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NEW CHARTER
Meechai heading CDC 'could face opposition'
PRAPASRI OSATHANONT,
NATTAPAT PHROMKAEW
THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- EKACHAI SRIVILAS, a former National Reform Council member, warned yesterday that the possibility of Meechai Ruchuphan becoming chairman the new Constitution Drafting Committee could arouse opposition from the relatives of the May 1992 heroes and other factions.

Fierce attacks could be provoked especially if the new draft turns out to be similar to the previous one, because Meechai is the National Council for Peace and Order's man, he said.

The new CDC should be made up of representatives of different parties, Ekachai said. A couple of politicians had apparently been approached to join the committee by the NCPO's Reconciliation for Reform Centre so that they could voice what those in power wanted to see in the charter. However, Ekachai did not know whether those politicians had accepted the offer.

The new members should not include too many of the framers of the constitutions of 1997 and 2007 as well as earlier editions, he said. There should be new faces, as the past attempts had failed to solve "problems".

The new drafters should have legal backgrounds, he said.

They should have experience in the political arena. And third, they should be able to compromise and listen to every stakeholder, which is very important.

One of the reasons the previous draft got shot down was that the CDC didn't listen to anyone, he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said Meechai still had not accepted the invitation to chair the CDC and he would discuss the matter with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha before responding to the request.

However, the new CDC line-up would have to be finalised and published in the Royal Gazette by Monday, he said.

There is likely a list of 30-40 candidates with Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, Wissanu said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Meechai-heading-CDC-could-face-opposition-30270017.html


-- The Nation 2015-10-02

[thesetat2013]

And third, they should be able to compromise and listen to every stakeholder, which is very important?? I thought that a constitution was for the people to protect the people and their rights? Why should the stakeholders be so important to the extent that any committee drafted needs to compromise and listen to them? Seems like thid guy is saying that what the stakeholders deem fit for the constitution is what they will have to do. So they don't really want a fair constitution at all. Just something that will pass that keeps the stakeholders happy

[smutcakes]

What they should avoid is appointing some geriatric dinosaur who has been involved in one way or another in the past half dozen failed charters. If they wanted to have acceptable charter they should endeavour to choose someone without years of baggage, not someone from within the NCPO itself, who rightly or wrongly will never be seen as someone who could and would assist in drawing up and fair and unpartisan Constitution. We need modern, younger people getting involved not the perennial round about of the same old faces who should long ago of had their feet up with pipes and slippers.

[Srikcir]

The new CDC should be made up of representatives CHOSEN by all the stakeholders.

Certainly the Military is a stakeholder too (whenever it chooses to abide by a constitution) but it represents a super-minority of the electrorate. But so long as it controls the membership and agenda of the CDC through its absolute, little change can be expected in the draft that will differ from the first draft.