'A good time to rebuild national justice system'

“We have to create a justice system that is fair to everyone, also preventing anyone from using the law to gain their own benefit or to victimise others, along with helping citizens access the legal system,” he said.
Seree is chairman of the National Reform Council’s panel on the legal and justice system.
In the past, Thailand’s legal system was mostly focused on punishing wrongdoers. “But now we should focus on preventing crimes before they even happen. Moreover this could also play an important role in reducing [criminal] cases in society,” Seree said.
“For example, earlier there were many problems [where] people could get access to guns and weapons too easily. It is our job to prevent them from buying, eradicating the source from selling or using those weapons beforehand,” he said.
Seree voiced concern over cases that revealed long-running problems in the legal and justice system, in which police falsified information and built cases against innocent people.
He said these problems were due largely to poor police jurisdiction and authority that sometimes overlaps with other organisations. These uncertain boundaries make it easier for officials to intervene in a case, or for bribery by politicians or wrongdoers who want to avoid justice.
The chairman said the justice system must be able to verify jurisdictions and working areas thoroughly – such as roles in maintaining peace in society, in preventing criminal actions, and in investigating and providing witnesses for cases.
“In the justice system there was also the problem regarding investigations into cases in which one agency often held sole authority. We must fix such situations by not letting a single agency have absolute authority over a case.”
Seree said the committee would propose setting up a centre to monitor government officials and police to prevent acts of corruption.
He admitted a system still existed where lawmakers can draft a law to benefit some group of people while, at the same time, suppressing others who are victims of the legal system.
In addition the legal system has to decide properly on which cases go to which courts, because there are many issues of interference between courts.
When asked about corruption issues in the political system, Seree said wrongdoers should face more severe punishment and requests for witnesses should be processed more simply.
He added that politicians found guilty in a court impeachment action should be banned for life, not only five years, and it should be made clear their actions would affect their families and relatives. Such a penalty would make an example for other politicians to be afraid of the law rather than abusing it. Seree said the NRC panel had received many complaints and requests proposing ideas from the public he had yet to scrutinise. He might draft a law to resolve people’s problems, helping them at the same time to be able to observe the justice system closely.
There were many cases where people were suffering from neglect caused by legal agencies, a situation he would tackle immediately.
Seree said his committee had to listen to ideas of other related agencies on how to strengthen their performance – and he believed this was a good chance for him to rebuild and restore the legal and justice system.
“I believe our work here is very important to the people and the Constitution Drafting Committee and we have to discuss our reform plans with other subcommittees, as well as laying down a structure for Thai society and push the country forward.”