BANGKOK — The chairman of Thailand’s military junta says he wants more people to apply for the National Reform Council (NRC), a panel set-up by the junta to carry out widespread "reforms" in post-coup Thailand.

More than 400 people have applied for the NRC so far, but Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha urged state authorities this morning to step up their PR efforts before the application deadline on 2 September.

The army chief made the comments at a meeting with fellow members of the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).

Gen. Prayuth said he wants to ensure that there is a large pool of potential candidates to choose from.

Under the junta’s 2014 interim constitution, the NRC will be tasked with drafting and proposing reforms in the following categories: politics, public administration, law and justice, local government, education, economy, energy, public health and environment, mass media, social affairs, and "other."

A screening committee formed earlier this month will nominate up to 50 candidates for each of the categories, after which the NCPO will choose an unspecified number of representatives to join the final council. 

The NCPO will also choose one out of the five representatives nominated by 76 provincial selection committees across the country.

According to the interim charter, the final council must not exceed more than 250 members.

Many expect the makeup of the NRC to mirror that of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), the legislative branch of the interim government whose members were handpicked by the military junta earlier this month. More than half of the legislators are former or current military and police officers. Only twelve of the body's 197s members are women. 

Critics of the coup have accused the NLA of being rubber stamp for the coupmakers, as was evident yesterday when not a single NLA member opposed Gen. Prayuth’s budget proposal.

However, NCPO deputy chairman Gen. Surasak Karnchanarat insisted that the selection process for the NRC will be a transparent one. He also dismissed accusations that the NCPO has "lock spec" (rigged) which candidates will be chosen to join the reform council. 

"It's just the media imagining things," Gen. Surasak said.

The NCPO says it staged a coup on 22 May to put an end to escalating violence and street protests staged by Thailand’s rival political factions. Prior to the military takeover, anti-government protesters demanded that unspecified “national reforms” be held before the next election, while pro-government activists rallied in support of holding elections first.  

Many critics of coup view the upcoming year-long reform effort, which will be spearheaded by the NRC, as evidence of the NCPO’s tacit alliance with the anti-government protesters. The next general election is scheduled to be held in October 2015 at the earliest, and only if the NCPO deems the country's political climate to be "stable." 

BANGKOK — Thailand’s National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) is looking to file criminal charges against former Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat for the government crackdown on Yellowshirt demonstrators in 2008, the agency's chairman says.

On the morning of 7 October 2008, two people were killed and more than 380 injured after riot police attempted to remove Yellowshirt protesters who were blocking MPs from entering the House of Parliament.

According to the NACC chairman Panthep Klanarongran, the government's approval of the crackdown was an abuse of power and a breach of the disciplinary code of conduct.

"The NACC can press charges in this issue," Mr. Panthep said yesterday. "At the moment the matter is still under the procedure of pressing charges, but there is no time frame about when we will press charges. It depends on the consideration of the rest of the NACC."

The potential lawsuit named then-Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat as the prime defendant. 

Mr. Panthep did not say why the NACC is looking at the case now, six years later. The NACC previously attempted to file charges over the crackdown, but the Office of Attorney-General declined to pursue the case.

The Yellowshirts, led by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), launched several campaigns in early 2008 against the elected government, which was allied to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Mr. Thaksin was deposed in a 2006 military coup but has continued to wield considerable influence over Thai politics despite living in self-imposed exile abroad.

The Yellowshirts accused Mr. Thaksin of being a corrupt, anti-monarchist who maintained control over the administration via his proxy government. 

The Thaksin-allied government was eventually unseated in December 2008 when the Constitutional Court disbanded the ruling party at the time, citing instances of vote-buying by the party in the 2007 election. 

BANGKOK — Students at Thammasat University in Bangkok arrived for their first day of classes this morning to see posters denouncing the school’s director plastered on the walls.

The posters first appeared in the hallway of a lecture hall in Thammasat University's Rangsit Campus. Some featured a caricature of Thammasat's Rector, Somkid Lertpaitoon, in military fatigues. Another proclaimed sarcastically: "I welcome all new students to the land of democracy, where freedom is enshrined in every square inch."

Mr. Somkid has come under fire from anti-coup activists following his decision to join the National Legislative Assembly, the new lawmaking body appointed by the military junta earlier this month. 

One of the posters illustrated Mr. Somkid justifying his decision with the words: "Don't let the coup become a waste."

As the day continued, more posters appeared in several other buildings around campus. It is unclear who was responsible for the material. By late afternoon, all of the posters were removed by university security guards.

Thammasat University is widely regarded a bastion of liberal activism, with an extensive history of student activists campaigning against 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.

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BANGKOK — Prominent members of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) say a majority of the assembly's members plan to elect the chairman of Thailand's military junta, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, as the country's new Prime Minister.

According to Gen. Noppadol Intapanya, one of 115 military and police officers appointed to the 200-seat assembly, "most of" the body's members agree that Gen. Prayuth should take the premiership.

Another NLA lawmaker, Jate Sirataranon, also confirmed yesterday that he will give his vote to Gen. Prayuth. Mr. Jate, a former appointed senator, actively campaigned against the government Gen. Prayuth toppled in the 22 May coup.

"I think Gen. Prayuth will be voted in unanimously," Mr. Jate said, "Because over the past three months, Gen. Prayuth's works have proven him to be a good working man."

Opinion surveys show that Gen. Prayuth has also won the hearts of the Thai people, Mr. Jate added.

The vote to elect a new Prime Minister is expected to take place on 21 August, according to the NLA's deputy president, Peerasak Porchit.

Under the junta-drafted 2014 charter, the NLA will act as the country's legislative body until a new general election is expected to be held at the end of 2015.  The members of the assembly were handpicked by Thailand’s military junta, which has reserved supreme power over the interim government. 

Article 20 of the 2014 interim charter states that the new Prime Minister must be Thai, older than 40 years of age, and not a member of any political party in the past three years. The charter does not forbid active military officers from being appointed Prime Minister, but it does bar judges, attorneys-general, Election Commissioners, state treasury auditors, and National Human Rights Commissioners from taking the premiership.

If Gen. Prayuth does not take the office, he will still maintain supreme power over the interim government. Article 44 of the provisional constitution grants the NCPO chairman sweeping power to "order, suspend, or take action regardless of its effect on the legislative, executive, or the judiciary."

Gen. Prayuth is set to retire from his post as army commander-in-chief on September 30. 

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