Ethics Assembly backed by NRC

THE National Reform Council (NRC) voted yesterday to support a draft law establishing an unprecedented National Ethics Assembly, as part of an attempt to combat ethical issues among public office holders.

The council voted 217-10 to approve the bill, which was proposed by the NRC’s committee on reforms of morality, ethics and governance.

It then voted 220-4 to revise the bill, as recommended by NRC members, within seven days before submitting it to the National Legislative Assembly and Cabinet for promulgation.

Poldej Pinprateep, chairman of the NRC’s committee on reforms of morality, ethics and governance, said yesterday he believed the National Ethics Assembly would not become a “paper tiger”, as feared by critics.

“The heads of the agencies involved will be informed of punishments [ordered] against the officials found to have committed wrongdoing. In the case of politicians, the National Anti-Corruption Commission would be informed. Also, reports of the scrutiny [of cases] would be publicised so the public would be kept informed,” Poldej said.

The National Ethics Assembly’s main duty is to set guidelines on ethics for government leaders, bureaucrats and politicians, as well as scrutinising individuals accused of violating ethical standards. The assembly is expected to raise public awareness about the moral problems involving public office holders, which in turn would lessen problems in the future.

Poldej said he thought the National Legislative Assembly would spend about three months considering the matter before the law on the National Ethics Assembly is promulgated.

At yesterday’s meeting of the NLA, Poldej said the National Ethics Assembly was aimed at promoting good people to govern the country and preventing bad people from gaining political power or provoking unrest in the country.

He told the meeting the National Ethics Assembly was likely to become an independent agency under the new constitution.

According to the panel’s proposal, the assembly would consist of at least 55 members from different groups of society, including the public and private sectors, civil society and citizen groups. They would serve for six years. 

Most members of the NRC, during their meeting yesterday, spoke in support of the establishment of the assembly. Some suggested that assembly members should face punishment more severe than the politicians they scrutinised if they were found to have committed wrongdoing or acting in violation of the code of ethics. 

Borwornsak Uwanno, vice president of the NRC, suggested that public office holders investigated by the National Ethics Assembly should be publicly identified, in order to help discourage future wrongdoing.