Coup 'wasted' if some draft charter articles are removed
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CDC MEMBER DEFENDS DIVISIVE PROPOSALS, INCLUDING PROVISION FOR UNELECTED PM
CONSTITUTION Drafting Commit-tee (CDC) member Paiboon Nititawan yesterday singled out articles and new measures he said were creating controversy over the proposed charter.
He said many were merely designed to solve past and existing problems, and the junta’s seizure of power its mission would go to waste if the same problems arose again in the future.
Paiboon was responding to calls for various provisions within the draft charter to be removed or amended.
For example, many critics objected to a provision that would allow political-interest groups to run for election, fearing they would weaken political parties, or become nominees of those parties. Paiboon said this provision was aimed at catering to citizens who wished to vote for independent candidates.
He also defended the provision that would allow an unelected “outsider” to become PM in time of crisis. The events that led up to May 22 coup last year demonstrated the need for flexibility in the rules of law to offer the country a “way out” of such a crisis, he claimed.
In order for the coup not to “go to waste”, the new charter must be able to solve all the problems that occurred prior to the military’s takeover from an elected government, he said.
Paiboon also defended the proposal to establish a “National Ethics Assembly” and a “Citizens Assembly”. He said the underlying rationale was to give the people the official authority to regulate and examine the government; such a measure would also empower citizens – one of the main agendas of CDC members.
Establishing these people’s assemblies, Paiboon argued, could effectively prevent the problem of mass street protests, because the people would be given official status to fight for their causes through these assemblies.
Meanwhile another CDC member, Lt-General Nawin Damrigan, said the committee was collecting proposals from various public organisations and putting them in order of urgency. Charter provisions that were strongly opposed would be deliberated on first.
The CDC would also consider bringing in representatives from the National Reform Council (NRC) and the Cabinet to deliberate on finding solutions, Nawin said.
Sombat Thamrongthanyawong, chairman of NRC’s political reform panel and one of the most vocal critics of the draft charter, reiterated his proposal to trim down the document from 315 articles to 118. Many of the articles could be written in as by-laws, leaving the charter itself less detailed or rigid, he said.
Sombat said there were many highly controversial issues about which his panel had informed the CDC. However, he admitted that the final decision and the power to amend charter provisions rested with CDC members alone.
He said he believed the CDC would amend the charter, especially on issues where many people had expressed concerns.
Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, who is also defence minister, admitted that the junta could stay in power longer than indicated in the military’s “road map to democracy” if charter draft failed to survive a referendum or the NRC’s vote on it.
He also said the prospect of a referendum was not certain – the Cabinet had merely decided to float the possibility of such a poll.
The National Council for Peace and Order may have to stay in office even longer if there were problems during the charter-drafting process, although he claimed that wasn’t the junta’s intention.
He said debate on whether there should be a charter referendum was still ongoing, and the fate of the new constitution still uncertain, despite the Cabinet consensus to amend the 2014 interim charter and legitimise the referendum.
He said the junta needed to communicate clearly with the public to establish an informed understanding of the national reform and charter-drafting process. This was a crucial period that might take longer than expected, but it was necessary.
