BANGKOK — The leader of Thailand's 22 May coup has further consolidated power after his rubber-stamp parliament voted him into the position of Prime Minister this morning.

Following a unanimous vote from the country's interim legislature, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha now holds three top positions of power: Prime Minister, chairman of the junta's National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), and commander of the Royal Thai Army, although he is scheduled to retire from the latter in September. 

Gen. Prayuth was the only person nominated for the position of Prime Minister by the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), a body whose members were handpicked by the NCPO earlier this month. More than half of the 197 legislators are retired or active military and police officers, including a brother of Gen. Prayuth.

A total of 191 lawmakers voted in favour of Gen. Prayuth, three abstained, and three did not show up to vote, citing illness. 

His Majesty the King is expected to endorse Gen. Prayuth as the 29th Prime Minister of Thailand this evening, officials said.

According to Gen. Prayuth, his interim government will administer the country and institute a wide range of "reforms" over the next year, after which a general election is scheduled to take place in October 2015 at the earliest and only if "national reconciliation" has been achieved.

One-man show

In addition to leading the interim government, Gen. Prayuth will also retain supreme power over the country’s administration through his position as chairman of the NCPO.

Article 44 of the junta’s temporary charter licenses the NCPO leader to "issue any order or direct any action to be done or not to be done, irrespective of whether the order or action would produce legislative, executive or judicial effect" in defense of the country's national security, monarchy, economy, and public order. 

Since seizing power, Gen. Prayuth, a 60-year-old career soldier with no experience in governance, has also appointed himself as chairman of several committees overseeing the national economy, including the Board of Investment (BOI), the National Energy Policy Committee, and the Special Economic Zone Development Committee.

Gen. Prayuth is the first individual to amass such concentrated and widespread power over Thailand’s national administration since 1971, when Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn installed himself as Prime Minister, chairman of Revolutionary Council, and commander of the armed forces. None of the coup leaders in Thailand’s most recent military takeovers – in 2006 and 1991 – went on to assume the position of Prime Minister. 

'Finishing the job'

According to Suthachai Yimprasert, professor of Thai political history at Chulalongkorn University, Gen. Prayuth has consolidated power to address the shortcomings of the 2006 coup, which deposed the popular Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra but failed to eradicate his influence over Thai politics. Thaksin-backed parties have won every national election since Mr. Thaksin joined the political scene in 2001.

"The elite feels that the 2006 coup didn't finish the job," Mr. Suthachai said."So they feel they have to be more thorough this time. They are afraid of another failure. That's why they put a soldier in charge as Prime Minister."

Claudio Sopranzetti, the author of a book on Thai politics, described the 2006 coup as a learning process for the anti-Thaksin political faction, which is mostly composed of conservative middle and upper class Bangkokians, the country’s military brass, and Thailand’s traditional elite.

“Basically, they realized that controlling independent bodies and the judiciary itself wasn’t enough to actually win elections,” said Mr. Sopranzetti, a post-doctoral research fellow at Oxford University. “I think Prayuth is making a personal attempt to assume the type of charismatic authority with popular support that none of the opposition governments in the last 20 years have been able to achieve.”

Gen. Prayuth's ambitions have been widely underestimated, Mr. Sopranzetti added.

“I think on both sides of the spectrum, people very quickly believed that Prayuth was a puppet,” Mr Sopranzetti said. “It’s becoming more and more clear that he may not be the only actor in town, but he is definitely one of the actors, not just a puppet.”

Gen. Prayuth says he led the 22 May coup, the 12th successful military takeover in modern Thai history, to put an end to deadly confrontations between pro- and anti-Thaksin demonstrators. Prior to the coup, anti-government protesters staged six months of street protests in an effort to oust the Thaksin-allied government led by his sister, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Since seizing power, the coupmakers have largely adopted the platform of anti-Thaksin protesters: pursuing widespread "reforms" before holding the next general election.

Gen. Prayuth has already ruled over Thailand with a more authoritarian grip than his predecessors in 2006. The NCPO has outlawed criticism of the coup, banned public demonstrations, and attempted to censor the media. Hundreds of activists and politicians, most of whom were allied to the former government, were detained and held incommunicado in military camps for up to seven days in the weeks following the military takeover.

SAMUT SAKORN — New details have emerged suggesting that the 190 Cambodian workers who were left in a paddy field in Samut Sakorn province yesterday morning are not victims of a scam as was previously feared.

After receiving a tip-off yesterday, police picked up the migrants in Samut Sakorn province, where they had been abandoned by their van drivers, and brought them to a Wat Tha Sao Temple to receive food and water. The migrant workers told police and local administrators that they were duped into paying a Thai broker 20,000 baht each for the promise of work in Thailand.  

However, the manager of BS Work company, Wirat Phandontri, later arrived at Wat Tha Sao Temple and identified himself as the Cambodians’ legitimate employer. 

Mr. Wirat said he contracted 158 workers through a middleman for his company, which is based in Pathum Thani province. He claimed he did not know why the drivers decided to leave the workers behind in Samut Sakorn province.

"I think the drivers misunderstood," Mr. Wirat said, "I told them to take [the workers] to a destination in Pathum Thani, but they ended up driving them to Samut Sakorn."

The migrant workers told police that one of their van drivers in Thailand "suddenly felt pity" and told them they were victims of a scam. He then called the police and convinced the other vans to drop the passengers off in Samut Sakorn province.

Pol.Col. Thanapol Suwannawong, an investigative officer at Krathoom Ban Police Station, told Khaosod English that the police are no longer investigating the case.

"They sent the workers to the wrong place," Pol.Col. Thanapol said.

Most of the workers, 158, were later transported to apply for work permits at a One Stop Service centre in Pathum Thani province, which will allow them to stay and work in Thailand legally until 31 March 2015.

