TK Palace Hotel, The NACC’s recruitment and qualifications seminar pointed out the problem of setting specifications without anyone running, hard work, low pay, having to fight influence and criticism, and fearing that if someone comes from politics, they will be dominated.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) organized a seminar project to listen to opinions on the selection and qualifications of the National Anti-Corruption Commission under the 2017 Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand. Mr. Klanarong Chanthik, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Independent Organizations under the Constitution and former NACC member, Mr. Somkid Lertpaitoon, former member of the Constitution Drafting Assembly, Mr. Manit Jumpa, and Mr. Parit Wacharasindhu, MPs of the Move Forward Party, joined in exchanging and presenting their opinions on the qualifications of those who will serve as selection committee members and NACC members, using the 1997, 2007, and 2017 constitutions as comparisons to illustrate the prob
lems.
Mr. Klanarong said that there are many directors-general or equivalent who want to be members of the NACC, but they do not want to do so because the compensation is low, but the work and responsibility are quite heavy. In addition, people who work in independent organizations must be scrutinized strictly, starting from their past history. Therefore, we must think about how to make people interested in applying for positions in independent organizations. And if the position standards are lowered, there will be problems because the NACC has completed the process and moved to the Attorney General, from the Supreme Court to the Criminal Division of the Supreme Court. Therefore, the qualifications to be a member of the NACC, in addition to being honest and fair, must also be courageous. As for the criteria of 5 years of service, it is considered quite a problem. It should be adjusted to be more appropriate.
Mr. Somkid said that the qualifications of those who will become NACC members must be graduated from
a certain level, but may not have expertise. As for the specific qualifications specified in Section 232, for example, they must be a judge or public prosecutor at the level of chief prosecutor for 5 years and must be between 45 and 70 years old because judges have worked for 70 years already, have not been sued by anyone, and are safe in various matters, which makes it difficult to find people. But when the NACC board set the age requirement at 70 years old, no one wanted to apply, compared to the Constitutional Court, which extended the age requirement to 75 years old because if it did not extend, the Constitutional Court knew that no one would apply. Therefore, it is believed that if the NACC extended the age requirement, more people might want to apply. Recently, it has been found that the people who become NACC members are NACC members themselves. Personally, I think that is not very good because there is no diversity. I also think that this type of qualification will not get us to choose from because th
e work is hard, the salary is low, and we have to fight against various influences. Along with being criticized, it makes the NACC board have fewer choices. I would like the process of selecting people to become NACC members to select good people to perform their duties.
Mr. Somkid said that the NACC has a duty to investigate politicians, MPs, and Senators. If these people were appointed, would they dare to investigate? And if someone has a majority in the parliament, can they set up an independent organization? He also stated that currently, the Court of Justice is the most accepted among the three courts, namely the Administrative Court and the Constitutional Court. The latter court is the least accepted, even though it is linked to the people. He also admitted that he could not find the best solution for Thailand.
Mr. Somkid disagrees with the use of purely political systems with independent organizations because if independent organizations are to come from politics, he believes that independent organiz
ations will be dominated and unable to work to their full potential.
‘Most countries in this world have only one chamber. We argue about how many chambers to have. Personally, I would like to ask what is the use of the Senate? There is no requirement for educational qualifications for senators, but there are senators to hold back MPs. If there are senators, at least they can hold back MPs and prevent the country from swinging along with politics. I am lucky that I do not have to draft another constitution. Every time we argue about whether or not to have senators, I leave it to those who have to fix it to do what is best for the NACC to minimize corruption,’ said Mr. Somkid.
Mr. Manit expected that the qualifications must be 5 years of service because they want people with knowledge, ability, and experience, but there are few people who meet these criteria. He hopes that the NACC selection system will have a trustworthy selection committee. The circle of people who meet the qualifications must be expanded.
Adjusting the qualifications from 5 years of service to 3 or 2 years will be a simple solution in the short term, but in the long term, we must consider whether to return to the old system, such as having the university presidents select each other and send representatives to be selection committee members.
Mr. Manit said that finding people with complete qualifications is a major limitation. Therefore, if more qualified people are unlocked to apply, it will be more complete for the duties of the NACC. He would like to see people with private sector experience, who have no tainted history, who have not committed corruption, but who know information, channels for corruption, and use positive connections to be open and unlock these people to come and perform duties as the NACC to find measures to prevent and suppress corruption.
