THAI TALK
Reform Council: Nobody is promising utopia in one year
Suthichai Yoon
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The chairman of the National Reform Council (NRC), Dr Thianchay Kiranant, may have been described by some close friends as being "straight as a ruler" - meaning that he isn't someone to strike a compromise even if it's politically expedient.

But the former rector of Chulalongkorn University, who was voted to head the 250-member reform body unchallenged, is also a realistic person. Or perhaps, the uphill task he faces has convinced him that he will have to adopt a more flexible tone.

"The public's expectations are very high - so high that they may be unrealistic. Some people may be dreaming that one year from now, Thailand will become a utopia. That's not right. That's impossible," Thianchay said in a newspaper interview earlier this week.

It's not only the brief timeframe that has raised questions about whether the mission can be accomplished. It's the complicated issues and messy horse-trading that might ensue that have clouded the possible conclusion of the assignment given to the panel.

The NRC has been given extraordinary power. For one thing, as is provided for in the interim constitution, it has the final say on whether the charter draft will be accepted or not. In addition, it has a quota of 20 out of 36 seats on the Constitution Drafting Committee. And that's where the first major element of discord among its members arose.

Someone suggested that the NRC should demonstrate its intention of respecting diversity of political opinion by selecting five "outsiders" from opposing political camps to join 15 others picked from the ranks of NRC members themselves.

That proposal met with immediate opposition from the so-called "NRC Whips Committee", which met to debate the issue and was split 11-8 over the controversial idea.

Those who voted in favour argued that the NRC would be taken to task for not adopting an "exclusive" policy if it didn't invite "professionals" in the political arena to join in the drawing up of the new constitution. After all, the new set of ground rules would apply to all those in the political arena. It's only fair that those with strong views in the political field should be given a chance to join the process.

Those against countered that it's precisely because the new charter will be applied to politicians that the process of writing it should be free from the influence of those with vested interests.

And even if the final decision of the NRC was to draw in politicians to be part of the process, the bigger question would be: Whom to invite? And how do you decide on who offers the invitations?

And this is only the first of many more delicate issues the national reform panel must settle. Several sensitive questions remain to be answered before the NRC can begin to tackle the country's major issues:

l If the NRC wants a more "representative" composition, how does it go about involving the 7,000 or so candidates who failed in their bids to join the 250-member panel? Premier Prayut Chan-o-cha says he would like those who didn't get picked to be able to contribute to the reform process. But nobody has come up with any clear idea of how to reach that goal, apart from a general proposal to set up "subcommittees" all over the country.

l How does the NRC cope with the 11 major issues proposed for reform? Do all 250 members work on the issues all at once or are they split up into 11 groups to handle the questions separately?

l Who has the final say in deciding which proposed reform measures are accepted and which discarded?

l Once the reform proposals are drawn up by the NRC, how does the public get a say on those recommendations? Is a referendum in some form possible under the current scheme of things?

I agree that we Thais shouldn't place unreasonably high expectations on the reform process. And we are dreaming wild dreams if we think Thailand will become a utopia within a year.

But the NRC will have to tell us where we will be in one year's time and, if there is no utopia in sight, give some assurance that we won't be thrown into a hell of confusion.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Reform-Council-Nobody-is-promising-utopia-in-one-y-30246557.html


-- The Nation 2014-10-30

The reforms are simply to ensure that when "free and fair" elections are eventually held the Shins and associates will have no chance to win it.

Can't be too difficult.

Well for the average Thai or for those who call Thailand home no year will be a Utopia year, don't worry about it because for the ordinary person no -where in the world do the people have a utopia year, the only thing you do notice is that we are not getting any younger.

What you sow is what you reap!

Thailand what have you been sowing for the last 80 years?

You will never see any form of change let alone Utopia, unless you have something like a fascist government, that takes off the white gloves and lays down the laws to everyone and changes everyone's mindset, to wanting to live in a Utopia, where everyone is tasked and educated to doing their part, for this change to an Utopia for the next 80 years and then, you may see some change for the better, but still no Utopia.

Sorry that's the cold and hard facts of your situation!!!!

Edited October 30, 201411 yr by Paulzed

According to some posters, Utopia is already here..............................

Reforms not need to be done in one year, but should have at least started after 6 months.

Most important to reform is the RTP, nothing happens so far to reform them.

Unless people call rewriting history a reform, I did not see any reform so far.

Like Singapore, Thailand is already protest free.

Isn't that a Utopia already?

Thank you Supreme Leader General Junta Prime Minister Prayuth the Great. You are the best.

Nobody is promising utopia in one year

the way things are going, they can promise that. Meaning of Utopia in Greek is "no where". I rest my case.

http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/21cc/utopia/utopia.html

"One man’s utopia is another man’s wasteland." - Rickirs.

"It is thus necessary that the individual should finally come to realize that his own ego is of no importance in comparison with the existence of the nation, that the position of the individual is conditioned solely by the interests of the nation as a whole." - Adolf Hitler.

The reforms are simply to ensure that when "free and fair" elections are eventually held the Shins and associates will have no chance to win it.

Can't be too difficult.

Hopefully this was said in jest since of course ensuring that a particular faction has no chance to win is by no means a "free and fair" election!

The reforms are simply to ensure that when "free and fair" elections are eventually held the Shins and associates will have no chance to win it.

Can't be too difficult.

I beg to differ.

It will be extremely difficult to develop a system that can be presented to the world as democratic whilst being 100% anti-democratic - this is what the poor sods are attempting to do.

As it is, they can't even manage to pin a double murder on a couple of poverty stricken foreigners in their own backyard without being held up to ridicule in the worlds press.