'Officials must be made to swear not to cheat'
Play
A CIVIC group is proposing that politicians vow in front of the Emerald Buddha Temple that they will not cheat.
Kamolpan Cheewapansri, president of the Parent-Youth Network for Educational Reform, yesterday forwarded suggestions for the draft constitution to Sombat Thamrongthanyawong, chairman of the political reform committee.
One suggestion is that candidates for independent organisations such as the Election Commission, National Anti-Corruption Commission and Constitutional Court show decent qualifications for people to scrutinise.
Another is that the new charter should ban permanent secretaries, rectors, chancellors and executives of state enterprises from taking part in private companies, besides ministers, and the prime minister, as in the current draft.
A third idea was that every representative, senator and government official should also take an oath before sacred deities such as the Emerald Buddha or City Pillar – so those who did not honour their vows face disaster.
Sombat said he would forward the Kamolpan report to the president of the National Reform Council and the Constitution Drafting Committee. He also insisted that the NRC stresses people’s opinions.
