Ice Criticizes Ministry of Natural Resources for Ordering Officials to Attend Suchart Birthday Celebration Ministry Spokesperson Explains It as a Customary Gesture

"Ice Rakchanok" criticized the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for having civil servants join a birthday celebration for "Suchart." The ministry’s spokesperson explained that it was a customary goodwill gesture toward the Minister of Natural Resources, who is greatly respected.

On 16 July 2026, Ms. Rakchanok Srinok, a party-list MP from the People’s Party, posted a photo of the schedule for the birthday celebration of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment held yesterday (15 July 2026), stating that the ministry had a big event organizing an HBD for Minister Suchart Chomklin at the Ministry of Commerce.

Schedule

• Permanent Secretary’s birthday wishes
• Watch birthday greeting video from the Department of National Parks
• Invite Minister Suchart to the stage; agency executives present gifts
• Permanent Secretary and directors bring the cake to the stage

Questions

• Is it normal to use official time and premises to hold a minister’s birthday party?
• The venue, water, electricity, equipment, and manpower from various ministry levels should be dedicated to solving public problems during work hours, right? So why use this valuable time for a minister’s birthday? Which official regulations permit this? Everything has a cost—who pays for it?
• Small and large civil servants were required to attend: 13 people per department, 7 per state enterprise, 5 per division, 3 per group. Do these people have no work to do? Perhaps they don’t want to celebrate Minister Suchart’s birthday but were forced or pressured to attend?

I urge Minister Suchart and the ministry’s permanent secretary to clarify.

P.S. Happy birthday, P' Heng. Whatever you have done, if sacred powers exist, may you receive your just rewards.

Subsequently, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s official page posted a clarification stating that, as the 2027 budget is currently being discussed, the ministry held a management meeting to prepare for the budget briefing and policy direction from the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment. The minister emphasized working for the public benefit, including addressing cross-border pollution, forest fire haze, climate change adaptation, resolving land-use issues such as in Thap Lan, and differentiating clearly between local people and investors involved in forest encroachment and destruction. As today is the minister’s birthday, a customary goodwill gesture was made toward him, who is deeply respected by the ministry’s personnel. This took place during a brief period after the policy briefing.

The draft schedule seen in the media is not an official document, clarified the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment spokesperson.