Thai Charter Change Opponents Fear 'Hidden Agenda'

[webfact]

Charter change opponents fear 'hidden agenda'

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Association of the 2007 Constitution Drafters came out to oppose the amendment of Article 291 of the charter yesterday, saying it's tantamount to abolishing the charter. The move came as opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva denied the party was trying to stall the charter amendment.

Kiatichai Pongpanich, chairman of the 2007 Constitution Drafters Association - along with appointed senator Surachai Liangboonlertchai and Sukhothai Thammathiraj law lecturer Komsan Phokong of the Pracha Phiwat group of royalist academics - held a press conference saying the current move to amend article 291 of the charter might be "unconstitutional".

They said they were worried about a possible hidden agenda in the move to amend the charter, especially towards anything that has to do with the monarchy institution.

Komsan said it was a mere "discourse" that the 2007 charter, which was sponsored by the military junta, was undemocratic. He said what the government was trying to do was equivalent to staging a coup d'etat and that anyone could petition the Office of the Attorney General as well as the Constitution Court to verify if the charter amendment was constitutional or not. He warned that if the move was illegal, the party involved could be disbanded and its party executives barred from politics for five years.

Senator Surachai said the soon-to-be-created Constitution Drafting Assembly should take suggestions from the Association of the 2007 Charter Drafters into consideration. It was not too late to do so and to openly state that they would only partly amend the current charter and not engage in a de facto rewrite of it.

Abhisit denied the opposition was doing anything to stall the charter amendment, adding that the ruling Pheu Thai party didn't understand the role of an opposition party. He urged the government to quickly reveal the criteria to select and form the constitution drafting assembly and the limits on its authority to rewrite the charter.

Abhisit said society was now worried that ousted and fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra would be the main beneficiary of the charter amendment which could lead to political conflict. He also proposed the charter rewrite not touch anything to do with the monarchy institution. Also, the judicial system must be provided with adequate power and autonomy to scrutinise the government's exercise of power. The opposition leader said he wanted the government to accept these three requests so the charter rewrite would proceed smoothly and make the charter more democratic.

Time is running out for the government to come clean and allay fears, Abhisit warned.

In another development, Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung reiterated again that the issue of the monarchy institution would not be touched in the charter rewrite and nothing will be done to amend the lese majeste law.

Chalerm said he had repeated this claim 10 times and others, like Interior Minister and Deputy Premier Yongyuth Vichaidit, had said the same thing. And yet the opposition continued to make an issue out of it and didn't seem to understand. He insisted it was undemocratic to pressure the Constitution Drafting Assembly to not do this or that - and the opposition party should respect the assembly.

Asked why the government would not make it clear that they won't touch the section on the monarchy institution, Chalerm said this was because they didn't know the charter drafting assembly's thinking on the matter.

On the future structure of the Constitution Court and the Administrative Court, Chalerm said something must be done to make them accountable like ordinary courts of law.

-- The Nation 2012-03-06

[whybother]

In another development, Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung reiterated again that the issue of the monarchy institution would not be touched in the charter rewrite and nothing will be done to amend the lese majeste law.

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Asked why the government would not make it clear that they won't touch the section on the monarchy institution, Chalerm said this was because they didn't know the charter drafting assembly's thinking on the matter.

In one sentence he's saying the article won't be touched, and in another he's saying that he doesn't have any control over it.

All this talk of "the government won't do this or that" with the charter is correct. They'll just make sure that the CDA does what the government wants.