Critics are raising questions about the screening committees to select National Reform Council (NRC) members who will oversee national reforms in 11 areas.
(See full graphic, memberships below)
Some contend too many of them are technocrats with narrow interests, while others say the committees do not represent a good cross-section of professional groups.
Rosana: Blasts choice of PTT execs
The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) on Wednesday appointed the 11 seven-person screening committees, which are to select 173 NRC members. They will work with 77 members chosen by provincial selection panels from each province.
Former Senator Rosana Tositrakul said Thursday that several former executives of PTT have been chosen to sit on a screening committee responsible for selecting NRC members for energy reform.
In light of this, she questioned if the screening panel for energy reform will ever consider selecting opponents of PTT to become NRC members. Ms Rosana is a former activist who vocally opposed privatisation of state enterprises.
She said the makeup of the screening panel for energy reform indicates that major energy business groups are pushing for their interests.
Energy reform could eventually lead to PPT and other state enterprises being fully privatised, Ms Rosana said. PTT is now 51% owned by the government. She also noted the 11 areas of national reform do not cover measures against corruption.
However, Wanwichit Boonprong, a political scientist at Rangsit University, said that overall the 11 screening committees are made up of technocrats and civil servants.
Many committee members are endowed with "high social capital", such as university rectors, even though the 11 panels also comprise military officers, Mr Wanwichit said.
Several members of the screening panels appear to enjoy more public trust than politicians, which heralds a good start for reform, he said.
However, political observers noted that even some well-accepted figures do not necessarily stand out in their fields.
Former Democrat MP Thaworn Senneam said the composition of the panels is acceptable and members are up to the tasks. But he said they must put the public interest first.
Former Democrat MP Warong Detkitvikorm said the NRC must listen to opinions from all sectors.
He added that the party intends to propose its reform ideas to the NRC, even if the party will not nominate its own members to be part of the council.
Also on Thursday, former Pheu Thai Party MP Kusumalwati Sirikomut lambasted the committees selecting NRC members, saying the panels do not represent all professional groups in the country.
She said the NCPO should have established the screening panels itself, adding the junta still wanted to wield control over selection.
Meanwhile, the first day of NRC membership applications began Thursday at the Office of the Election Commission (EC). Only 29 people from 25 various organisations were nominated to become NRC members in the 11 areas of national reform.
The 11 areas of reform are politics, national administration, law and justice, local administration, education, economy, energy, public health and environment, mass media, and social issues.
EC deputy secretary-general Boonyakiat Rakchartcharoen said applications for NRC candidates will run until Sept 2.
The EC, which serves as the secretariat for the committees tasked with selecting NRC members, will spend another 10 days checking candidates' qualifications, and it will then submit the lists of candidates to the screening panels, which will shortlist candidates.
The NCPO will then choose 250 members from candidate lists submitted by the screening panels, as well as those submitted by the 77 provincial selection panels.
