Ministers' U-turn over bill
Social Development and Human Security Minister Paiboon Wattanasiritham and his deputy Poldej Pinpratheep yesterday backed away from their threat to resign if the Local Community Organisation Council Bill was not passed.
"Even if the bill is not yet possible, there are other measures that can be used," Paiboon said. He suggested ministerial regulations and efforts to strengthen communities could also achieve what the bill was hoping to do. In an about-face, Paiboon no longer demanded the bill be urgently legislated. "Good bills with significant changes take time. It took six years for the National Health Bill to become law," he said. The Council of State is currently reviewing the Local Community Organisation Council Bill. Poldej said his ministry would not try to push further for the legislation of the bill because it had already done its best. He said if the bill caused conflict, it reflected that relevant parties were not ready. "So, every party should be given time to study the issue further." Asked about his and Paiboon's resignation threats, Poldej said it was intended to show how serious they were about the bill. "Resignation would not be good for the country and the government. In my position I need to help, as the government has to deal with unrest in the South and political conflicts," he said. The Local Community Organisation Council Bill has won support from many organisations, yet it has raised concerns about redundancy and possible conflicts between community-organisation councils and local administrative organisations.
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