Cremation Welfare Association submits 14,500 names to the Speaker of the House to amend the draft Cremation Welfare Act because it is not consistent with the current situation.
Mr. Surapol Nakwanich, advisor to the President of the House of Representatives, accepted the submission of a list of 14,500 names of those who proposed the amendment of the draft Cremation Welfare Act B.E. … from Mr. Pramet Inthachumnum, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Cooperative League of Thailand (CLT) and his team, as the President of the House of Representatives ruled that the draft Cremation Welfare Act B.E. … complies with Chapter 3 Rights and Freedoms of the Thai People of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand, allowing the inviter to invite eligible voters to sign the draft Act. Therefore, the draft Act, together with the record of the signatures of eligible voters and the list of representatives of those who proposed the draft Act, is submitted to the President of the House of Representatives for further c
onsideration.
Since this law has been enforced for a long time and is not consistent with the current situation, because the funeral assistance money is the people’s money that the people should manage by themselves, in the past, some associations were established with 30,000-40,000 members, paying 50-60 million baht in assistance money per year, without any government money. Most people in the funeral assistance associations want to change their status to make it easier to manage and have the opportunity to use the money to generate income to help the people. Therefore, they want the council to see the importance of this issue. Therefore, they would like to propose this law for the council to consider.
Mr. Surapol Nakwanich said that the President of the House of Representatives welcomes all citizens who propose laws and intends that during his term in office, he wants to see laws proposed by the people succeed. In particular, today’s atmosphere is the people’s work. The people are the ones who propose the
draft law for the House to consider. It is a complete set of elements of a truly democratic process. The real politicians are the people who are truly the political groups of the people. The next step is to verify the accuracy of the names and organize a hearing for the public’s opinions. After that, it will be included in the meeting agenda.
The main points of the amendment to the draft Cremation Welfare Act, which the committee proposed, include 10 points: 1. Adjust the definition of the word cremation to cover the payment of obligations (payment of debts). 2. Specify that associations can be merged to help small associations with fewer members to merge, which will create stability for members. 3. Allow associations to determine the duration of membership without requiring applicants to provide a medical certificate. 4. Allow association members to use receipts for payment of welfare as a tax deduction. 5. Clearly define the definition to lead to correct practices according to the same standards. 6. Specif
y that the administration of the Cremation Welfare Association is under the control of only one ministry, because the draft of the ministry proposed 2 ministries, which will cause the Cremation Welfare Association to face management problems in the future. 7. Allow association members to transfer and change associations for relocation and not lose membership while paying welfare according to their age group, which will create fairness for members. 8. Specify that there is a coordination center for associations with service areas across provinces. 9. It is required that a federation of associations be established to strengthen the association and its members. 10. Any association with more than 500 members may stipulate in its regulations that a general meeting must be held by representatives of the member groups (Section 28).-319.
Source: Thai News Agency