Gambling opponent Chamlong Srimuang, right, a member of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), submits a letter to the prime minister yesterday, calling on the government and the NLA to defer amendments to the Government Lottery Office Act.

 When the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) debates amendments to the Government Lottery Office Act next Wednesday, the military leaders and the government under Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont could face their biggest challenge since the coup on September 19.

They might end up losing control over the legislative body.

As prominent NLA member Chamlong Srimuang handed an ultimatum to the government on Tuesday that he would "slow down" the process if it attempted to amend the law to legalise the two- and three-digit lotteries, the new rulers could receive a major setback as they desperately attempt to recover eroding popularity and legitimacy.

Claiming the Council of State ruled last week that the lotteries were illegal, Chamlong described them as something that misled people and would encourage the wrong attitude among those who loved to take risks and wait for luck, instead of embracing self-reliance.

Chamlong's move comes at a time when a rift in the NLA is widening following disputes between two camps of its members - those siding with the military-backed government and those, including Chamlong, who represent the movement of activist Sondhi Limthongkul, also the founder of Phujadkarn newspaper and a leader of deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra's worst enemy, the People's Alliance for Democracy.

General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, chief of the most powerful ruling body, the Council for National Security (CNS), would have had second thoughts before appointing Cabinet members and 242 NLA members if he could have foreseen that Thaksin's opponents were still fighting among themselves.

They won't cooperate with each other in any circumstances. Thaksin was their only common enemy. That's it.

The logic of rewarding them for helping to destabilise Thaksin in a bid to open the "right channel" for the military intervention has failed in this case.

The worst thing for the CNS and its government, moreover, is that Sondhi Limthongkul's men have emerged as the opposition party in the NLA. They have shown they are not the paper tigers of the new rulers.

In the race for the NLA speaker, they along with Phujadkarn newspaper and its broadcasting network attacked Meechai Ruchuphan, who received the junta's support, for having served Thaksin as legal adviser and being likely to write the new charter to extend military rule.

Although Meechai finally beat their man Prasong Soonsiri to become NLA speaker last month, Sondhi's supporters have kept criticising and discrediting Meechai over his role and neutrality as the speaker.

Soon afterwards, Auditor-General Jaruvan Maintaka as a member of the Assets Examination Committee (AEC) opened a battle front with Deputy PM and Finance Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula, whom Sondhi's men believe has attempted to connect with some military leaders and Thai Rak Thai key factions in a bid to get their backing for him to become the next prime minister.

Pridiyathorn has allegedly attempted to protect Thaksin's legacy in several cases. In particular, he has defended Thaksin's wife Pojaman over her purchase of a plot of land on Ratchadaphisek Road from the Asset Management Corporation - the case the AEC has sharpened its knife on to punish the wrongdoers allegedly involved with Thaksin.

Jaruvan attacked Pridiyathorn by asking the government to take action against 14 government executives who sat on more than three state-enterprise boards. The deputy PM is one of them.

Pridiyathorn's opponent Sondhi Limthongkul and his followers in the NLA are said to have given Jaruvan all the information about the deputy PM's violation of regulations, as he knew she could not resist the temptation of "spreading" the issue all over the media.

To give momentum to Chamlong's ultimatum, his companion Prasong warned that Surayud's Cabinet would have to resign if the NLA rejected its proposal to amend the lottery law.

Winning a title is hard, defending it is harder.

The junta can expect the debate next week to change the political landscape and even threaten its survival, only two months after the smooth-as-silk coup - as the "opposition party" in the NLA is getting stronger.

Weerayut Chokchaimadon

The Nation