Wissanu Krea-ngam

Wissanu Krea-ngam ( Thai วิษณุ เครือ งาม , RTGS Witsanu Khruea-ngam , pronunciation: [wítsàʔnúʔ kʰrɯa.ŋaːm] ; born September 15, 1951 in Hat Yai , Songkhla Province ) is a Thai lawyer, civil servant and politician. He was Secretary General of the Cabinet from 1993 to 2002 and Deputy Prime Minister in the Thaksin Shinawatra government from 2002 to 2006 . After the coups in 2006 and 2014 , he helped the military junta draw up a transitional constitution. Since August 2014 he has been Deputy Prime Minister again, this time under General Prayut Chan-o-cha .

life and career

Origin and education

Wissanu Krea-ngam was born in Hat Yai in southern Thailand. His ancestors immigrated from China four generations ago . He studied law at Thammasat University , graduated with distinction and was admitted to the bar. He continued his studies in the United States , where he received his Master of Laws from the University of California, Berkeley in 1974 and his PhD in 1976 ( JSD ). He also completed the course at the Thai National Defense College .

Career as a lawyer

Wissanu taught law at Ramkhamhaeng , Thammasat and Chulalongkorn Universities . In 1977 he and his friend and colleague Borwornsak Uwanno published a commentary on the transitional constitution at the time. Two years later, Wissanu published a textbook on Thai constitutional law in which he developed his concept of “shared sovereignty” between king and people. In 1986 he was appointed professor at Chulalongkorn University.

In 1991 he moved to state administration and became Deputy Secretary General of the Cabinet. In 1993 he was promoted to Secretary General of the Cabinet, the highest ranking official in the government who advises them on legal issues. He was apostrophized as a legal eagle , that is, as a “top lawyer ” of the government, or as a neti borikon , which translated means “lawyer in the service of power”. After frequent changes in this office during the early 1990s, Wissanu held the position for nearly a decade and survived four changes of government.

Political activity

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra invited Wissanu to become a minister in his government in 2002, but at the same time threatened to dismiss him as general secretary if he did not accept the offer. Wissanu accepted the proposal and became Deputy Prime Minister responsible for legal affairs and relations with Parliament. Thaksin had seven deputy prime ministers at the time. Wissanu's successor as general secretary of the cabinet was his friend Borwornsak Uwanno.

In his position as Deputy Prime Minister in 2005, Wissanu was responsible for subordinating the independent National Broadcasting Commission to the National Telecommunications Commission. According to Wissanus, this was necessary to regulate illegal local radio stations. In the opinion of media scholar Glen Lewis, however, this measure ran counter to the spirit of the media reform announced in the liberal constitution of 1997, which was intended to liberalize broadcasting services and give independent broadcasters better opportunities. According to Lewis, only the existing media companies and state broadcasters would have benefited from Wissanu's solution.

After the dissolution of parliament in the wake of the political crisis in Thailand in 2006, Wissanu and Borwornsak resigned from their government offices. After the coup on September 19, 2006, Wissanu and Borwornsak helped the military junta (“Council for Democratic Reforms”) with the drafting of a transitional constitution. According to political scientist Thitinan Pongsudhirak, the two “seem to be able to write constitutions overnight”. Then Wissanu belonged to the transitional parliament ("National Legislative Assembly") set up by the junta.

During and after this time he continued to teach as a law professor at Chulalongkorn University. In 2011, Wissanu published an autobiography titled Lok Ni Khue Lakhon ( โลก นี้ คือ „;" This world is a drama "), a pun on the Thai abbreviation for Secretary General of the Cabinet ( ล ค ร. ), Made up of the same letters exists like the Thai word for theater play or television drama .

After the recent military coup on May 22, 2014, he again acted as an advisor to the junta, which calls itself the “National Council for the Preservation of Peace” and is led by General Prayut Chan-o-cha . Once again he was entrusted with drafting a transitional constitution. He has been Deputy Prime Minister in the government of Prayut Chan-o-cha since August 2014.

Positions in science and business

Wissanu was President of the University Council of Songkhla Rajabhat University and was or is a member of the University Councils of Chiang Mai University , Prince of Songkla University , Thaksin University , Kasem Bundit University and Chiang Rai Rajabhat University and the Council of King Prajadhipok Institute.

Wissanu Krea-ngam has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of Amata Corporation , an industrial park developer listed on the SET , since 2009 . In addition, he has or had managerial positions as chairman, vice chairman or member of the board of directors at BFIT Securities , Bangkok First Investment & Trust , Namyong Terminal , Sikarin , RHB OSK Securities (Thailand) , AEC Securities , Sermsuk , The Post Publishing ( Publishing Company of the Bangkok Post ), Loxley and Thai Airways International .

family

Wissanu is married and has one grown son.

Awards

He was awarded the special level of the White Elephant Order and the Order of the Crown of Thailand as well as the Grand Commander of the Order of Chula Chom Klao .

Scientific classification

Political scientist Eugénie Mérieau names Wissanu Krea-ngam - alongside Meechai Ruchuphan and Borwornsak Uwanno - as leading examples of legal scholars who laid the legal foundations for authoritarian rule in Thailand and as exponents of a "legal-military alliance for illiberal constitutionalism". Wissanu is, according to Mérieau, an advocate of theories that legalize coups by referring to the continuity of the Thai state embodied by the king.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Thailand-Chinese Temple Fair. In: CCTV News Content. February 14, 2015, archived from the original on September 27, 2015 ; accessed on December 12, 2018 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Wissanu Krea-Ngam , in: Who's Who Thailand.com , accessed December 12, 2018.
3. ^ Henning Glaser: Constitutional Conflict and Restatement. The Challenge and Transformation of the Hegemonic Basic Consent in Thailand. In: Norms, Interests, and Values. Conflict and Consent in the Constitutional Basic Order. Nomos, Baden-Baden 2015, pp. 291–344, on pp. 305–306.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Shannon Najmabadi: An interview with former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, Dr. Wissanu Krea-ngam. In: The Daily Californian , December 3, 2012.
5. ^ ^{A b c} Craig Reynolds: Review of This World's a Stage. In: New Mandala , April 18, 2012.
6. ^ Glen Lewis: Thai media and the “Thaksin Ork pai” (get out!) Movement. In: Krishna Sen, Terence Lee: Political Regimes and the Media in Asia. Routledge, Abingdon (Oxon) / New York 2008, pp. 122-138 at p. 127.
7. ↑ Michael J. Montesano: Political Contests in the Advent of Bangkok's September 19 coup. In: John Funston: Divided Over Thaksin. Thailand's Coup and Problematic Transition. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 2009, pp. 1–26, on p. 7.
8. ↑ Thitinan Pongsudhirak: The Tragedy of the 1997 Constitution. In: Divided Over Thaksin. 2009, pp. 27–37, on p. 27. Original quote: “I harbor nowhere near the expertise of legal luminaries such as Professor Borwornsak Uwanno or Dr Wissanu Kruea-ngam, who can seemingly write constitutions overnight.”
9. ↑ ^{a b} Executive Profile: Wissanu Krea-Ngam. In: Bloomberg Business. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015 ; accessed on December 12, 2018 . 
10. ↑ ประวัติ วิษณุ เครือ งาม , in: Thai Rath (online), accessed on December 12, 2018.
11. ↑ Eugénie Mérieau: The legal-military alliance for illiberal constitutionalism in Thailand. In: Marco Bünte, Björn Dressel: Politics and Constitutions in Southeast Asia. Routledge, Abingdon (Oxon) / New York 2017, pp. 140–159, at pp. 151–152.