Okas

New Mandala readers may recall my earlier post about Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA) dark horse Okas Tepalakul. Okas, a car dealer from Chachoengsao province (and classmate of coup supremo Sonthi) gained the most votes from members of the National People’s Assembly (NPA).

In the latest development the junta has announced its selection of 100 CDA members (from the 200 selected by the NPA). Looking down the list I was, for a moment, worried that Chachoengsao’s democracy warrior had fallen by the wayside. But, thank goodness, there he was at position 100 on the list. A slight name change to “Okart” but unambiguously “Tepalakul”.

Once again, I invite readers to submit profile information on this rising star. One reader has already provided the following:

Okas indeed attended class 4212 of the National Defence College. The chairperson of this class is none else then the deputy speaker of the National Legislative Assembly, Potjanee Thanavaranit. In October 2005, both Potjanee and Okas organized a congratulatory party for Sonthi Bunyaratgalin, their class mate.

Further contributions very welcome!