Pheu Thai, UDD boycott 'won't hurt charter'

Direk Thuengfang, deputy chairman of the NRC’s special committee on politics, said that there would not be any problems if the Pheu Thai Party and the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship refused to contribute their ideas and proposals in the process.

He said that as long as the NRC worked in the country’s interest and without discrimination, the next charter should be widely accepted by the public.

He also ruled out any negative repercussions over the rising trend of anti-coup protests, saying the protesters would be reined in because martial law was still in force.

General Lertrat Ratanavanich, Constitution Drafting Committee spokesman, allayed fears that the charter drafting process would be marred by protests, saying the majority of the country supported the move to write the new constitution. 

“If there is not a new charter, there will not be an election and the country will not overcome our deadlock. We must push for reform and the new charter, he said.

Lertrat said the CDC’s 10 subcommittees would work separately and submit their 10 final frameworks to the CDC, which would also receive ideas from the National Council for Peace and Order, the Cabinet, the National Legislative Assembly and the National Reform Council within 60 days. The CDC would then be able to write each provision in January, he said.

Panitan Wattanayagorn, adviser to Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan who is in charge of the country’s security, said the government would give different treatment to people based on how they exercised their freedom of expression. 

Panitan said that in response to those who intended to cause strife, security officials would pull the reins while the CDC would accept proposals and opinions from those with righteous intention. He said the government would identify rules for holding public hearings and seminars for charter writing contributions.

“They must discuss the future and not what happened six months ago,” he said. “Though it may be difficult not to talk about the past when we want to discuss reconciliation, speakers should just cite it as an example in order to get the whole picture of the future.’’

Panitan said the government feared that political groups could be backing anti-coup protests or ill-intentioned groups were exploiting protesters to their advantage and thereby causing conflict. 

Security agencies over the next six months would try to prevent any political confrontation by relying on intelligence from local agencies.