Thaksin's goals for new charter will be worse than previous two

My opinion is that Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by the September 2006 military putsch, seems bent on staging his own coup now: only this time no guns or tanks will be involved.

When coups happened in Thailand in the past, coup leaders tore up the constitution so that no accusations of them committing any crime under that constitution would be made. Thaksin was right in decrying the 2006 coup that expelled him and cancelled the 1997 charter (aka: “the people’s charter”). He is also right in saying that some parts of the current military-sponsored constitution need to be amended – especially those stipulating that political parties be dissolved when any of their executives is found to have committed an electoral offence.

But lately Thaksin seems not satisfied with just that. Now he wants the 1997 charter to be included but changed in a way that the powers of independent agencies – such as the Constitution and Administration courts, as well as the Election Commission – are curtailed. If this happens, it will allow Thai politicians to freely carry out corruption.

Therefore, this (tank-less) coup of Thaksin will be more damaging than any military coup in the past: for it will mean tearing up the whole of the 2007 and the better part of the 1997 constitutions, all at one time.

Vint Chavala

Lamphun