Pheu thai debate to pick holes in proposals

After boycotting the government's policy presentation last week, the opposition Pheu Thai Party will hold an open meeting today to expose the flaws in the government's proposals.

Pheu Thai party-list MP Chalerm Yoobamrung said yesterday that the debate would start at 9:30am at the Miracle Grand Hotel.

"The party assigned me to be first one to question the policies," Chalerm said after an hour-long meeting to make preparations.

 During the meeting, leading party members told the MPs not to mention third-party persons during the debate because they will not enjoy immunity against libel lawsuits like during a parliamentary meeting.

Opposition chief whip Wittaya Buranasiri said Deputy House Speaker Apiwan Wiriyachai would be the moderator. The meeting would end around 3.30pm.

He said the party's website at www.ptp.or.th would broadcast a video recording of the debate.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the opposition could monitor the work of the government both inside and outside Parliament as long as it is allowed by the Constitution.

Abhisit said he was not worried by such a critique of the government's plans, as the opposition has the right to express disagreement with the government.

He could provide an explanation even if the opposition accuses him of draft dodging.

Chalerm said the opposition needed to censure the policies in a meeting outside Parliament House because the government did not deliver its policy address inside Parliament House, but at the Foreign Ministry.

He said he would point out that the prime minister did not have to issue nine rules of conduct for his Cabinet because the Constitution already included them.

For example, Abhisit's Rule No 9 that his Cabinet members must not regard themselves as bosses of the people was already covered by Article 4 that stated that all people are equal, he said.

The government would also be attacked for not stating its intention to suppress the drug trade.

"I've never imagined that this government would dare to omit a policy against drug trafficking," Chalerm said.

The economic stimulus policies also lacked details and direction, he said.

The measure to provide career training to 500,000 jobless workers did not say where they would be hired after finishing the course. Worse still, the project would be inadequate because about 1.2 million workers would be laid off, he said.

The Democrats promised in their election campaign to push for the mass transit mega projects but the government's policies did not mention the rapid transit system at all, he said.

The policy on water resource management also sounded unrealistic because the government promised to complete the project at the end of this month, he said.

Most of the government's policies were inherited from former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and they were once strongly attacked by the Democrats, he said.

After the meeting Chalerm visited Pracharaj Party leader Snoh Thienthong at his home in Muang Thong Thani, where he told reporters that he invited Snoh to join today's Pheu Thai meeting at the Miracle Grand.