Deliberation of two bills

       Two pieces of draft legislation would be submitted to parliament for deliberation in the government's attempt to establish an independent agency to protect consumer rights, said PM's Office Minister Sathit Wongnongtoey.
       Mr Sathit said there are currently two draft bills being considered.
       One draft was proposed by the Consumer Protection Board which has already been vetted by the Council of State, the government's legal arm.
       It will be forwarded along with the one drawn up by advocacy groups for deliberation.
       The CPB-proposed draft contains some chapters which consumer advocacy groups do not agree with.
       To address the disagreement, the government and the groups agreed to present both for a debate.
       Mr Sathit said the two drafts would be submitted together for deliberation.The CPB-proposed draft would be the principal draft and the other a subordinate draft.
       Mr Sathit said forwarding the CPB version as the main draft will ensure a speedy deliberation and hopefully the enactment of the bill.

Major parties poles apart on charter amendments

       The second day of a joint parliamentary debate on proposals for national reconciliation, political reform and changes to the Constitution turned into a battle of words yesterday.
       While the Democrats opposed most changes or said a new charter drafting assembly and the public should take part in any changes, Pheu Thai MPs said they had sufferred injustice in society and wanted "problems" fixed. They also claimed the Democrats sought to draw out the charter amendment process.
       Khon Kaen Senator Prasert Prakhumsuksapan, meanwhile, suggested that MPs forgive each other and stop quarrelling.
       He said the debate over charter changes was like a battle between the Democrats and Pheu Thai MPs. The rifts in society would only lead to another coup.
       "It is now a game between Mr Democrat and Mr Pheu Thai competing for power. It will not end. Please don't say politicians are bad or always corrupt, [as] that would cause rifts," he said.
       Democrat MPs such as Pusadee Tamtai, Rangsima Rodrasami and Jehrrming Tohtayong said the proposed charter amendments would not resolve political problems unless the mindset of politicians changed and they began to think of public interest, rather than personal interests.
       Phattalung MP Nipit Intarasonbat said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva never said there would be no changes to the charter, but Parliament needed to study the issue.
       "Now we have the report. But this charter was passed through national referendum. When we want to change it, why wouldn't we ask the public?" he said.
       "If we don't ask the public, there will be no reconciliation."
       Opposition chief whip Wittaya Buranasiri said each of the proposed changes to the Constitution deserved support.Such changes would create justice and fix problems and rifts in society.
       "Many have agreed the laws need to be changed. As part of the Legislative Branch, we [legislators] have legal power. If anyone sees a problem and does not fix it, that's a vicious person, a person without responsibility. I don't want to be that kind of person," he said.

PUBLIC HEARING, HOUSE DEBATE AWAIT NEW PENSION SCHEME

       The National Pension Fund, the country's new savings vehicle for workers not covered by the Social Security Fund and Government Pension Fund, would need to overcome several challenges before it could be implemented as planned early next year, Kasikorn Research Centre said recently.
       After the Finance Ministry approved the draft of the National Pension Fund bill last month, the bill would be discussed at a public hearing tomorrow before being submitted to Parliament for deliberation.
       The NPF is designed to provide welfare support and retirement funds for workers who are ineligible to join the GPF and SSF. They number 24 million25 million, representing about 70 per cent of total labour force. The new fund would also support public savings.
       According to KResearch, the NPF faces several hurdles. First, whether the membership would be large enough. Regarding the government's estimate, if these informal workers subscribe in the first year of the fund, the initial fund size would be Bt40 billionBt50 billion.
       Participation would be voluntary with a minimum contribution of Bt100 a month plus optional contributions of Bt100-Bt1,000. The government also would have the obligation to support the NPF with about Bt20 billion per year.
       However, if there are too few members due to a lack of interest or lack of understanding about the benefits they would get from the fund, the size and growth of the fund would be small.
       They might not have regular income, so they might not contribute in some months. The authorities should prepare some clear guidelines about compromising on the contribution continuity of members, the research house said.
       The NPF is likely to set certain investment policies such as choosing lowrisk assets to ensure that members would get their benefits and also guarantee the contribution from the government.
       This must also include a minimum return, which should be no less than oneyear deposit rates, or 0.651.0 per cent as of September 7, according to the average rates of four large banks.
       Another concern is the criteria that the NPF would use to select the asset management companies to manage its investments. The NPF's investment policy committee would likely consider each fund manager's track record in operating results. Their management fees and charges for other services would also be considered.
       Thus, the number of asset management firms working for the NPF would be fixed for competition and comparison among them as to which would benefit the members the most.

