Power back to the people
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KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) was a concept I embraced many years ago. The Constitution Drafting Committee should concentrate its efforts on convincing people why changes are needed, what the changes aim to achieve and how the targets will be met.
Thailand has had two recent coups because the government was corrupt. The first coup did nothing at all to rectify the problem. The CDC is now talking about reconciliation, elected cabinet ministers – anything except corruption. There is a drive to punish corruption within the police force and among illegal street vendors, taxis and motorcycle-taxi operators that might be laudable, but the corruption that brought about the coup is to be forgiven and forgotten.
The big change needed in the handling of government corruption is to make sure the perpetrators are banished from politics forever and taught to live at the fiscal level of the people who elected them. This will require a heavy crank within the judicial system. MPs should be required to consult their electorate on a regular basis and brought to book if they clearly misrepresent their electors. Elected MPs should choose the prime minister. The greatest danger in this approach is that the poor majority could end up running the country, which cannot be allowed in a capitalist world. How to manage that is the CDC’s greatest problem
Richard Bowler
