We ‘students’ of the charter must not be lectured
With six weeks left before Thai people vote on the country’s future at the August 7 referendum, the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) is trying hard to boost public understanding in the hope that voters can make an informed decision.
Shortly after the CDC completed the first charter draft in late March, it came up with an unprecedented training programme for volunteers nationwide. They were recruited mostly from the state sector to act as the CDC’s mouthpiece in disseminating the charter content. The volunteers have even been given the name “teacher” (kru) in a bid to enhance their authority.
There are three categories: Kru Kor (Teacher A) are recruited from provincial state offices, Kru Khoh (Teacher B) from district offices, and four Kru Khor (Teacher C) are recruited from each community. The latter will play a crucial role within communities, knocking on doors and spreading information in face-to-face contact with voters.
The CDC has designed a pyramid-shaped training course in which Teacher A will pass the message down Teacher B, who will instruct Teacher C.
One problem for the programme, though, lies in the complexity of the charter content, a fact conceded by the CDC itself.
CDC spokesperson Chartchai na Chiangmai told The Nation that the training programme, set to be wrapped up by the end of this week, has been hit by technical errors as well as a lack of understanding of the content among trainees.
Chartchai tried to downplay the issue, saying the problems were minor and “could be fixed”. However, he also conceded that other teething troubles could emerge, including over the volunteers’ capacity to reach their targets given the vast number of voters they are attempting to reach.
Amid a clampdown on freedom of expression, authorities have high expectations that the CDC’s efforts in disseminating information could help bring a strong turnout at the referendum, and thus possibly a higher chance for the charter to be passed.
The issue of voter turnout highlights how apparently minor factors could play a big role in the referendum’s result.
However, the content-dissemination training programme has a built-in problem that is actually far more significant, since it concerns freedom of thought.
As the message is designed and passed down from above to those below, it’s very much a top-down approach which leaves little room for discussion and review, something very much required in the case of the complex content of the charter draft.
Unless this issue is addressed, we can expect to hear more and more hitches arising as the process of dissemination progresses.
The stakes here are high: without well-informed decisions, we won’t be able to forge a credible consensus on a new charter. This problem needs to be fixed now so the country can engage in a real discussion of the issues at the heart of the draft and at the core of our future.
RELATED