MPs and the public - the oil and water of Thai politics

[webfact]

BURNING ISSUE
MPs and the public - the oil and water of Thai politics
Kornchanok Raksaseri

BANGKOK: -- MANY AMERICAN CRITICS have noted that the delay in solving the US government shutdown after the budget bill was not passed in time, with the debt ceiling issue left unresolved, is really "politics" between rival parties, rather than a dispute over the content of the Obamacare programme.

What is happening in the United States reminds Thais of the situation in their own country: two major political parties disagreeing over national mega projects, namely the Bt350 billion water management and the Bt2-trillion transport infrastructure schemes.

The opposition, losing votes in Parliament due to its fewer House seats, has turned to the courts and independent agencies empowered by the law to scrutinise the government to try to stop it from pushing ahead with such projects. And there are other legal fights over constitutional amendments and the amnesty bill.

Sometimes the petitions are about procedure, asking the court to consider technical problems during legal deliberation. Sometimes they're about the content, such as whether the amended part of the charter challenge principles stated in the master law.

The government is striking back |by questioning the courts' mandate. Moreover, it is waiting to further amend the Constitution's unclear clause about the process of the Constitutional Court and its |acceptance of any case.

When the Constitutional Court gave the green light to the 2014 Budget Bill last week, government MPs came up with ideas to expedite deliberation of the amnesty bill, which has seen little progress in House committee meetings for almost two months.

And after the House passed its third reading of the Bt2-trillion borrowing bill for the development of transport infrastructure, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra moved to promote the mega scheme. Now she is pushing the projects during a trip to the Apec Summit in Bali.

Meanwhile, the Democrats have countered by proposing their version of such mega projects and continue with their 'Reveal the Truth' rallies.

While representatives visit flood-hit areas, many activities and reports show the two parties are gearing up in preparation for the next election, despite almost two years remaining in the government's term.

October is a month of commemoration for bloody events in Thai politics that have been regarded as "the people's fight". Protest leaders from decades ago still play important roles in Thai politics in different - even opposing - groups that organise separate commemorating events. But they all talk about "the lessons learned".

Civic networks joined hands with the Law Reform Commission and Thammasat University at a seminar on Saturday, and raised concerns that "the people's voice" is not unheard, it is "not being listened to".

Since the 1997 Constitution allowed Thai citizens to initiate and propose laws, instead of just laws introduced by politicians, only six out of 64 proposals have become law. Half (32) of the civic-proposed laws were dropped. They included the Community Forest Bill - the first bill proposed by the people who gathered more than 50,000 signatures required by the law - which was dropped by the Senate.

The National Savings Act, which was passed in 2011, needs organic laws. Not only did the drafting of such organic laws make no progress, the government also had an idea to scrap it and floated the idea to merge it with the social security fund, even though the Act was aimed at promoting savings for welfare and security after retirement for labourers not in the social security system.

An activist who participated in the forum said that protesters in any political rallies so far have not brought any real change to Thai society. He told "the people" to stop being the tools for others.

Protesters who called out their problems, such as agricultural product prices, nowadays have to distance themselves from politicians and insist that their rallies are not political, so that the government does not have an excuse to ignore them.

It is clear that there is a big gap between politicians and the people.

"Lessons learned" from the people's fight are apparently buzzwords for the October events' commemoration. But are they actually the "shared" lessons Thais learn together?


-- The Nation 2013-10-08

[notmyself]

A somewhat tenuous link to the ACA.

[Tatsujin]

"Lessons learned" from the people's fight are apparently buzzwords for the October events' commemoration. But are they actually the "shared" lessons Thais learn together?

OK, so what have they learned really? Jack squat. Anything learned today is forgotten about by tomoro and if you don't study history and it's effects, you won't know "why" certain things happened and won't learn anything from those incidents.

[notmyself]

OK, so what have they learned really? Jack squat. Anything learned today is forgotten about by tomoro and if you don't study history and it's effects, you won't know "why" certain things happened and won't learn anything from those incidents.

Off topic. This thread is about politics and not the Thai education system.

[Tatsujin]

OK, so what have they learned really? Jack squat. Anything learned today is forgotten about by tomoro and if you don't study history and it's effects, you won't know "why" certain things happened and won't learn anything from those incidents.

Off topic. This thread is about politics and not the Thai education system.

Ah, off-topic. So Education has no impact on Politics whatsoever then according to you? Take your head out of the sand.

[notmyself]

OK, so what have they learned really? Jack squat. Anything learned today is forgotten about by tomoro and if you don't study history and it's effects, you won't know "why" certain things happened and won't learn anything from those incidents.

Off topic. This thread is about politics and not the Thai education system.

Ah, off-topic. So Education has no impact on Politics whatsoever then according to you? Take your head out of the sand.

I agree with your post and it can also be used against the education system. AKA humour.