Thai Govt Needs To Sell Its Plan On Charter Amendments

BURNING ISSUE

Govt needs to sell its plan on charter amendments

Avudh Panananda

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The government has no choice but to push for charter change come rain or shine, and the legislation's passage will hinge on how well the Pheu Thai Party can reason with its opponents.

As the House of Representatives is scheduled to resume its legislative session within two weeks, the coalition parties are slated to make their final push for passage of the charter-amendment bill.

The vote on the third reading of the bill, suspended since June, is unstoppable under the legislative process. But choosing the wrong time for such a vote could bring about a political catastrophe.

Tension between proponents and opponents of charter change remains high, as the two sides remain poles apart in their "righteousness" on the matter.

The court battle in July failed to bridge the divide between the two sides. In fact, each side claimed victory and firmly stood its ground.

In a bid to resolve the impasse, the coalition parties tasked Bhokin Bhalakula with mapping out the next move on rewriting the charter.

In his report, Bhokin has recommended pushing for final passage of the bill, which is designed to activate the 99-member Charter Drafting Assembly (CDA) to take charge of the charter amendments.

He calls for the coalition parties to mark Constitution Day, which falls next Monday, by kick-starting an awareness campaign to sway sentiment on charter change.

The first three months of next year will see a series of public dialogues. Should the dialogues be successful, Parliament should be able to vote on the bill in March.

Under this plan, the ruling party will have up to four months to reason with the opposition movement, including the Democrats and the People's Alliance for Democracy.

Although the Constitution Court said in its July verdict that the people should be consulted via a referendum, since they had endorsed the promulgation of the 2007 Constitution, Bhokin cited legal mumbo jumbo to work around such a ruling.

He said the referendum did not have to precede the charter rewrite, because the CDA would decide, at a later date, to either amend certain provisions and keep the Constitution intact, or overhaul and introduce a new charter.

Since there is no way to anticipate what the CDA will do, a referendum at this juncture is deemed unnecessary, he said.

He went on to argue that the charter amendments will have even more legitimacy than the existing charter provisions, because in contrast to those appointed by the junta, the charter writers would be directly elected by the people.

He also said the high court's ruling would not be compromised because the charter draft would be subjected to a referendum vote before taking effect.

Opponents, particularly the Democrats, have warned that the activation of the CDA before conducting the referendum would be tantamount to defying the high court.

If the ruling party opts for strong-arm tactics to have its way in amending the charter, then it had better be prepared for a new round of court battles, as well as for the resumption of street protests.

Unless Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra can dispel the suspicion that charter change is just a pretext to rescue her brother Thaksin from his legal predicament, the government is heading right into the eye of the political storm.

To defuse the tension, Yingluck is obliged to accomplish two things - appease her red supporters by amending the charter, and engage her yellow opponents to improve on the political system.

-- The Nation 2012-12-07