Academic offers guidelines
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A leading advocate is calling for the charter rewrite to not be dominated by political parties and instead involve the public in the drafting process.
Gothom Arya, director of Mahidol University’s Research Centre for Peace Building, issued an open letter yesterday outlining his recommendations for the formation of the Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA).
In the letter, he also aired his views on the issues that charter rewriters should tackle.
Under the government-sponsored draft, the CDA is meant to comprise 99 members, of whom 77 are elected and 22 appointed.
Gothom countered that the CDA should have 150 to 200 members based on the population size of each province instead of just one member per province. However, he did not comment on the appointed members being based on a pool of academics.
“A larger numbers of elected CDA members would dilute partisanship by lessening the chance for political parties to fix the voting outcome,” he said.
He added that the amendment deadline should be extended from 180 to 365 days so there is enough time to involve members of the public in the drafting process via a series of public hearings.
Gothom also offered a five-point observation on the political system:
_ A charter rewrite alone will not ensure political stability as evidenced by 18 charters so far;
_ Coups will continue taking place because the country does not have genuine public participation in the political system;
_ Charter amendments should focus on three issues: flaws detected in the 2007 Constitution, public participation and a referendum vote on charter draft;
_ The drafting deadline should be extended in order to ensure public hearings on draft provisions;
_ Ensure that the CDA is independent from political parties;
Deputy House Speaker Charoen Chankomol said he expected Gothom’s recommendations to be vetted by the House committee after the bill on charter amendments passes its first reading, which would pave the way for the forming of the CDA.
After the first reading, the House is slated to name a 45-member committee to vet the bill, he said. The committee will debate various recommendations on the forming of the CDA before the bill is submitted for final passage, he said.