‘Independent organizations are still necessary for Thailand, but the most important thing is to maintain their independence. The NACC is the number one target because if we want to es
cape scrutiny, we have to take over the NACC. But to take over the NACC, we have to take over the Senate first. Therefore, no matter how the selection process is set up, if it ends with the Senate and the Senate has no guarantee of independence, it is challenging that the NACC will not be independent. Some people say that if you can’t figure it out, you can’t say for sure, just elect the NACC. But Thailand has a problem because we don’t elect good people, it’s like electing representatives. In theory, it’s a good thing that elections connect people. The connection point to the Senate is not trusted. The Senate that is about to take office has a solid guarantee that it is independent. The NACC selection process will be independent. Or in the future, if we decide not to have the Senate and only have the MPs, what guarantee will make the NACC independent?’ said Mr. Manit.
Mr. Parit said that the efficiency and trust that the NACC has in the people have an impact on the consideration of important cases. He sees
it as a good time to draft an amendment to the constitution to have a Constituent Assembly come from an election and to gather opinions from various perspectives to lead to the amendment. He sees that from the qualifications to the nomination, selection and certification, there are 3 main principles that he would like to see the NACC expand, to have competition, to have people apply with expertise and variety, including wanting to see the NACC connect more with the people and wanting the NACC to be more accepted by all parties.
Mr. Parit pointed out that there are various courses that provide opportunities to access the selection committee, so a mechanism must be created to prevent the patronage system, while he viewed that the new Senate is distant from the election because it allows candidates to select themselves from 20 professional groups, and that those who are not endorsed by an elected organization will lack connection with the people. He also proposed an idea found in Japan, for the people to endors
e those who are selected to become NACC members by setting criteria for how many must pass the criteria.
Mr. Parit proposed the idea of ??amending the qualifications of the NACC committee to be different from other independent organizations and questioned whether it was necessary to specify the qualifications of the NACC committee as specialized or experts in various fields. He saw that the senator election system must be designed differently from the MP because he saw that the senator election would be the most direct connection to the people. And the important thing is whether or not there is a Senate. All of these are not easy designs and must be parallel with other political institutions.
“We want the NACC to investigate corruption as strictly as possible in society, but we have different perspectives on ethical standards. Having any organization monopolize the definition of ethics and have legal consequences may be a challenge. Trying to fix and create a culture where those in power show responsibility
through political mechanisms should be sustainable and have fewer loopholes than being used as tools to destroy each other. It is a challenging question where the appointment and approval process will end if we fix the selection process or the origin of independent organizations separate from the design of all political institutions,” said Mr. Parit.
Pol Gen Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit, the NACC Chairman, said that he agreed with many points. From his experience of working for more than 8 years, he saw that the qualifications were well-defined, requiring clear qualifications such as public administration, accounting, economics, etc. Currently, those who serve as NACC members must be involved in cases that have been ongoing for 9 years. Currently, we do not have a proportion of prosecutors, only 4 judges, and the police are finishing their terms and it is expected that there will be no more because 5 years is very difficult to find a position as director-general. He agreed with the selection committee being red
uced because having representatives of independent organizations as selection committee members in independent organizations would be more problematic than having people from those independent organizations join, as the forum proposed. Because today’s selection process has quite a few applicants for NACC members in each round, and if the qualifications are reduced, there will be more applicants, and it would help if there was a clear division of labor. Therefore, please look at Section 13, paragraph 3, which states ‘any other appropriate method’ such as ‘scoring’. For example, there are 100 applicants, with only 1-5 vacant positions. What should be done to prevent the remaining applicants from being wasted? Therefore, it is suggested that there be scoring based on experience, knowledge, and ability from qualifications to select in proportion to the vacant committee members, and for the selection committee to select in order to prevent waste. All applicants should have scores. After filtering to a certain leve
l, the person who gets the first place is the nominee, and the person who gets the second place is the reserve. This is to reduce the steps. If the person who gets the first place does not pass the selection, the person who gets the second place is selected. However, at present, if the person who gets the first place does not pass, all 100 people will be wasted, which is considered ‘a waste in personnel management’. I agree with amending the selection process of the selection committee to issue a clear and transparent sub-regulation.
Source: Thai News Agency
