By Thai Newsroom Reporters
DE FACTO PHEU THAI BOSS Thaksin Shinawatra categorically denied he had ordered legislation to keep the military top brass under control of an elected government or to thwart possible future coups saying he was “personally appalled” by it.
The billionaire power player recently confided to partisan members that he had by no means ordered any partisan member to draft legislation against a possible coup to overthrow the Pheu Thai-led coalition government under elected premiership of his daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra at any given time, a partisan source said over the weekend.
The de facto Pheu Thai boss has already told Pheu Thai MP Prayut Siripanich, a proponent of the anti-coup legislation, to put his bill on hold and indefinitely keep it from being put on agenda of the House of Representatives, according to the partisan source.
Thaksin who was ousted as an elected prime minister in the 2006 coup said his daughter-turned-prime minister and he himself were “personally appalled” by news reports that he himself had ordered the drafting of the anti-coup legislation by anyone among the Pheu Thai rank and file.
The aborted legislation reportedly seeks to encourage soldiers at all ranks and levels to practically deny orders from any of their superiors who might possibly contemplate or attempt coups in the future without being subsequently held guilty of disciplinary or criminal charges.
The drafted bill is also designed to stipulate that an elected prime minister concurrently chair the Defence Council in lieu of a defence minister whilst the whole cabinet of ministers be legally empowered to give a final say to annual promotions of army generals, navy admirals and air marshals who could possibly reshuffle any of his subordinates primarily on the basis of nepotism.
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Top and Front Page: De facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra giving a speech at a Pheu Thai seminar in Hua Hin this weekend. Photos: Thai Rath
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