CONCERTED MOVE AGAINST PIRACY, COPYING, ILLEGAL USE

       Effective IP protection basis for creative economy - department
       The Commerce Ministry has begun a large-scale crackdown on intellectual property violations in the software industry.
       The Ministry has been directed to protect both local software companies and overseas companies whose products are sold here from piracy, illegal use and copying. It is moving to fully protect intellectual property (IP), legal software, copyright and software developers' authority of ownership.
       It is also reviewing a draft of new copyright laws, developing an Asean Database on Patent Design and setting up a Patent Cooperation Treaty office for local businesses that want to apply for international patents.
       Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot said the ministry had formed a National IP Policy Committee. Its function will be to protect IP of all kinds and promote this protection as a business benefit to companies operating in all fields, from traditional businesses to those operating on the Internet. Specifically, it will be fighting illegal operators who flout copyright laws.
       The committee's responsibilities are divided into two main areas: promoting and protecting intellectual property.
       In promoting IP, the committee will help individuals and businesses to develop products and services behind the shield of IP protection, so that these products and services can contribute to the government's creative-economy mission. It will work in 15 industrial sectors, including automotive, manufacturing and software.
       It also plans to set up a subcommittee on the creative economy, to encourage local businesses to become involved in the Creative Thailand initiative and to support the government's Thai Khemkhaeng (TKK) project.
       Meanwhile, in its role of protecting IP, the national committee is in the process of submitting draft changes to copyright laws for Cabinet approval. The draft law sets out to extend IP protection to businesses operating on the Internet or conducting e-commerce.
       The draft also proposes to punish Internet service providers involved in IP violations, landlords who provide locations and space to illegal Internet services and Internet Cafes that provide illegal services.
       Alongkorn said the committee had also set up three subcommittees and working groups to investigate individuals and businesses believed to be operating in violation of IP laws. These included a subcommittee on prevention and suspicion of IP violation, a working group on investigation and suspicion and a working group on education and publications related to IP.
       The deputy minister said his ministry was also planning to separate its IP Department and transform it into a service delivery unit, or intellectual property centre.
       The IP Department has also developed various strategies to support the creative-economy mission. The protection of intellectual property is seen as a vital part of the foundation on which a creative economy will be built. In the next two years, the department plans not only to raise the country's competitiveness by encouraging the use of IP protection and enforcing the laws, but also to protect local wisdom as intellectual property and to provide funding to allow individuals and businesses to use IP to develop commercial products and services.
       IP Department director-general Puangrat Asawaphisit said his department was also cooperating with authorities in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore to set up a prototype Asean Database on Patent Design so that participating countries will be able to search patent design in the region. The department plans to set up a trial of a local patent-design database early next year.
       Puangrat said the department would also set up a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) office by the end of this month. The office will act as an agent, preparing the necessary translations and paying national fees for local people and businesses applying for international patent protection. It aims to encourage Thai inventors to seek international protection for their innovations. The services of the PCT office will be available early next year.
       The department will also allow individuals and businesses to register and apply for local patents by Internet in the near future.
       Meanwhile, the Business Software Alliance says illegal software and software piracy in Thailand has been reduced by 76 per cent, compared with levels three years ago, when 80 per cent of software was the product of piracy.

Outrage as Aceh votes in "stoning" law

       Rights activists yesterday condemned as "cruel and degrading" a new Islamic law calling for adulterers to be stoned to death in the country's staunchly conservative Aceh province.
       The law, which also allows punishments of up to 400 lashes for child rape,100 lashes for homosexual acts and 60 lashes for gambling, was passed unanimously on Monday by lawmakers in the region at the northern tip of Sumatra Island.
       The law replaces parts of Indonesia's criminal code with sharia, or Islamic law, for Muslims. It allows the death penalty for married people and 100 lashes for unmarried people found guilty in cases of adultery.
       "The laws that have been approved in Aceh are cruel and degrading to humanity," National Commission on Human Rights head Ifdhal Kasim said.
       The law undermines the secular basis of Indonesia's law, Mr Kasim said, adding the rights group was appealing to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to review the legislation.
       "This will take Aceh back to the past. Throwing stones is like Aceh in the 14th or 15th centuries," Mr Kasim said, adding the law would likely embolden conservatives pushing for sharia on a national level.
       The controversial legal change was passed in Aceh just weeks before a new, more moderate provincial assembly, dominated by the Aceh Party of ex-separatist fighters of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), is due to take power.
       The administration of Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf, himself a former GAM fighter, is opposed to the strict sharia law, but has said it is powerless to stop the law, which will come into effect in 30 days with or without his signature.
       "[The law] only deals with petty crimes, adulterers, but it doesn't deal with [significant crimes such as] corrupt officials," Human Rights Watch spokesman Andreas Harsono said.
       "In our opinion it is against the principle of human rights," he said.
       Human Rights Working Group head Rafendi Djamin said the punishments set out in the law were "humiliating and degrading" and a product of politicking among local leaders.
       "They're more interested in private issues than issues of the wider public interest like corruption and measures to empower people who have been suffering in the wake of conflict," Mr Djamin said.
       Arif Budimanta, a senior official of the opposition Democratic Party of Struggle of former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, condemned the law despite its local members having supported it in the Aceh assembly."We are deeply concerned about this cruel law as it is against our national ideology and values of pluralism," he said.
       Ma'ruf Amin, head of the Indonesian Council of Ulema, Indonesia's top Islamic body, welcomed the new law.
       "The Council supports sharia law in areas where it is allowed, like Aceh,which has special autonomy. It's not a matter of good or bad.
       "For Muslims, sharia law is the best and can be implemented anytime, anywhere. As long as there is agreement from everyone, there's no problem,"Mr Amin said.
       Aceh had previously adopted a milder form of sharia law in 2001 as part of an autonomy package from Jakarta aimed at quelling local separatist sentiment. The sharia code enforced religious observation and offered lighter punishments, including caning, for gambling, drinking and association between unmarried members of the opposite sex.
       Nearly 90% of Indonesia's 234 million people are Muslim, but it also has significant Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and Confucian minorities.

