Is the writing on the wall for Prawit?

The first rule for every MP or senator is to attend parliamentary meetings on a regular basis. There are two sessions, each lasting 120 days, within a year. That means parliamentarians work only 240 days in a year, but the days they are supposed to sit in parliament to deliberate bills are even less.
Moreover, they can be absent for a quarter of those days due to sickness or business leave, but only with the permission of the House Speaker or the Senate Speaker if they are MPs or senators. Longer absences without permission may result in loss of parliamentary status.
But the rule appears meaningless for Palang Pracharath Party leader Gen Prawit Wongsuwon, who is rarely seen in parliament, let alone taking the floor to participate in a debate. Absenteeism is the exception for most MPs and senators, but for Gen Prawit, it is the rule.
Prompong Nopparit, a former Pheu Thai Party spokesman, claimed last week that the retired general attended only 11 of 95 parliamentary meetings from July 3 last year to today. In other words, he missed 84 meetings on business leave.
Most of his business leave was unjustified, critics say. For instance, he took leave to preside over a “fung look nimit” religious ceremony at a temple and on another occasion hosted his birthday celebrations at the Five Provinces Bordering Forest Foundation. The last time he sought leave was to present relief materials to flood victims in a northeastern province.
Any MP with a modicum of common sense will be able to judge which is more important between attending a House meeting and celebrating a birthday or presiding over a religious ceremony at a temple.
So, their first priority is to do their job in the parliament because they are paid with taxpayers’ money, amounting to 113,560 baht per month.
On top of that, they are entitled to perks such as travel expenses, by air of course, between their home provinces and Bangkok, medical coverage and an allowance for House committee meetings.
Mr Prompong may have an ulterior motive for exposing Gen Prawit’s habitual absenteeism from parliament.
He had also lodged complaints with the House ethics committee and the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), demanding an investigation into his parliamentary attendance record, claiming it could violate ethical standards.
Yet he should be commended for having the audacity to raise the issue which has been ignored for a long time, perhaps because no one has the courage to cry foul against his frequent absenteeism for fear of stirring up a hornet’s nest.
But whether Gen Prawit will be held to account or not remains to be seen. Just take a look at a statement made by the House secretary-general in response to Mr Prompong’s exposure. He claimed Gen Prawit had sought permission in writing for all his leave and it was approved by the House speaker.
The speaker or his deputies might have signed to approve the leave, without bothering to check whether Gen Prawit had already exceeded his quota.
It is also doubtful the NACC will have the courage to rule against Gen Prawit for a gross violation of ethical standards. Remember the luxury wristwatch scandal back in 2018?
In that case, the NACC ruled by 5:3 votes to clear the retired general of the charge of making false statements about his assets.
Moreover, the NACC also defied the Supreme Administrative Court’s order to disclose full details of the probe, as demanded by whistleblower Veera Somkwamkid. For the defiance, the court fined the corruption watchdog 10,000 baht.
Perhaps Mr Prompong’s real motive in concerted pursuit of the parliamentary attendance issue against Gen Prawit is not to nail him for ethical conduct but rather to discredit him and ruin his political career.
Gen Prawit has been conspicuously silent since the damning exposure by Mr Prompong. Well, maybe the truth is so overwhelming that he and his mouthpiece, party secretary-general Paibul Nititawan, are at a loss for denials.
Once a powerful figure in political circles, Gen Prawit is widely viewed today as a relic. Half of the party’s 40 MPs, led by Thammanat Prompao, have deserted him.
Though technically they are still with the party, their hearts are already with the Pheu Thai Party.
But the worst setback is that his faction was excluded from the cabinet lineup while the renegade faction, led by Mr Thammanat, was given three seats.
Gen Prawit’s permanent office at the Five Provinces Bordering Forest Preservation Foundation is now under threat as the army wants to reclaim the land on which the foundation is located.
Were Gen Prawit as powerful as he used to be, the army would not have dared even ask.
The signs of decline are written on the wall. Yet Gen Prawit cannot get over his wishful thinking that he still has a chance to stage a political comeback and become prime minister one day. But as the days go by, that dream seems ever more impossible.
Veera Prateepchaikul is former editor, Bangkok Post.