Mr. Wirat said that he did not contract the other 32 Cambodians in the group, who police say are the husbands, wives, and relatives of the contracted workers. They were released from police custody and can stay in Thailand until 1 September, per the limit of their tourist visas. 

BANGKOK — Student activists launched a fresh effort today to discredit the rector of Thammasat University for his decision to accept a position in the junta-appointed National Legislative Assembly (NLA) earlier this month.

The school's rector, Somkid Lertpaitoon, was denounced in hundreds of flyers that were distributed around the social science lecture hall on Thammasat University's Rangsit Campus today.

The leaflets urged Mr. Somkid to choose between membership in the NLA and his position as the rector of the university. The NLA was appointed by the junta earlier this month and will act as the country's legislative body until a new general election is expected to be held at the end of 2015. 

Another version of the flyers proclaimed, "The university that seeks to uphold the coup" —  a mocking reference to a lyric from the University’s former official song, which says, "the university that seeks to uphold the nation with rule of governance for progress."

Today’s flyers mark the second time Mr. Somkid has been targeted by student activists over his membership in the NLA since classes began on Monday. Earlier this week, mysterious posters denouncing Mr. Somkid appeared in a lecture hall on the same campus. 

Mr. Somkid has defended his decision to join the NLA, explaining that the coup has already happened and that he prefers not to "waste" the opportunity to push for change. 

"I was picked by the NCPO as an NLA because of my position as the rector of a university," Mr. Somkid told Channel 3 News on the day he was inaugurated into the assembly. "People who criticise me, I want them to talk to me directly instead of gossiping about me on social media." 

Although no group has claimed responsibility for today's leaflets, the Facebook page of the student activist group League of Liberal Thammasat for Democracy (LLTD) published photos of the moment the flyers were strewn across the lecture hall. 

LTTD has been staging small demonstrations against the military junta since the 22 May coup. 

Thammasat University has an extensive history of student activists campaigning against Thailand's military rulers. Students at the university famously rallied against Field Marshal Thanorm Kittikachorn in October 1973, which resulted in a popular uprising against the regime.

SAMUT SAKORN – Almost 200 Cambodians were stranded outside of Bangkok early this morning after a Thai broker scammed them with the promise of illusory jobs in exchange for 20,000 baht each.

The Cambodian migrants, 117 men and 63 women, were found at around 2 am this morning following a tip off, said Pol.Lt. Boonliang Wansamngan, an officer at Krathoom Ban Police Station.

Police sent the Cambodians to Wat Tha Sao Temple where monks provided them with food, water, and accommodation. Officials from Ministry of Labour arrived at the temple later in the day to gather information about the group. 

"Some of them haven't eaten for a whole day," said Pol.Lt. Boonliang. 

According to Pol.Lt. Boonliang, the migrants said a Thai broker told them he needed 200 Cambodians to work in Thailand, where they could 300 baht per day. The broker also reportedly promised the workers they could earn at least 20,000 baht per month if they worked overtime.  

The migrants said the Thai broker, who was not named, charged each of them 15,000-20,000 baht for the service; those who already owned passports were able to pay less. 

The broker then allegedly smuggled the group into Thailand on 19 August and placed them in a residential building while those without passports applied for migrant worker IDs in Pong Nam Ron District, Chantaburi province. However, unlike legitimate workers’ documents, the IDs lacked the names of Thai employers, the migrants reported.

Once all of the migrant workers received their IDs, they were instructed to board 12 vans and told that they would be taken to work at two factories and a construction site in Samut Sakorn province, Pol.Lt. Boonliang said.

But one of the van drivers "suddenly felt pity" and confessed to the Cambodians that they were victims of a scam. He then called the police and convinced the other vans to drop the passengers off in Samut Sakorn province.

Pol.Lt. Boonliang said the case is under investigation. 

Thailand is home to hundreds of thousands of undocumented Cambodian migrant workers who come to Thailand through smuggling networks. Their undocumented status often makes them vulnerable to abuse by their employers, smugglers, and corrupt authorities.

In July, six Cambodian women were allegedly raped by Thai brokers who smuggled them into Thailand. 

Shortly after the military junta staged a coup on 22 May, more than 200,000 Cambodian workers fled the country en masse, fearing a possible crackdown on undocumented migrants. Many of the migrants have returned to Thailand, while the junta's National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has launched efforts to reform the migrant worker system and legally register alien workers. 

BANGKOK — The spokesperson for Thailand's military junta has requested more time to consider whether he will participate in the viral "Ice Bucket Challenge."

Col. Winthai Suwaree was "challenged" yesterday to pour a bucket of ice water over his head by Nattakorn Devakula, a talk show host at Voice TV, which was taken off the air by the military junta in May.

"Let me think about it first," Col. Winthai said in a press conference today, "I won't accept the challenge for now."

The challenge is part of an ongoing social media campaign that began in the United States this summer to raise awareness about ALS, a neurodegenerative disease with various causes. It requires pouring a bucket of ice water over oneself and then nominating another person to do the same within 24 hours or donate to the ALS Association.

Col. Winthai continued, "Charity is a good thing, but an activity that I have to pour water over myself? I have to study it in detail first."

The spokesperson added that the junta chairman, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, has not responded to his Ice Bucket Challenge either; Gen. Prayuth was "nominated" on Monday by the host of a popular online talk show. 

"I haven't met with Gen. Prayuth yet, and I don't know whether he has already been informed about the challenge," Col. Winthai told reporters. "I guess he doesn't know about it yet, because he has not given me any comments about it."

Meanwhile, US Ambassador to Thailand, Kristie Kenney, accepted the Ice Bucket Challenge from former Transport Minister Chatchart Sittipan today. Ms. Kenney posted a photo of herself completing the challenge on her Twitter account.