Rule of law must prevail

       For the second time in three weeks, the government faces the question of what to do about a planned rally by red shirt protesters.Unsurprisingly, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) has announced it intends to call on supporters to mark Saturday's third anniversary of the Sept 19,2006 military coup.
       The rhetoric will be excited, the crowd will probably be large, and there is a chance the rally can get out of hand. This sort of problem has posed a question for successive governments because there is no law on crowd control. This government needs to address such a huge gap in the law.
       When the red shirts gather on Saturday, there is a good chance that crowd control and surveillance will be handled once again by the military. The Internal Security Act, invoked needlessly three weeks ago, is likely to be brought into effect again this weekend. The ISA is a draconian action, putting all law enforcement in the hands of the Internal Security Operations Command - in effect, the army.
       In fact, the ISA was advertised by its sponsors in 2007 as a measure that might never be used, but one which should be available to the government in case of massive civil disorder. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is likely to invoke the ISA this weekend for a second time even though there is no actual threat of violence.One may disagree with the premier's decision, but in the face of a large, hostile and unpredictable crowd,the government can argue it has little choice.
       The root problem is that when a crowd goes wild,when a mob destroys property, when a speaker at a rally calls for an action that clearly violates public order, no law is broken. The police have no legal power to stop a rampaging mob from taking to the street and committing the sort of violence that Pattaya and then Bangkok witnessed during the Songkran holidays last April. Police absurdly have to try to prosecute such law-breakers under laws like the Traffic Management Act, or the Cleanliness Act, as if the worst act of violent mobs is to walk against a red light, or leave litter on the pathways.
       When the ISA is invoked, authorities gain the power to decide when a mob is getting out of hand, and to deal with leaders who are inciting the group, or with violent members who are destroying property or attacking other people. The problem is that the actual rule of law is suspended. Soldiers replace police, military officers take the part of judges, and lawyers are not allowed to attend to the civil and legal rights of anyone who is detained.
       Invoking the ISA brings heavy criticism, particularly from abroad. But pity the government, too, because it has the duty this coming weekend to protect the citizens of Bangkok from possible mob violence. The obvious answer is for the government to sponsor an actual crowd-control law, and for parliament to debate and pass it.
       It should be an interesting debate, perhaps with public hearings, on how the right to free speech and public rallies can balance the right of the public to travel and not be inconvenienced by mob action.
       Police then can assume their proper role of handling possible political turmoil under rule of law, and the ISA can be saved and used only, if ever, when violence is actually so far out of control that soldiers must be called in to quell large mobs.
       If Mr Abhisit and his government do their jobs properly, this should be the last time the ISA has to be used.

New sex-change regulations to come into effect on Nov 29

       From November 29, the Medical Council of Thailand will strictly enforce new regulations allowing only those transgendered people aged over 18 to undergo a sexchange operation, secretarygeneral Dr Samphan Komrit said yesterday.
       Transgendered people aged 1820 must have parental consent, while those over 20 can decide for themselves.
       Transgendered people must also consult a psychiatrist, live as a woman for a year and receive hormone therapy before being allowed to undergo a sexchange operation.
       Surgeons who provide such operations must be registered with the Medical Council and treat any complications that may occur following surgery.
       Samphan said these regulations would raise the standard of sexchange operations.
       He said surgeons violating the regulations would face warnings and even revocation of their medical licence.
       Transgender Women of Thailand chairperson Yollada Suanyot expressed satisfaction with the new regulations but said relevant agencies, such as the Interior, Foreign and Justice ministries, should revise laws to allow transgendered people to change their gender title from Mr to Miss.
       Yollada said changing their gender title after undergoing a sex change would help transgendered people live with dignity.
       "It would be good if we could change from being a Mr to a Miss, because then we could proudly assert we're a women. We'd no longer have to explain we're a 'ladyboy' when anyone looks at our ID or passport," she said. "We want to live with dignity, the same as anyone else."
       Office of the AttorneyGeneral investigator Sermkiat Woradit suggested transgendered people band together to request the independent National Human Rights Commission to help revise all laws involving them, be it civil, criminal or family law.
       Samphan said he backed this idea and that relevant agencies should issue special laws for "third sex" citizens.