Activist Ticha resigns from charter body
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Berated by drafters for seeking ratio of woman cadidates
CONSTITUTION Drafting Committee (CDC) member Ticha na Nakorn has resigned from her posts as a charter drafter and a member of the junta-installed National Reform Council (NRC), effective today.
Ticha was very brief in explaining the reason behind her resignation as a charter drafter, saying on her Facebook page yesterday that four months in the position was enough time and she had been like “a fish in the wrong water”.
Ticha thanked her colleagues and apologised to them.
Reporters saw Ticha – a well-known feminist and child rights activist, and another female charter drafter, Thawilwadee Bureekul, crying as they walked out of a CDC meeting in Pattaya recently.
They had been berated by many charter drafters over their support for a proposed charter stipulation for 30 per cent of party-list candidates to be women.
At the CDC meeting on Friday, Ticha and Thawilwadee again supported a move to stipulate in the charter that at least one-third of local administrative council representatives be women. The closed-door meeting lasted about one hour without any conclusion reached.
Ticha, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, said on Facebook that she only joined the NRC and CDC because someone whom she greatly respected had asked her to do so.
She said the salary for charter drafters was too generous and she felt so uncomfortable receiving it she donated 40 per cent of her earnings.
Ticha said that officials literally helped her fill in application forms for the NRC and CDC as she was reluctant to do so.
CDC chairman Bowornsak Uwanno said he regretted Ticha’s decision to resign as she had dedicated herself to working for youths but he was unable to prevent her from resigning.
Bowornsak added that all of the 36 charter drafters volunteered to do the job and the task was halfway completed.
He said that Nuntawat Baramanand, the NRC member most qualified to take Ticha’s place, would be promoted to the CDC.
But Parliament secretary-general Jare Phanpruang said the appointment of Nuntawat might not be in accordance with the 2014 provisional charter.
He said it might be up to the National Council for Peace and Order to find her replacement and he would check the legal details again tomorrow.
