Thailand’s new king appoints advisory council

By Max Constant

BANGKOK

Thailand's new monarch has appointed his advisory council, retaining seven members appointed by his late father and selecting three newcomers -- all military officers known to be close to the ruling junta.

Maha Vajiralongkorn was proclaimed king last week following the Oct. 13 death of his father Bhumibol Adulyadej, a highly revered monarch who reigned for 70 years.

An order published Tuesday in the royal gazette listed the three new Privy Council members as Gen. Dapong Rattanasuwan, the military government’s current education minister, Justice Minister Gen. Paiboon Koomchaya and Gen. Theerachai Nakwanich, who retired as army chief last September.

All three are known to have close ties to junta leader-cum-Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha.

Nakwanich was part of a Queen’s Guard regiment based in eastern Thailand to which Chan-ocha belonged, along with Deputy Prime Minister Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan and several other junta members.

Rattanasuwan and Koomchaya hail from another military faction, but have been selected by the junta leadership to hold key portfolios in the military government that seized power in a 2014 coup.

More than half of the new 11-member council are retired military officers, compared to a third in the previous 16-member council.

Former army chief Prem Tinsulanonda, a 96-year-old who had been named regent after King Bhumibol’s passing, was reappointed chairman of the council last Friday.

Among the eight departing council members are octogenarian former Prime Minister Thanin Kraivixien and former senator Chaovana Nasylvanta.

The Privy Council is in charge of advising the monarch and also plays a role in case of a modification of some laws pertaining to the monarchy.