Cabinet approves laws to promote ethics, boost participation
The Cabinet has approved two acts to promote moral ethics, participation and accountability, proposed by the Social Development and Human Security Ministry, Deputy Prime Minister Paiboon Wattana-siritham, said yesterday.
The first act was intended to create a "peaceful, virtuous and harmonious" society by establishing a national moral ethics and values assembly from local and provincial levels, Paiboon said. It would serve as "a channel for people to exchange ideas" and help formulate the national virtue promotion policy as well as prevent and tackle vice and drugs, he said. A national virtue charter will be established to identify the country's "desirable moral ethics and values", Paiboon said. This would be carried out by the existing Centre for Promotion of National Strength on Moral Ethics and Values, which would be changed into the National Moral Ethics Promotion Office, chaired by the Prime Minister. There would be no extra funds for the office, but it would be given wider scope for its activities, including reports on social situations, vice and drug problems while a list of moral ethics "experts" would also be compiled, Paiboon said. The country had faced situations that had "shaken people's moral ethics and values", and was in need of reconciliation and this act would help strengthen Thai people's moral foundations, he said. Meanwhile, the Community Organisation Council Act would help establish community organisation councils nation-wide at tambon, district and provincial levels within five years to boost people's participation in setting local policies and development plans and monitor the government agencies' performances at all levels, Paiboon said. The council would be a key mechanism in creating local unity and reconciliation and have the power to summon government officials or local organisation administrations to give information on local projects, he said. It would emphasis social power - not power by law, and would assist people's participation, as stipulated in the constitution. Following nearly five years of trial and error, there were now 10 successful tambon-level community councils and it was expected this could be expanded to 200 by the end of this year. A tambon-level council must consist of members from at least 60 per cent of villages under the tambon, while provincial-level councils would be established when they had at least one third of their tambon-level community councils up and running.
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