Pheu Thai attacks Prayut govt

The party summed up several topics, in which it claimed to offer constructive criticism for national benefit.

The party questioned the Prayut regime’s sincerity to combat corruption as the government itself faces graft allegations. These include an allegation that it sought to buy expensive microphones for the Cabinet meeting room each priced at Bt140,000, although the government has argued that it had not yet signed a purchasing contract. 

Graft agencies also failed to check irregularities in funds allocated to the Bt5-million tambon support project.

The latest scandal includes claims of corruption in the construction of Rajabhakti Park in Prachuap Khiri Khan, which is now under investigation. 

Pheu Thai also blamed the government for the country’s prolonged economic slump, saying it lacked understanding and the competency to address economic woes.

Major factors that drive the economy, such as domestic consumption, foreign investment and exports, have dropped with a continuing bleak outlook because of several trade problems, such as the EU removing its Generalised System of Preferences, or GSP. The government had failed, Pheu Thai said, to negotiate a free-trade agreement with the EU partly because Thailand is not ruled by a democratic government. 

Foreign investors have also shifted production bases for high-technology industries to Vietnam, the party claimed. 

Business people running small and medium-sized enterprises had been forced to close down operations. This was because people lacked purchasing power as the price of agricultural produce had slumped, the party said. Yet the government failed to replace any subsidy programmes after scrapping the rice-pledging scheme.

Tourism, meanwhile, had grown in quantity and not quality, because there were fewer high-spending tourists.

The party also lashed out over alleged human rights violations and discrimination committed by the Prayut government, saying it had prevented people from checking claims of graft by government officials. Political rallies and meetings are banned, the PM can exercise absolute control through Article 44 of the interim charter, and freedom of expression as well as media freedom were suffering a clamp-down, it said.

Foreign confidence in the country had eroded, the party said, as the world community wanted a return to democracy.

The government was also confused about drafting a democratic charter, Pheu Thai claimed, adding that the new Constitution Drafting Commission was drawing up a new charter with undemocratic ideas. The party also accused the government of failure to bring about concrete reform and reconciliation. It claimed double standards in the justice system, plus unfair transfers of state officials.