Parliament members play name games with charter

Besides Theptai’s suggestion, Satit Pitutecha labelled it a “UDD-ruling charter” and Watchara Petchthong branded it as “the charter cancelling the 2007 Constitution which passed a national referendum with approval by 14.7 million people”.

 

Before government MPs started to protest, House Speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont, who was chairing the session at that time, said he didn’t understand how these names could be offered.

“They are clearly satire.”

 

He went on in a way that indicated that he would not allow the discussion to continue, but many Democrats insisted it was the right of the panel members to address the chamber, especially when it was included in the report, and that MPs had the right to debate. Somsak eventually allowed them to speak.

 

Theptai said he was not joking, as the name resembled this charter drafting process. 

 

The charter rewrite had been rushed since the beginning, as people had proposed three versions of the amendment bill but they were not tabled in Parliament because it was claimed that it would take too long to verify the names of each bill’s sponsors.

 

The ad hoc panel on charter amendment also added many meetings to the schedule to speed up the process the way the government wanted, he added.

 

Satit said he thought up the name as the process was being hurried.

 

“The charter amendment is a channel for amnesty besides the reconciliation attempts the government is undertaking.”

 

After two hours and a half, the meeting voted 353-107 to approve the title of the new charter as the “Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand”, while 18 abstained.

 

However, for two more hours the debate went nowhere after the Democrats tried again to get the meeting postponed on grounds the report was incomplete and contained errors.

 

Senate Speaker Teeradej Meepien told the meeting to deliberate on the next article.