Singapore trip off, Songkhla cabinet meeting intact
• Published: 22 Nov 2013 at 15.40
• Online news: Local News
The looming censure debate has forced Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to postpone an informal meeting with the Singapore leader, but the mobile cabinet meeting in southern Songkhla province next week will go ahead.
A woman blows her whistle to oppose the amnesty bill at an anti-government rally at Asok intersection on Friday. (Photo by Patipat Janthong)
The dates for the no-confidence debate have not been finalised, although government whips led by Amnuay Klangpha on Friday proposed Tuesday and Wednesday next week.
The Democrat Party plans to grill Ms Yingluck and Interior Minister Charupong Ruangsuwan.
The government whips suggested the voting should be on Thursday. The House will rise on Friday Nov 29, and will not recovene until next year
The opposition party has not replied formally to the dates proposed. Opposition chief whip Jurin Laksanawisit said the Democrats want a three-day debate.
Faced with the no-confidence motion, Ms Yingluck has postponed her trip to Singapore for an informal meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, which was scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday next week.
Government spokesman Teerat Ratanasevi said the meeting would be rescheduled for January.
The spokesman said a mobile cabinet meeting scheduled in southern Songkhla province on Nov 29-30 would proceed as planned.
Tourism and Sports Minister Somsak Pureesrisak said he thought the prime minister should cancel the Songkhla cabinet meeting, to avoid anti-government protests.
Mr Somsak, who faced a demonstration by about 30 whistle-blowing protesters in the southern province of Satun on Thursday, said he would convey his concern to the prime minister.
The minister met with tourism business operators and officials in Satun on Thursday. He was greeted by whistle blowers gatheried outside the Sinkiat Buri Hotel in Muang district.
Mr Somsak promptly cancelled other arrangements and returned to Bangkok later in the day.
Mr Somsak said what happened in low-profile Satun could be an indication of bigger rallies if the prime minister visits Songkhla.
"Protests and whistle blowing has occurred even in a quiet town like Satun,'' he told FM100.5 news programme.
The mobile cabinet meeting in Songkhla would wrap the government's plan to hold a cabinet meeting in all regions.
The Thai Chamber of Commerce has already cancelled an invitation to the prime minister and her cabinet representative to give a keynote speech at its annual meeting on Sunday in Trang, a southern province.
The prime minister and her cabinet are facing growing opposition after the House of Representatives passed a bill for a blanket amnesty that would include former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, convicted and sentenced to prison for abuse of authority while in office.
The pressure and protests led to the Senate's decision to kill the bill.
The situation worsened after the Constitution Court's ruling on Wednesday that a constitutional amendment to change the composition of the Senate had violated the charter on several points, including legal procedure.
The opposition and other groups have since filed petitions with the National Anti-Corruption Commission seeking the disqualification and banning of the 312 MPs and senators who supported the bill.
The Network of Students and People for Reform of Thailand, which petitioned the anti-graft agency to take action on the lawmakers on Thursday, demanded on Friday the prime minister and her cabinet stop functioning.
It did not make clear whether it wanted the parliament dissolved or the prime minister to step down.
About 2,000 protesters of the network also marched to Silom to blow the whistles against the amnesty bill and corruption in government, and another 300 people working in Sukhumvit area held a rally at Asok intersection (picture above).
A major rally is expected on Sunday. Leaders of the Democrat-led protest at the Democracy Monument have called for one million people throughout the country to take to the streets and demand an end to the "Thaksin regime''.