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Published on November 30, 2007

The NLA may have one more chance to vet the bill if it is resubmitted before the December 23 polls.

Mongkol said it remained to be seen whether liberal and conservative MPs could agree to a compromise on conditions.

The minister withdrew the bill after NLA members hotly debated whether the proposed 24-hour restriction of television and radio commercials should be dropped. Opponents said the ban should not apply from midnight to 5am.

The NLA also heard a third proposal - that TV and radio commercials be allowed to feature "non-persuasive content" related to alcohol brands, re-gardless of the broadcast time.

Mongkol, who favours a 24-hour advetisment ban, said he would rather see the bill enacted incompletely in terms of restrictions, than not passed at all. "Thai society has been damaged more than enough by unrestrained alcohol consumption," he said.

NLA member Wallop Tangkhananurak, a conservative, said Mongkol should leave the bill to be decided by the elected government.

"We're better off to let the bill be withdrawn and dropped, and let the new government handle it," he said.

 The Nation