Wissanu offers 4 options if charter rejected

The four options are: using the same procedure – setting up a new National Reform Council and Constitution Drafting Committee; setting up a new committee to draft a new charter without a new NRC; assigning the National Legislative Assembly to write a new charter; or allowing an agency or several agencies to pick one of the previous charters and work on it.

He said that though the five core agencies would meet on June 17, he did not support the move to let the five agencies decide on the matter. 

He said he was not sure if one of the options could be what former Pheu Thai leader Chaturon Chaisang had suggested – to hold a general election and then set up an assembly to draft the charter.

Wissanu said he would represent the Cabinet in explaining its proposed amendments to the charter drafters on June 6 tomorrow. He said the Constitution Drafting Committee might ask him to clarify more than 100 amendments proposed by the Cabinet.

The NRC suggested that MPs must belong to a political party to strengthen a political party, CDC spokesman Kamnoon Sidhisamarn said yesterday. He was speaking after the NRC members led by Pongpayome Vasaputi explained their recommendations to amend the charter draft on the third day of talks.

The NRC has sought changes to 78 provisions, and the important change was the total removal of Article 71, which calls for the establishment of provincial councils as a checking mechanism by the civic sector. The NRC said such a mechanism should be removed because it does not have balance of power.

Regarding the establishment of a “Civic Assembly”, the NRC wanted to change the composition of the assembly and the qualifications of members and their terms. The NRC opposed setting up the assembly as an organisation but wanted to create a process to give the public opportunities and allow public participation to carry out their roles as citizens, Kamnoon said.

The NRC also proposed that the term “political groups” be removed from 29 provisions and provisions 175 and 176 be scrapped, because the NRC opposes a merger of the National Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Ombudsman.

The NRC suggested the term “large-scale local administrative organisation” be changed to “specially structured local administrative organisation”.

Meanwhile, a network of civic groups for a welfare state and a network to push for the national pension system petitioned CDC chairman Borwornsak Uwanno to support five provisions on setting up the national pension system, health insurance, education insurance and finance for society as well as reforms on consumer protection.

The group proposed that the National Human Rights Commission be a separate entity from the Office of the Ombudsman. It also sought to remove the word “welfare” from the charter draft to prevent discrimination.

Borwornsak said he had no problem with removing the word “welfare” and the CDC did not want the word to have a negative connotation of being poor, insisting that the charter draft gives equal opportunity to everyone.