Charter drafters face the heat at FCCT event
CHARTER DRAFTERS on Tuesday evening came under tough and provocative questioning from participants and members of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT).
The FCCT on Tuesday night held a forum “An Evening with Thailand’s 20th Constitution Drafters”, which included Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) chief Borwornsak Uwanno, Lertrat Ratanavanich, Jade Donavanik, Nawin Damrigan and Korbsak Phutrakul.
Referring to the charter-drafting process, a journalist from Asia Times said, “Everything you are doing is a fool’s errand.”
He then asked, “What if all of this is just a distraction process to turn media attention away from the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), which is running a police state without intention to let go of power anytime soon, they could do so by, for example, putting the charter-drafting process back to square one?”
Borwornsak brushed off the remark, saying in a half-joking manner, “Thank you very much for your comment, but I’m afraid this is question and answer time.”
The event’s host, Umesh Pandey said at the opening remarks that in respond to Borwornsak earlier claim that Thailand hasn’t beaten the Guinness World Record for having highest number of constitutions as they are still behind the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Haiti, Umesh said that these countries have been under democratic rule for much longer. Hence he said “Thailand still hold the Guinness World Record for highest number of constitutions in terms of yearly average!”, which was 4.15.
It was apparent that many foreign journalists were sceptical of the charter drafters’ democratic agenda, despite the drafters’ explanations and insistence that this charter placed high emphasis on empowering citizens while improving the checks and balances system and regulation.
Referring to reports on whether there will be a referendum, which has still not been confirmed by the junta, one participant asked: “Do you think you are superior to the people?
“Is that why a referendum still remains in question?”
When asked if he was sure that this charter would last forever, Borwornsak responded, “Only God can tell you that”. He said realistically speaking, considering the history of Thai constitutions, the new charter “could last 10-15 years”.
CDC members have been active in engaging with both foreign media and diplomats in the past few weeks. A forum on the charter was also held at Nai Lert Park Hotel last week where diplomats from over 30 countries attended.
