'Crisis panel' cannot run nation: CDC
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DRAFTERS INSIST PROPOSED STRATEGIC COMMITTEE IS NOT LIKE A POLITBURO
THE PROPOSED National Strategic Reform and Reconciliation Committee would not interfere with any future government, as its scope of power is clearly stipulated in the draft charter, the Constitution Drafting Committee said.
CDC spokesman Kamnoon Sidhisamarn yesterday told the media that Article 261 of the Constitution meant that the NSRRC would have no authority to administer the country, although it would be eligible to propose measures for conflict resolution or reconciliation to the Cabinet.
He stressed that the committee would only have two tasks: Push reform efforts in line with the wishes of the public and bring about reconciliation.
These tasks had nothing to do with the administration, he said.
Kamnoon said that the charter drafters were well aware that the NSRRC and the government might on occasion contradict each other, which was addressed in the charter by giving the Constitution Court the power to resolve any legal issue concerning a contradiction.
Asked if the establishment of the committee could lead to street protests, he said that the country was in dire need of having the committee work during the transitional period.
“The strategic committee is unprecedented. But we have to admit that the issue facing the country in the past decade is unprecedented too. So, it is necessary. But eventually it is for the people to decide,” Kamnooon said, referring to the upcoming referendum on whether to accept the charter.
Charter drafters Anek Laothamatas and Nakarin Mektrairat insisted that the committee was not a mechanism to direct the government like a Communist Party politburo.
They said that it was a temporary committee and had no executive power, apparently in response to the noted political critic Thirayuth Boonmee’s remarks yesterday.
Chuchai Supawong, another CDC member, responded to politicians’ voicing opposition to the draft charter by asking the political parties and other critics of the NSRRC proposal this: “If the people pass the charter as well as the strategic committee, would it make the charter democratic?”
Chuchai questioned whether it would be democratic for specified individuals or groups to benefit from the proposed amnesty bill.
A proposed amnesty sparked another series of street protests, which led to the latest political crisis and ultimately the coup on May 22, 2014.
Chuchai also questioned whether the former governments had responded to the voice of the people when in power over the past decade, because the public wanted reform.
He said that amid the political conflict over the past decade, millions of people had been calling for reforms, which made responding to that a political imperative.
As a result the National Council for Peace and Order emerged and set up a working committee – the National Reform Council – to address that request.
Chuchai said there was now an opportunity to carry out reform through a number of bodies, including the proposed citizen-based assembly and the NRSSC.
Meanwhile, CDC member Lertrat Ratanavanich insisted that any campaign for or against the draft constitution would be prohibited in accordance with referendum law.
But everyone could express a view or share information if it was not an attempt to influence how people vote, he added.
