'Give NRC a chance before judging it'
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The National Reform Council should be judged on its work rather than speculation on whether the selection of its members was "fixed", according to Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, who urged the public to give the NRC a chance to work.
An unofficial list of members “leaked” to the public has been criticised for containing many conservatives and junta sympathisers, while opponents of the military takeover or members of the former government were not included. Critics said this “unbalanced” make-up undermines the prospect of reform being successful or accepted.
Abhisit, a former PM, said people would judge the NRC by its “work transparency, the level of public access to their work methodology, information, process and people who are involved.
“For now, we should let them work and support them,” he said.
In July, before candidate applications for the NRC began, the Democrat Party announced it would not nominate candidates, reasoning that political parties would have a conflict of interest in debating reform proposals and should, therefore, not be involved.
However, former Democrat deputy leader Alongkorn Ponlaboot was selected to the council by the junta.
On that matter, Abhisit said that Alongkorn did not apply as a party representative and stressed that there was “no problem” between the newly appointed NRC member and the party.
However, he said that, “the party stance is that it will not be sending candidates who do not have any conflict of interest into the next general election”. Alongkorn, he said, “was aware of this and he made the decision”.
Former Pheu Thai MP, Chaturon Chaisang said that “reform before an election” was not possible because the NRC lacked a democratic mandate and sufficient time to do its job.
He suggested that the NRC focus on a limited but constructive scope of work such as solving urgent issues – for example, design a democratic governing system, election reform, and fairness in rules of law and its enforcement, encouraging constructive public debate and collecting proposals.
Once the new government is elected, those proposals could be brought up for consideration.
“If the NRC wants to push for further reform progress, in the current situation where opinions are polarised, and freedom of expression restricted, can the NRC come up with such a progressive outcome that deserves to be called ‘reform’?” he said.
The NRC’s key task is to propose national reforms and input to the constitution drafting committee to draft a new charter. It will also approve the charter before submitting it to the Palace for royal endorsement.
