Skiving MPs to be exposed

Government chief whip Chinnaworn Boonyakiat said on Thursday he is considering shaming MPs who are often absent from House meetings without permission by revealing their names to the public.

Mr Chinnaworn said these  truant MPs often made it  impossible to rally a quorum.

Members of the House should be more responsible and attend all meetings, and in particular the joint sitting of the two houses next week to consider draft agreements to be made with other countries, as required by Article 190 of the constitution.

These international agreements must be approved by at least 312 votes. Since the government has only 273 votes at present, it needs support from both the Senate and the opposition. So every government MP's vote counts dearly, he said.

Mr Chinnaworn said he had asked Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban to coordinate with all coaltion leaders to ensure their MPs attend all meetings, to make sure they meet a quorum.

He  was considering publicly shaming MPs who often leave House meetings without permission by revealing their names.

The government chief whip also accused opposition MPs of deliberately being absent from the voting on every item of legislation. He said they wanted to make the people believe that the parliamentary system has malfunctioned and emphasize former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's prediction that the House would be dissolved in four months.