Thai interview: 'Public participation will justify the charter'

[webfact]

INTERVIEW
'Public participation will justify the charter'
Nitipol Kiravanich
The Nation

CDC subcommittee promises to gather opinions nationwide

BANGKOK: -- All groups of people are welcome to provide input for the new charter draft to ensure it will be acceptable to the public, but they should be aware that none will get everything they want, a key member of the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) has said.

Thawilwadee Bureekul, chairwoman of the subcommittee for gathering public opinions and public participation, said all Thais must understand and realise that whatever they propose, there will be positive and negative aspects to every idea. So not everyone can have what he or she wants in an "ideal charter". Rather, when the charter is finished, it must be acceptable to the people.

"The most important matter that will determine if the process is accomplished is that every participant and every side must listen to others, realising beforehand what they will gain from proposing their ideas and also what they will lose [from other ideas]. This can be considered a form of public consultation," she said.

The chairwoman said there were five important stages for her work in the charter, and these would start very soon. And maybe the success of the charter would be determined by these processes.

"These five stages can be seen as a process of creating mechanisms of public participation, also preparing the public to propose ideas of what should be inserted in the new constitution," the CDC member said.

Thawilwadee said the process was still in the early stage, with the subcommittee trying to get the public to realise the importance of their roles for the charter, and create an opportunity for people to propose ideas to the CDC.

Forums to gather opinions will start next month and run until September, and these will include meetings with relevant agencies such as the National Reform Council (NRC), she explained.

The second phase is to inform the public, to provide them with information and help them understand the process of the subcommittee's work, she said.

The subcommittee head said others who are interested in the charter would be informed through the whole process, via the media, mail, e-mail, Facebook or Twitter.

As a data-analysis expert, she said that after the subcommittee receives ideas and suggestions from the public, it was its job to analyse the data carefully, and focus on rational objectives.

"We are looking forward to the future by creating skilled facilitators, and the CDC is trying to make citizens discuss things with reasoning in all forums," she said.

"Perhaps what matters most is that any ideas must be able to generalise and produce probability samples to the public," the CDC member said.

The third period was to "listen" to people's views - the CDC would gather public suggestions through forums and various media. She said the subcommittee would arrange topics for people to propose in each forum.

Around 10 forums will he held across the country. Participants in some cases would have to be chosen to represent their groups, she said, adding that this method would also prevent chaos during the forums.

"The CDC will have to allow villagers and the public to take part in these forums, because the whole idea is to make a charter with people participating and accepting the constitution. And when the charter comes out they won't be able to argue that they were excluded," she said.

Meanwhile, she said the panel had arranged to limit the topics to be discussed at each forum to prevent an overflow of irrelevant information. For instance, if a forum were on the topic of "politicians" and elections, talking about centralisation or decentralisation would waste time. However, at the end almost every topic about national issues, reforms and charter articles would be covered and discussed with people.

The CDC and Thawilwadee's subcommittee will listen to every side without prejudice against any groups, and forums would be held not only hold by the government, CDC or NRC, but also by social groups or women's rights agencies, for example. Yet when and how to cooperate with these agencies would be a great challenge for the CDC, she said.

The fourth stage was to consult with the people she cited - this would be collaboration between the CDC and the public, to scrutinise issues together.

"It is very important to include people in every process. Making them feel like they are partners with the agencies will also lead to success and help to determine the whole purpose of this subcommittee," Thawilwadee said.

She said this stage would also involve beneficiary groups invited to join the forum to debate any conflicting ideas and "find solutions".

"The last stage is making decisions, and reassuring that the charter belongs to everyone along with empowering the citizens," she said.

Asked if a referendum would be needed after the charter draft emerges, Thawilwadee was uncertain on whether one would be held. She said that had not been decided yet, and the CDC would have to observe developments up to the last stage, with citizens being involved along the way.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Public-participation-will-justify-the-charter-30248645.html


-- The Nation 2014-11-27

[NongKhaiKid]

None will get anything more than they are given after careful consideration by a select few.

[noitom]

They can send in all the ideas that they want, and that's the last they will see of them. The big ideas are already in place.

[brucec64]

The process is ultimately doomed to fail because there was no public participation in the selection of the decision makers.

[chainarong]

It doesn't justify anything at all, all it means is that the public had a say in the draft , the process is up to unelected shadows, there is nothing democratic in anything this administration has placed on the table, all of it comes from a central power base, unfortunately to stop the canker rot this is the path rightly or wrongly Thailand now finds itself taking, was there any other options???

[Thai at Heart]

These idiots are so dumb its beyond.

And what happens if a bunch of people on yellow shirts and protest? Obviously they won't get shot by the army and everyone will listen.

But if a red bunch do the same, it will be fair game.

[noitom]

Different strokes for different folks. Thais among other Thais are different - pecking order wins.

[Manbing]

Its good to share. I feel its going to be an honest open and inclusive process that ensures everything is correctly and appropriately sorted out to the satisfaction of everyone (in power)

Edited November 27, 2014 by Manbing

[HUAHIN62]

What about two or three different constitutions and a referendum to decide which one the people wants. This is just 2007/08 all over again, a coup followed by a fake constitution thats forced down the throats of the people.

[toybits]

Yes, but will the opinion of the public be seriously considered or better even, used? That, I believe would be the question to ask. Otherwise, "public participation" will be nothing but window dressing just to give the appearance of legitimacy.

Edited November 27, 2014 by toybits

[rickirs]

"Asked if a referendum would be needed after the charter draft emerges ...."

That is simply a question of NONSENSE.

Thawilwadee, "when the charter is finished, it must be acceptable to the people." The Peoples must humbly obey.