Yongyuth: strategy committee not set up to serve the junta

Yongyuth Sarasombath, chairman of the NRSA’s bureaucratic administration committee, said the National Legislative Assembly would help pick committee members to serve national goals, rather than serve the junta.

Yongyuth’s committee is responsible for developing mechanisms to drive a 20-year national strategy, including the draft bill.

The new committee was proposed with 25 members, including “a prime minister” at the time the law takes effect. It is widely speculated that this would be Prayut Chan-o-cha, providing the law’s promulgation time frame follows the referendum.

The committee’s study report containing the draft bill was approved by the NRSA last week with 164 votes along with some recommendations given from the meeting. 

Yongyuth said yesterday at a press briefing that the report had been revisited accordingly, and submitted to the government via the NRSA chairman. 

His committee had agreed to specify in the draft bill that the strategy and its goals must be revisited every five years, compared with the previous vague terms of “possibly reassessed every five years”.

In the case of differing opinions between the national strategy committee and Parliament, a joint panel must be set up to find a resolution first, the draft bill stipulates. And if the issue persisted, the strategy should be carried out in accordance with Parliament’s decisions, he said. 

In addition, a new clause concerning public participation in every process of the strategy development had been added.

However, the committee did not confirm whether it had touched upon the composition of the committee, or if its authority was deemed to overrule future governments – as viewed by some political observers.

Other crucial points still maintained in the draft included whether the strategy committee still had power to follow up, scrutinise, and assess the government’s performances. If any government action did cause severe damage to the country, the committee would forward its notices to the Senate for further action. If government officials were involved, the committee would notify the Cabinet, or the National Anti-Corruption Commission, in case of corruption.

Yongyuth noted that the report and the bill did not include a detailed strategy plan. Rather, it only stated the regulations and the bigger picture of the bill. The real plan, he added, would be developed by the national strategy committee.

“And it’s up to the government whether it would take our study and preparation for use or not,” he said.