Speaker Meechai Ruchuphan, who has led opposition to the bills, also denied in an interview with The Nation newspaper that some members of the unelected upper house were trying to overthrow the government with the issue of the reform bills.

"...The Senate has no plan of overthrowing the government. But we instead are trying to find a way out for the government," he said. "If we see that certain bills are useful, we will pass them immediately."

"But if we see some bills putting the country at a disadvantage, we will delay them, maybe even for years," he said.

Supporters of the government have suggested that the opposition by some senators to the bills had been disrupting the the government's moves to reform the economy.

Meechai also said he had no ulterior motives in questioning some of the bills.

"I have no businesses and no debts. I see no reasons to bring down the government because we don't know who else should be prime minister."

The speaker's contrarian comments on the bills have in the past given an appearance that the Senate and the coalition government of premier Chuan Leekpai were on a collision course.

The package of 11 government-sponsored bills aimed at tightening lax bankruptcy and foreclosure laws as well as liberalising the foreign business law have run into flak from some senators, nationalistic lobby groups and opposition parties.

They have passed their first reading in parliament but must go through two more readings before becoming law. The government expects them to be passed by the first quarter of next year.

The key bills -- inspired by the International Monetary Fund, which is guiding Thailand out of its worst economic crisis in decades -- are seen as crucial for recreating a more conducive and secure business environment for investors in the battered Thai financial and corporate sectors.

But opponents say the reforms could lead to loss of Thai business rights and could allow foreign investors to take over Thai businesses easily.

Some senators want certain provisions to be diluted.

The government has launched a public relations blitz to convey its side of the arguments for the reforms. It has also promised the IMF, from which it took a $17.2-billion rescue package, that the reforms will be passed by parliament soon.

Meechai said the government should hint to the Senate which bills would put the country at a disadvantage so that the upper house could delay them.

"In the past we used this method. The government could tell (the IMF) that it could not force the legislature. They should understand because their countries also have free legislatures," he added.

Meechai warned that amendments to the bankruptcy bill should be fair to Thais in debt and to personal guarantors of debtors, and they should not lead to a situation where a chain of financial institution bankruptcies occurred due to failure of certain businesses.

"It's fine to allow some businesses to go bankrupt if they won't make the country collapse along with them," he said.

On privatisation of state enterprises, the speaker said the government should clarify why some state enterprises needed to be sold to foreign investors.

"If the government has to do this because it has a choice as the debts are due, it is fine," he said.

"But the government can't say that privatisation is needed to improve state enterprises' efficiency. Privatisation is not the right way of solving the problem of efficiency," Meechai added.

Privatisation has become a hot issue in Thailand, where employees of state enterprises have protested against the move for fear of losing jobs and have expressed concerns at the possibility of losing state ownership to foreigners.