Wadah politicians alleged to distort charter draft
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Some politicians in the Muslim-majority deep South are distorting the draft constitution’s content in a bid to persuade Muslim voters to reject the draft, a spokesman for the charter writers said Friday.
Amorn Wanichwiwatana, spokesman for the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC), said he has learned from some security officials in the southern border region that politicians from the Wadah group of people including unnamed Muslim politicians produced an audio clip criticising the draft charter.
He said a clause in the draft regards Buddhism as the country’s superior religion, which in turn could negative affect Islam. The clip claimed that the clause in question could impact Muslims in performing their religious tasks, he said.
“The truth is not so. Article 67 of the draft constitution states that the government needs to support and protect Buddhism and other religions,” the CDC spokesman said.
Amorn said he and the security officials mentioned have agreed that the clip “clearly distorted the draft constitution” and that it could influence voters’ decisions in the runup to the August 7 referendum.
