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Thai parties meet for coalition talks to form government

Thai opposition parties, led by the progressive Move Forward Party (MFP), held coalition talks after a decisive election victory. MFP, aiming to ally with the dominant Pheu Thai party and four smaller groups, needs over 300 seats in the lower house and a majority in the Senate to secure the prime minister’s position.

Some junta-appointed senators are opposed to MFP’s leader, particularly due to his anti-establishment stance and plans to amend royal insult laws.

The Bhumjaithai party also refused to support MFP over its stance on lese-majeste laws.

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BANGKOK, THAILAND — Thai opposition groups met for coalition talks Wednesday after hammering government rivals at the ballot box, but some junta-appointed senators warned they would try to stop the victorious party’s leader from becoming prime minister.

The progressive Move Forward Party (MFP) emerged from Sunday’s election as the biggest party after voters emphatically rejected nearly a decade of military-backed rule.

MFP leader Pita Limjaroenrat met senior officials from five other opposition parties at a Bangkok restaurant, posing for photos before ushering them inside for closed-door talks.

Pita, 42, is trying to build an alliance with Pheu Thai — the party that has dominated Thai politics for two decades — and four smaller groups.

MFP claimed 152 seats, with Pheu Thai second on 141. Allying with the other parties would give them more than 300 of the 500 lower-house seats.

But to secure the prime minister’s job the coalition needs a majority across both houses — including the Senate, whose 250 members were handpicked by the previous junta.

MFP and its allies need 376 lower house votes to ensure senators could not block Pita from becoming prime minister.

Some senators have already voiced opposition to him, rattled by his strong anti-establishment stance that includes plans to amend the kingdom’s tough royal insult laws.

“I will not accept Pita as a PM,” Senator Jadet Inswang said, raising concerns about lese-majeste reform.

Senator Kittisak Ratanawaraha also declined to support Pita.

“The PM candidate needs to love the nation, monarchy,” he said.

Fresh blow

A senior Pheu Thai leader on Tuesday called on two mid-size conservative parties — Bhumjaithai and the Democrats — to help the coalition in the vote for prime minister.

But in a fresh blow to the MFP, the Bhumjaithai party said on Wednesday evening it would not back a party that wanted to amend lese-majeste laws, known as 112 after its section of the Thai penal code.

“If a party that wishes to change or scrap the 112 is able to form the government, Bhumjaithai party would be ready to go into opposition for the benefits of the people and to protect the monarchy,” Bhumjaithai said in a statement.

The party was part of the outgoing coalition of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha and now boasts 70 lower house seats.

Military-linked parties could in theory try to form a minority government, relying on Senate support to get their choice of prime minister through but, with few lower house seats, it would find it difficult to govern.

Regional observers from the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) said Thailand should have a government that “reflects the will of the people”.

ANFREL saluted the strong voter turnout of just over 75 per cent and said the poll was more transparent than the previous one in 2019.

It deployed 41 regional observers, who visited 460 polling stations in 51 provinces on election day, and said voting was “peaceful and orderly”.

The mission said vote-buying was the most reported concern, although it did not give the number of cases involved.

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore hangs 14th drug convict since last year

Singapore executed Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted of drug trafficking, amid a resumption of executions in 2022. Another woman prisoner, Saridewi Djamani, faces execution.

Amnesty International urged Singapore to halt the executions, questioning the deterrent effect of the death penalty.

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26 July 2023

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore on Wednesday hanged a local man convicted of drug trafficking, officials said, two days before the scheduled execution of the first woman prisoner in the city-state in nearly 20 years.

Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted and sentenced to death in 2017 for trafficking “not less than 49.98 grams” (1.76 ounces) of heroin, was executed at Changi Prison, the Central Narcotics Bureau said in a statement.

The 57-year-old was the 14th convict sent to the gallows since the government resumed executions in March 2022 after a two-year pause during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hussain’s previous appeals against his conviction and sentence had been dismissed, and a petition for presidential clemency was also denied.

A woman drug convict, 45-year-old Saridewi Djamani, is scheduled to be hanged on Friday, according to the local rights group Transformative Justice Collective (TJC).

She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, Djamani would be the first woman executed in Singapore since 2004, when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, according to TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws — trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis or over 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the executions, saying there was no evidence the death penalty acted as a deterrent to crime.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

Singapore, however, insists that the death penalty has helped make it one of Asia’s safest countries.

Among those hanged since last year was Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, whose execution sparked a global outcry, including from the United Nations and British tycoon Richard Branson, because he was deemed to have a mental disability.

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore to execute first woman in nearly 20 years: rights groups

Singapore set to execute two drug convicts, including first woman in 20 years, despite rights groups’ calls to stop.

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1 year ago

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25 July 2023

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore is set to hang two drug convicts this week, including the first woman to be sent to the gallows in nearly 20 years, rights groups said Tuesday, while urging the executions be halted.

Local rights organisation Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) said a 56-year-old man convicted of trafficking 50 grams (1.76 ounces) of heroin is scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday at the Southeast Asian city-state’s Changi Prison.

A 45-year-old woman convict who TJC identified as Saridewi Djamani is also set to be sent to the gallows on Friday. She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, she would be the first woman to be executed in Singapore since 2004 when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, said TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

TJC said the two prisoners are Singaporeans and their families have received notices setting the dates of their executions.

Prison officials have not answered emailed questions from AFP seeking confirmation.

Singapore imposes the death penalty for certain crimes, including murder and some forms of kidnapping.

It also has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws: trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis and 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

At least 13 people have been hanged so far since the government resumed executions following a two-year hiatus in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the impending executions.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty’s death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

“There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs.

“As countries around the world do away with the death penalty and embrace drug policy reform, Singapore’s authorities are doing neither,” Sangiorgio added.

Singapore insists that the death penalty is an effective crime deterrent.

— AFP

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