Govt 'must push agenda'

With only two years left on its electoral mandate, delay is not an option for the ruling Pheu Thai Party, which badly needs to push ahead with its planned mega-projects, charter amendment and amnesty bill, party secretary-general Phumtham Wechayachai told reporters on Tuesday.
The government must deliver the policies it promised before the election, despite the many anti-government forces besieging the gates of Government House who are looking to bring the administration down, Phumtham said.
A group of 312 MPs and senators who support constitutional amendment earlier announced their intention to defy the Constitutional Court, which has accepted requests to review the constitutionality of proposed charter-change legislation.
The People’s Movement for a Just Society (P-Move) group is currently staging a protest at Government House calling on the government to keep its promises to help farmers and the poor. Another group, calling itself the Thai Patriots and Territory Protection Front, is protesting against the government’s positions on constitutional amendment and the Preah Vihear dispute with Cambodia.
The latter group has vowed to continue its protest until Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s government leaves office.
“Earlier, when faced with strong opposition, as if we had run into a wall, we always sought other ways. But although we have chosen alternative ways, we are still blocked,” Phumtham said.
 “Our party has been pushed to the brink of a ravine. We launched an election campaign saying that we would rewrite the entire charter, but [charter-change] opponents submitted a petition against it and the Constitutional Court ruled that we have to amend the charter one article at a time.
“But when we tried to amend particular articles, the same group submitted another petition to the Constitutional Court, which accepted it by a vote of 3-2. The party did not know how to react because we were already acting on the court’s advice, but we still faced obstacles. As a result, we resolved not to accept the court’s authority and we had to inform the public that the Constitutional Court is interfering in the work of the legislative branch,” Phumtham said.
Pheu Thai has so far failed to keep its pre-poll promises because of this strong opposition, so the party has no choice but to rush to implement the policies, he said.
The Pheu Thai-led government will have to move quickly to implement the comprehensive flood-control projects and develop the railway transport system, or Thailand will be left far behind by other countries, he warned.
Phumtham said Pheu Thai had no choice but to push quickly for enactment of amnesty and charter-amendment bills because its earlier efforts always faced strong opposition, despite the party seeking alternative options.
The secretary-general said Pheu Thai has launched awareness campaigns to explain to the public the need to enact reconciliation and amnesty bills. The campaigns ask people to consider whether the conflicts that date back to 2005 should be ended once and for all.
Phumtham said the government did not regard those on the other side of the political divide as enemies. He urged the government’s opponents to stop regarding Pheu Thai as their enemy and said he was ready to hold talks with all sides.
He said Pheu Thai’s opponents should be asked why they would not open their minds to talk with Pheu Thai for the sake of the country.