Half of Thai charter draft 'needs change'

[webfact]

NEW CHARTER
Half of charter draft 'needs change'
THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- NATIONAL Reform Council member Seree Suwanphanont yesterday proposed a debate before the NRC votes on the final constitution draft.

The process of scrutinising the first charter draft by the NRC finished on Sunday, after a week of debating in which many reformers suggested ideas and proposed amendments for charter articles.

From today, reformers can submit their motions for altering the charter until May 25 - but whether the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) will make amendments as reformers suggested or not will depend only on decisions of the 36 CDC members.

After the above submission process, the CDC must forward the final constitution draft to the NRC, whose members will vote on whether to approve the new charter.

Seree said he would propose at the next meeting of NRC whips that there should be a debate session for council members before votin g on the final charter draft after the CDC has made amendments according to reformers' proposals. Seree, who is also chairman of the panel in charge of legal and justice system reform, 20 members of his panel were working on motions for amending charter articles.

"The members agreed more than half of the draft should be amended, to make it more concise and shorter," he said.

CDC spokesman General Lertrat Rattanawanit said the charter drafters would today hold a meeting to scrutinise the proposals put forward by NRC members last week.

Lertrat also said CDC chairman Borwaornsak Uwanno had forwarded the charter draft to 74 political parties and they would have until May 20 to submit their opinions.

"We insist we are willing to receive any suggestions from every side to make this new constitution as good as possible," he said.

Another CDC member, Paiboon Nititawan, said: "I believe the majority of the NRC will accept the charter, which we are scrutinising together. Even though some have debated and voiced opposition, they can also submit their motions to amend the charter articles," Paiboon said.

General Prawit Wongsuwan, deputy prime minister for national security, said after observing the scrutiny process that he believed there would be no concern regarding the charter draft and its processes.

Asked on the likelihood of holding a referendum and whether there had been a meeting between the government and the NCPO on this matter, Prawit said he and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha mentioned earlier that it must abide by the 2014 interim charter along with people's approval.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Half-of-charter-draft-needs-change-30258890.html


-- The Nation 2015-04-28

[rametindallas]

Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) is a fustercluck! Go back to the 1997 'People's Charter' and tweak it to insure stronger protection for NGOs and for more fair and free elections.

[JAG]

An excellent solution, which would allow the Thais to select their own government.

Unfortunately they are unlikely to select the required government.

[Thaddeus]

Inventing the square wheel.when you already have a round one with a few dents is a pointless waste of time now, and will not roll smoothly in the future.

[noosard]

These guys are getting paid

So why hurry the process

It will take years to finish

and still be broken

Edited April 28, 2015 by noosard

[ChrisY1]

154 pages of stuff which when any challenges are made, it will all go to the constitution court....to a bunch of people that probably won't be able to understand it.

As someone mentioned.....inventing a square wheel......militarily biased.

[smedly]

An excellent solution, which would allow the Thais to select their own government.

Unfortunately they are unlikely to select the required government.

you mean like one that Thaksin has bought and paid for lol...............it seems Thaksins only way back is to go to jail and face all the other pending charges against him, I feel sorry for all the people that have lost their lives while he pursued his evil agenda

[soalbundy]

A constitution is supposed to be set in stone, it is an assurance that makes it almost impossible for the corrupt elite to change it for their own advantage, in Thailand constitutions come and go like bad weather so what is all the fuss about,give it another 5 years and there will be another constitution and another and another, it's laughable, no, it's pathetic.

[Srikcir]

"Prawit said he and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha mentioned earlier that it must abide by the 2014 interim charter along with people's approval."

READ THE INTERIM CHARTER

"Section 46 permits an amendment to the interim constitution. It prescribes that "if necessary and appropriate," the NCPO and the cabinet may jointly propose an amendment to the NLA and the NLA needs to approve or disapprove the proposal within 15 days after it receives the proposal. The section again authorizes the king to veto the approved proposal."

Since General Prayut is both Chief of the NCPO and PM, there doesn't seem to be any legal obstacle to amending the Charter to allow changes, including a provision for a public referendum. The so-called "people's approval" is not required.

[greenchair]

The question is. ...

Which half needs amendments?

Is it the entire first half or the entire second half? ??

[wabothai]

Well let's start all over again untill we get it right.

[ourmanflint]

Can someone please point me in the direction of the UK charter please? Or the German charter? The French one? Surely the American one?

[lucky11]

An excellent solution, which would allow the Thais to select their own government.

Unfortunately they are unlikely to select the required government.

The charter WILL ensure that they select the required government!!!

[wowfactor10]

Well these problem are only on paper cant wait for the real fun soon as other groups will be forced to implement it in reality hahahahaha......

They going to force politician to implement their rules that probably do not make any sense from the beginning...

In my vision they should have made any changes with all parties involved from the start but since thais do not trust each other they never went that way...

[Fat Haggis]

An excellent solution, which would allow the Thais to select their own government.

Unfortunately they are unlikely to select the required government.

you mean like one that Thaksin has bought and paid for lol...............it seems Thaksins only way back is to go to jail and face all the other pending charges against him, I feel sorry for all the people that have lost their lives while he pursued his evil agenda

Has Thaksin actually ever gone on record to state he wants to come back and run the country his way? Or are you gulping down lumps and lumps of Yoghurt and Kool aid mate?

Thaksin isn't that popular country wide and what makes you honestly think that he would ever be able to govern the country again without actually being voted in?

you keep going on and on an on about this vote buying red herring, why can't you simply admit that his opponents are lacking in their ability to sway opinions of Thaksin supporters as their mandates and policies are just not appealing enough to them?

Why can't you see when you have the likes of Chitpas and other Hi-Sos and farangs here making derogatory comments about Thais not being educated enough to vote and they don't deserve a democracy then the Democrats are never in a million years going to be able to share any sort of common bond with the people they despise the most?

Thailand has a class problem and as soon as they stop treating the electorate with inequality the better things will perhaps get better.

The haves will always treat the have nots with contempt no matter their voting preferences.

Forget Thaksin, his days of returning are long gone, not unless the entire country falls asleep and he steals the keys for the Generals big room!!

[rubl]

Can someone please point me in the direction of the UK charter please? Or the German charter? The French one? Surely the American one?

This site has a few constitutions in English

http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/index.html

[rubl]

An excellent solution, which would allow the Thais to select their own government.

Unfortunately they are unlikely to select the required government.

you mean like one that Thaksin has bought and paid for lol...............it seems Thaksins only way back is to go to jail and face all the other pending charges against him, I feel sorry for all the people that have lost their lives while he pursued his evil agenda

Has Thaksin actually ever gone on record to state he wants to come back and run the country his way? Or are you gulping down lumps and lumps of Yoghurt and Kool aid mate?

Thaksin isn't that popular country wide and what makes you honestly think that he would ever be able to govern the country again without actually being voted in?

you keep going on and on an on about this vote buying red herring, why can't you simply admit that his opponents are lacking in their ability to sway opinions of Thaksin supporters as their mandates and policies are just not appealing enough to them?

Why can't you see when you have the likes of Chitpas and other Hi-Sos and farangs here making derogatory comments about Thais not being educated enough to vote and they don't deserve a democracy then the Democrats are never in a million years going to be able to share any sort of common bond with the people they despise the most?

Thailand has a class problem and as soon as they stop treating the electorate with inequality the better things will perhaps get better.

The haves will always treat the have nots with contempt no matter their voting preferences.

Forget Thaksin, his days of returning are long gone, not unless the entire country falls asleep and he steals the keys for the Generals big room!!

Well, Thaksin was running the country his way and he wanted to come back. Luckily not everyone was sleeping.