Who is Pheu Thai’s ‘coup-killer’?

Coalition parties in the Pheu Thai-led government have shot down a bill proposed by ruling party veteran MP Prayut Siripanich aimed at preventing future military coups.

The draft bill would amend the Defence Ministry Administration Act, giving the Cabinet a say in the appointment of generals while permitting ministers to suspend military officers.

However, coalition partners, including the junta-linked United Thai Nation Party (UTN), claimed the bill would allow political meddling in military affairs.

“United Thai Nation agrees with the idea of bringing transparency to the military, but this must not affect security affairs, especially by allowing political interference in the military,” UTN spokesperson Akaradej Wongpitakroj said on Tuesday.

Senior Pheu Thai figures including its leader, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, and patriarch Thaksin Shinawatra quickly spoke out to say the bill was “solely Prayut’s idea and had not reached consensus within Pheu Thai”.

Prayut said he would reconsider the bill’s contents as it undergoes public consultation.

However, this is not the first time that he has been involved in controversial legislation.

In 2013, Prayut, then an advisor to the deputy PM under Yingluck Shinawatra’s government, spearheaded a controversial political amnesty bill that sparked massive street protests.

Critics said the amnesty was designed to whitewash ex-PM Thaksin’s criminal record and pave the way for his return from self-exile.

Prayut was also deputy chairperson of a committee tasked with considering the amnesty bill, which was accused of amending the law’s details to benefit Thaksin.

Protests and political turmoil over the amnesty bill culminated in the 2014 military coup.

Prayut, 79, began his political career as a local administrator in Mahasarakham before being elected as an MP for The Social Action Party in 1979. He has also served as deputy leader of Pheu Thai.