Yingluck: No move yet on charter panel

She said her government needed to give greater priority to tackling the economic crisis than charter amendments – and she indicated her government’s stand was for a constitution-drafting assembly, not a charter-drafting panel.
The independent National Rule of Law Commission (NRLC), led by Ukrit Mongkolnavin, has issued a statement suggesting the government establish the 34-member panel to amend the charter without the need for a constitution-drafting assembly.
Speaking to reporters before leaving for Nakhon Si Thammarat to visit flood victims, Yingluck said she had not received the formal proposal from the NRLC yet. She said she had so far only read about it from news reports.
Yingluck said that from what she had read, the NRLC wanted the new charter to be drafted by experts.
“Personally, I see the idea is a good one but when the proposal is submitted to the government, let me study it in detail first,” Yingluck said. “But for the government’s stand, we would like to take part in charter amendments with an agency like a CDA.
“There are two parts here. Constitution drafters must be accepted by the people and must come from the people’s selection. And they must be experts on the issue.”
Asked to confirm whether her Pheu Thai Party would submit a charter amendment to Parliament next month, Yingluck said the issue would depend on the party’s mechanism.
“All in all, it will depend on the Parliament. The government has yet to study the issue before making its stand because now we have several other urgent missions. In particular, we must rush to rehabilitate the people affected by natural disasters,” Yingluck said.
When told the Democrat Party disagreed with the NRLC’s proposal, Yingluck said public hearings from all sectors would have to be conducted.
Asked which articles should be amended, when Pheu Thai members themselves could not agree on the articles, Yingluck replied she did not want to go into details of the amendments yet. She said the government would first decide on the amendment process and would leave it to selected representatives to discuss the details.
She said she supported the plan to amend the charter because the government had a policy to do so, but it would be carried out in line with a priority order.
Ukrit has proposed the amendments begin right away instead of waiting seven or eight months, as proposed by the government. But Yingluck said the government would give priority to other urgent issues first, especially the measures to tackle economic hardships faced by the people.
Ukrit yesterday insisted he would not change his stand from proposing the government set up an expert panel to draft the new charter. He said he would submit the formal proposal to the government today.
He said the names of the 34 members have not been finalised yet and could be changed. He said he had never approached those on the list but mentioned them because they were known through their public comments to be interested in the Constitution.
Ukrit said drafting a new charter was like building a house that required qualified architects to design it.
He said the election of CDA members at the ratio of one CDA member per one province would not be fair because the provinces do not have an equal number of voters.
Meanwhile, Democrat Party leader and opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday the NRLC should cancel its plan to submit the expert panel proposal to the government because it would contradict the government’s policy. He said the government should also announce a clear stand as to whether it would set up a CDA or an expert panel, so the public would not be confused.
Pheu Thai MP and red-shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan said his group disagreed with the NRLC’s proposal to set up a 34-member panel because his group supported a constitution-drafting assembly.