Watch out for govt tricks on charter change, Jurin warns
The government might try some trick with a public referendum in order to succeed in its push to write an entirely new constitution, the opposition chief whip warned yesterday.
Jurin Laksanawisit, who is a senior Democrat MP, said that judging from Cabinet’s reluctance to go ahead and hold a plebiscite on changes to the Constitution, he suspected the government may resort to some trick.
He said there were at least two issues worth close scrutiny.
First, the government may turn the possible referendum into one to seek advice, rather than one to achieve a final determination. But the latter would require a majority of votes to pass.
Secondly, Jurin said, there was an attempt to amend the law so less support was required for the move to rewrite the charter via a referendum.
Article 165 of the Constitution states that a referendum may be conducted when Cabinet wants to consult the public about any issue that may affect national or public interest, and in the case where a referendum is required by law.
“A referendum … may be conducted in order to achieve a final determination, by a majority of votes cast by persons having the right to vote at a referendum, on a problematic issue to which the referendum relates, or may be conducted for giving advice to the Council of Ministers,” the clause says.
Jurin said the opposition whips would wait and see the next move by the government about this matter before taking further action.
On Tuesday, Cabinet postponed a decision on whether to hold a referendum on amendments to the constitution. Instead, it set up a new working group to study and determine the process of holding a referendum, as well as the laws and regulations involved, in order to find a suitable method.
Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday the postponement indicated that the government was just focusing on rewriting the constitution to help former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra out of his legal problems.
“The government is walking in circles to help its big boss, although in fact it should focus on solving problems for people,” Abhisit said.
“This referendum will provide a good chance for people to show that it’s time to move on. As long as the government still wants to clear all the legal cases for Thaksin, the country will continue to have this kind of burden.”
PM’s Office Minister Varathep Ratanakorn said Cabinet wanted more time to prepare a referendum.
“Without careful preparation, there will be confusion. The referendum will run into problems and there will be conflict [between both sides],” he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung said failure to get enough support in the referendum would hit the government’s stability. People would want the government to be responsible for spending as much as Bt2 billion to hold the referendum.
Anutin Charnweerakul, leader of opposition Bhum Jai Thai Party, said the government should avoid “precarious issues” in its push for changes to the charter although he said he was convinced it had good intentions. He declined to say if Thaksin was a “precarious issue”.
