP Bangkok MP, Sira Jenjaka.
Sira was recently disqualified by the Constitutional Court for having been convicted of fraud by the Pathumwan District Court in 1995 and sentenced to eight months in jail.
The ruling took effect retroactively on the March 24, 2019 election date when Mr Uttama was still the PPRP leader.
Some critics pointed out that as the former PPRP leader Mr Uttama could be held responsible under the political party law for allowing Sira to stand in the general election despite the latter being unqualified to do so.
If this is the case, Mr Uttama might be slapped with a five-year prison term, a fine of 100,000 baht and a five-year ban from politics for having violated the organic law on elections of MPs, the critics noted.
According to a source, such a scenario is far-fetched and would not affect Mr Uttama and any co-founders of the new party. After all, several election candidates have been disqualified but their party leaders have escaped punishment.
Moreover, an election candidate must verify they meet the qualifications and there is no way a party leader can find out, let alone defy the law by fielding an unqualified candidate, the source said.
Confident Mr Uttama will not face any legal repercussions, the party will be launched this month, tentatively on Jan 19, the source said, with an English name of “Building Thai Future” to reflect the party’s vision.
Former deputy Democrat Party leader Nipit Intarasombat is tipped to be named a co-founder and deputy leader in charge of elections in the South. The party is also expected to draw well-known politicians from the powerful Sasomsap clan in Nakhon Pathom and those in Chon Buri.