CDC agrees to set up, empower new reform body

Constitution drafters decided yesterday to set up a national reform body and empower it by adding it to the new constitution, so reform work and plans will be continued by future governments.
Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) member Kamnoon Sidhisamarn proposed the idea of setting up the organisation, reasoning that if the agency’s role is spelled out in the new charter, the National Reform Council (NRC)’s work would not be wasted.
“With this national reform body, NRC proposals can be synchronised not just for now, but for the next five years,” he said.
Kamnoon said that as it would be impossible to include all proposals from the NRC’s 18 panels in the new charter, perhaps a new article could be drafted to gives the new body the authority to push forward with the plans independently.
Though they have yet to decide what this body will be called, most charter drafters agreed with the idea of setting it up and giving it greater authority.
CDC member Choochai Supawongse, who is responsible for adding the national reform issue to the charter, said the new body would ensure that the NRC’s framework is pushed further. So, he said, it was unlikely to be made up of NRC members.
“The new reform body has to be separated from promoting reconciliation, so the work on reconciliation is more efficient. Also, I believe national reform will be successful if a referendum on the new charter is held,” he said.
Paiboon Nititawan, another CDC member, said he backed Kamnoon’s proposal, adding that this new agency would help reformers gather all proposals and consider them before proposing them as policies or laws.
Another drafter Woothisarn Tanchai also agreed that it would not be possible to include all reform proposals in the new charter.
“I would suggest that the draft outlines the mechanism of this new organisation such as its structure and authority, as well as a list of reform plans that can be put in place in the future and synchronise them between the executive and legislative branches of the government,” he said.
Setting up a national reform body did not go against the principles of the constitution, he said, because the interim charter already allowed the creation of such an agency.
Meanwhile, since each NRC panel has some 40 topics of interest and not all can be inserted in the charter, the CDC had asked each to cut their proposals to three, Choochai said.
Earlier, the NRC hosted a forum on “Vision towards Country’s Future”, where 36 national reform agendas and seven topics of national development were proposed to the CDC.
The charter drafters will begin drafting on national reform on Monday.