NCPO ready to consider political party meetings for inputs to charter

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NCPO ready to consider political party meetings for inputs to charter
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Political parties can seek permission from the National Council for Peace and Order to hold meetings to gather ideas for the new constitution, NCPO spokesman Colonel Winthai Suvari said yesterday.

He said the parties could ask the NCPO if they were unsure whether an activity for gathering opinions to be submitted to the charter drafters would violate an NCPO ban on political gatherings.

The Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) has invited political parties and political groups to provide input on the new charter.

Politicians from rival camps have called on the NCPO to relax its restrictions on political gatherings so they can meet and air their political views to contribute to the charter-drafting process. Under martial law, political gatherings of five or more people are banned.

However, Pheu Thai deputy leader Plodprasop Suraswadi yesterday said many party politicians have agreed not to get involved in "any activity relating to the government that came from a coup".

The red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship will decide today who will represent the group at a meeting with the constitution drafters, said Weng Tojirakarn, a Pheu Thai politician and UDD leader.

Winthai yesterday said some parties may be able to present their political proposals without violating the ban on political gatherings because they have communication channels with their members.

"The NCPO would approve any request that is sought with good intentions for the country and without any hidden agenda or an attempt to obstruct peace,'' he said.

CDC chairman Borwornsak Uwanno said he believed the NCPO wanted political parties to directly make a request to hold a meeting with it.

National Reform Council member Paiboon Nititawan, also a CDC member, said the CDC would not do that because it wanted to avoid administrative issues.

In response to the call to relax the ban on political gatherings, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said party leaders and secretaries-general could express political views and if they wanted their members to know those views, they could hold an informal discussion with the members.

"Political views of party leaders expressed under this circumstance would not be regarded as the party's standpoints and no one can take for granted that it is an official stance of the parties,'' he said.

Wissanu said that if parties wanted to get a consensus from their members on certain political issues, they could seek permission from the NCPO to relax the restriction on political gatherings.

"The NCPO relaxed the ban during the candidacy application of the National Reform Council,'' he said.

Asked if political parties do not want to contribute to the reform process because of fear their proposals would be rejected and their participation may give the CDC legitimacy, Wissanu said that would be a pity.

"The CDC invited them out of good intention as it believes political parties' opinions would greatly contribute to the charter drafting process," he said. "If they do not want to have a meeting, they can at least submit their proposals in a letter."

Wissanu said the CDC had not requested official advice from him on the drafting process but he regularly talked with its 36 members because he knew them.

He expressed confidence that the CDC would finish drafting the charter within the road-map timeframe.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/NCPO-ready-to-consider-political-party-meetings-fo-30247729.html


-- The Nation 2014-11-14

[RustBucket]

Keep the politicians well away from anything to do with the charter or reforms, as a matter of fact BAN them from even voicing an opinion or putting forward a critique.

Initiate a special (large) department within the NACC that watches all politicians like a hawk.

Remove their ability to even consider amending constitutional articles in the future. Have a special committee within the constitutional court for debating amendments.

Thai politicians are not to be trusted with anything to do with how their job should perform, they should stick to it by the letter or be hauled over the coals for any breech or failures.

Introduce the death penalty for wayward politicians.