Thai government's reform council expected to start working in early 2014

BANGKOK, December 25 (TNA) - Thailand's Caretaker Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is likely to sign an order to set up her caretaker government-sponsored national reform council on December 27, 2013 and the council is likely to start its work in late January 2014 and to finish its task in about a year. Thongthong Chandrangsu, Permanent Secretary for the Prime Minister’s Office, told journalists of the tentative schedules on Wednesday, explaining that the establishment of the council will have to be done with the caretaker prime minister's order because an executive decree or a royal decree to the effect needs to seek the consent of Thailand's House of Representatives, which was dissolved recently. Thongthong acknowledged that the caretaker prime minister's order, expected on December 27, will lead to the formation of a committee of 11 experts who will then select 499 members of the government-coordinated National Reform Council. According to the permanent secretary for the prime minister’s office, regulations and criteria will be laid down for the selection of the 499 members of the National Reform Council who will come from all sectors in Thailand. The senior official assessed that the Thai government-supported National Reform Council should be successfully formed within late January or early February 2014. The senior official also said although the proposals of the government-coordinated National Reform Council will not have a legal obligation, they should be acceptable and the newly-elected Thai government will implement them. Meanwhile, Suranand Vejjajiva, secretary-general to the caretaker prime minister, revealed that experts who will join the committee to select the 499 members of the National Reform Council may come from many sectors, including proponents and opponents of the Yingluck administration, as the forum does not belong to the government, urging all sectors to join the forum to work out national solutions. (TNA)