70 Future Forward Party MPs vote against ’emergency decree’

PHOTO: Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-ngam says the MPs voting against the decree was ‘nothing unusual’ – matichon.co.th

70 members of the Future Forward Party have voted against an ’emergency decree’ stating that personnel and operating funds for the Army’s Infantry Division will be put directly under His Majesty the King’s command to provide better security to the Royal Family, Royal residences and the monarch’s VIP guests.

But three Future Forward MPs, namely Ms. Kawinnart Takee of Chon Buri, Mr. Charoek Sri-on of Chanthaburi and Pol Lt-Col Thanapat Kittiwongsa of Chanthaburi, voted in support of the executive decree in defiance against the party’s stand.

The Parliament’s Lower House passed the decree by 374-70 votes.

Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-ngam said that MPs voting against the emergency decree on the King’s bodyguard units was not unusual. He said the decree had nothing to do with the Royal Family. He went further suggesting that, since the government had proposed this emergency decree, Future Forward’s secretary-general Piyabutr Saengkanokkul was correct in suggesting that the government resign or dissolve Parliament if the emergency decree fails to make it through Parliament.

Piyabutr had previously stated that the emergency decree might be in violation of the Constitution and that it was the Army’s job to protect the Royal Family.

Meanwhile, Wattana Muangsook, a core member of the Pheu Thai party, said he supported the party’s MPs voting for the Government’s decree, adding that, whether the transfer of troops and funding was done by means of an executive decree because the issue is urgent, or by means of a bill, did not matter because the issue is not about democracy. He believed the transfer will shorten the chain of command and will improve the efficiency of the Royal Security Command.

Under the decree, some troops of the 1st Infantry Regiment of the Ratcha Wallop Royal Guards and the 11th Infantry Regiment of the Ratcha Wallop Roya Guards are to be transferred to the Royal Security Command.

SOURCE: The Nation | Thai PBS World