THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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CDC chief briefs Army personnel on charter draft

CDC chief briefs Army personnel on charter draft

CONSTITUTION Drafting Commission chairman Meechai Ruchupan yesterday clarified controversial provisions in the new charter to a gathering of military personnel in the hope of creating a “better understanding” about the draft.

Meechai voiced concern that people may misunderstand the draft after receiving “distorted information” from opponents.
“This talk aims to inform the Army personnel about the imporฌtant content of the draft constituฌtion,” he said. “I hope the knowledge learned will be passed on to your colleagues, residents in your area, your family members and [other] people close to you for a better underฌstanding.”
The head drafter spoke to about 1,000 people at Royal Thai Army headquarters. About half of them were commissioned officers and the rest noncommissioned officers, Army reservists and other Army employees.
Meechai said he was eager to answer every query about controฌversial issues related to the charter, adding he was willing to hold talks with any agency.
Army commanderinchief General Teerachai Nakwanich plans to invite Meechai to hold similar talks to Army personnel in other parts of the country, a source said.
Throughout his talk yesterday, Meechai stressed that the charter mainly aimed to crack down on graft and there would be tough mechaฌnisms to combat corruption. 
Following a flood of calls from several concerned bodies to revise clauses in the charter related to the election of the prime minister and the Senate, Meechai affirmed that he would not change the current elecฌtion systems.
The CDC chairman said the clause that would require political parties to submit a list of candidates to be prime minister would remain. 
He asserted that the prime minฌister would be appointed despite being an unelected MP and memฌbers of the House of Representatives would vote to select the government head.
He also insisted on indirect elecฌtion of senators, which he said would ensure the independence of the Upper House. 
Meanwhile, a group of bureauฌcrats and politicians yesterday voiced their support for the draft charter’s aim to suppress corruption but they suggested that clauses about rights and freedoms be revised. 
The group were trainees in the Constitutional Court’s “Rule of Law for Democracy” course. They were led by Borwornsak Uwanno, chairฌman of the nowdefunct Constitution Drafting Committee, whose draft charter was rejected by the former National Reform Council last year.
Speaking separately, Borwornsak said he regretted that [his draft was rejected] but a day later he realised that the National Council for Peace and Order wanted to stay in power longer.
“I feel I wasted myself doing this job but now I’m happy as I can go back to taking care of my grandฌchild,” he said.
However, he agreed with the tough charter, adding that the draft by Meechai Ruchupan’s Drafting Commission stipulated a rigid mechanism to crack down corrupฌtion and money laundering.
“The draft is satisfactory and dreadful to stipulate that politicians have to submit the personal income tax return for three years back [prior to their entering politics),” he said.
“If I was asked to vote for the charter today, I would accept this charter. No need to amend it.”
He said he appreciated Meechai’s devotion and encouraged him to get the charter done. However, he noted one weakness was the law of rule, which has to be added.
Banjerd Singkaneti, dean of the Faculty of Law at the National Institute of Development Administration, who led the group, also voiced concern over the single ballot election method which, he said, has more disadvantages than a twoballot system. 
He said: “The two ballot election system should be used. This [oneballot] method is used by only one state of Germany, BadenWurttemberg. How come we apply it with Thailand?”
The dean also felt that listing three prime ministerial candidates was not practical, as big parties would eventually submit only one frontrunner candidate. 
He also urged Meechai, the head drafter, to stipulate a community’s rights in the charter, as Borwornsak’s draft did.

 

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