Pamuke elected Chamber leader, again

PHUKET: Pamuke Achariyachai yesterday resigned as Chairman of the Phuket Chamber of Commerce, but within minutes was re-elected to the post. K. Pamuke was originally elected Chairman on July 24 by a rump committee of just nine members, after the other 12 on the 21-man committee were found to be ineligible to serve because of membership irregularities. Of the nine present for that first election, just four voted for K. Pamuke as chairman, while two voted for another candidate and the remaining three abstained. With the membership irregularities resolved, the 12 disqualified committee members were reinstated, though four subsequently resigned, leaving 17, of whom 10 attended yesterday’s meeting. With no one else standing for election, K. Pamuke was re-elected unopposed and with no abstentions. After the meeting, K. Pamuke explained that he had resigned “because I wanted to reinstate the right to vote of those committee members [who were unable to vote in the July 24 election]”. Yesterday’s meeting also approved the resignation from the committee of one of its seven absent members, Piriya Tantipiriyakij of Muang Mai Chrysler. K. Pamuke said, “So, right now the committee consists of just 16 people. There will be another extraordinary meeting of the full membership as soon as possible in order to elect five more people to the committee to bring it up to the full 21. “The extraordinary meeting will also elect members to a subcommittee which will look at changes to the Chamber’s rules.” He added, “I told the committee members that we need to raise funds for the Chamber. We also need [as a committee] to get closer to the ordinary members in order to build up the strength of our organization. “The first event that will help to do this will be the charity ‘Moon and Pearl Dance Night’ organized by the Chamber at The Metropole hotel, Phuket Town, on September 8.”