When Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha started delivering his policy statement to the parliament, opposition MPs and the parliament president quickly told him to read it out word by word, as regulation requires, and not deliver it in a debate style.
Gen Prayut, former chief of the now-defunct National Council for Peace and Order, began delivering his government's policy statement to the parliament, sitting in the TOT auditorium, just before 10am.
Initially he opted to improvise as he delivered it, stressing what he considered important for the implementation of policies. He also told the parliament that his government was considering implementing the policies that both coalition and opposition parties had proposed, and they should wait for the process to begin.
But shortly after he started, opposition MPs took turns raising objections, saying that parliamentary regulation required him to read out his policy statement word by word, and he was not allowed to deliver it in a debate style.
Unless he read it straightforwardly, the parliament's record of the policy statement would be inconsistent with the written policy statement earlier handed out to MPs, the opposition MPs said.
Some opposition MP also said that Gen Prayut should not imagine he was laying down orders to soldiers, or talking in whatever manner he preferred. In presenting his government's policy, the prime minister was required only to read it out.
Parliament president Chuan Leekpai agreed with the objections, and asked Gen Prayut to do so.
Gen Prayut then lowered his tone and read out his policy statement, word by word.
