Thais left in the dark about this new charter
As a long-time resident expat, I find it disappointing - and Thai citizens should find it outrageous - that a week before the referendum, the entire Thai text of the draft constitution is not readily available for citizens to study. If the junta really be
Instead, when people cast their votes, most of them will be aware only of bits and snippets. They will cast their votes based on their reactions to those bits and snippets, and also based on their reactions to the opinions of their friends and people they admire. There will be little or no understanding of the document itself.
Also troubling are some of the comments published in The Nation’s “Your Say, Your Charter” column which has been running on page two. Time and again, respondents comment along the lines of “Oh, it [the draft constitution] won’t affect me personally, but it doesn’t sound very democratic.” Pardon me? It doesn’t affect you personally? Is a bird affected personally by the amount of space it has to fly in? I should think that the bird would feel a great deal of difference if it were locked up in a tiny cage or if it were free to fly high and wide in a giant aviary.
By now, as a public service, every Thai newspaper should have published the entire draft constitution in a special supplement for its readers to study. And as a service to the international community, the two major English-language newspapers should have published supplements containing an official translation in English. But as near as I can make out, there isn’t an official translation in English. A Google search revealed only an unofficial 137-page English translation linked to the UN.
This is sloppy stuff, folks. The junta has had two years to get things right. As I understand it, the first draft constitution, crafted with maximum publicity at great cost in money, time, and energy, was shot down by a committee appointed by the junta, before it could even get to a referendum. From what we can find out about it, this second one sounds fairly dodgy. Given the lack of a universally circulated text, the vote is bound to be based on an incomplete understanding, a partial or a complete misunderstanding, political bias, and just plain ignorance.
The whole business suggests that neither the junta nor its draft constitution is ready for prime time.
Disappointed in Samut Prakan
