Thai government organizes 2nd round reform forum

BANGKOK, December 17 (TNA) - Thailand's caretaker government on Tuesday organized the second round of its political reform forum in Bangkok, in which representatives of all concerned parties were invited to participated. The new session was held at the Sukosol Bangkok Hotel, after its first round was organized at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center last Sunday. Thongthong Chandrangsu, Permanent Secretary for the Prime Minister’s Office, who facilitates the event, said that Tuesday’s forum allows the concerned parties to continue sharing their ideas, while the caretaker government does not raise any idea. Thongthong revealed that he had invited representatives of seven private organizations and those of the anti-government People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), led by Suthep Thaugsuban, a former deputy prime minister of the Democrat Party, to join but the PDRC, again, did not send any representative to take part in the forum. Thongthong acknowledged that he did not invite any politician, nor let any reporter cover Tuesday forum, which was set to end on 10pm. According to the senior official, Caretaker Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has received a report on results of the first-session Thailand Reform Forum on December 15, which concluded that all parties would follow the Royal Decree on the House dissolution, issued on December 9, with the new general election set on February 2, 2014, and the caretaker prime minister will, therefore, inform the Election Commission of Thailand (EC) that her caretaker administration would support the EC in organizing a fair election. The senior official noted that the caretaker prime minister has also ordered the Prime Minister’s Office to arrange for another round of Thailand Reform Forum soon, as academics want to further discuss national reform. Meanwhile, Suthep, the PDRC secretary-general, insisted on his anti-government protest stage on Rajadamnoen Avenue in the capital that his group wanted Thailand's new election to be postponed for a year or one year and a half to follow national reform and it would do whatever it could to obstruct the general election on February 2, 2014.(TNA)