CDC issues digital copy of draft charter for public review



BANGKOK, 29 March 2016 (NNT) – The Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) has issued an abridged version of its draft constitution for public review ahead of a planned referendum on its acceptance.

At a press conference held at Parliament, CDC Chairman Meechai Ruchuphan made known that a “Pre-Referendum Draft Charter” has been prepared for public viewing and that the latest revised draft of the document has been forwarded to the prime minister and his cabinet.

Meechai stated that the CDC took 180 days to compile and review the draft after starting the process in October of last year.

The latest document has 279 articles across 105 pages. They are divided into 16 sections, which include sections on the royal institution, freedoms and rights of the people, duties of the people and guidelines for government policy.

The public edition of the draft charter will be available online at www.parliament.go.th . The Election Commission is slated to publish a physical edition of the draft for assistance in the referendum procedure.

-- NNT 2016-03-29

Direct link for those who read Thai http://cdc.parliament.go.th/draftconstitution2/ewt_dl_link.php?nid=429&filename=index

When will the English version be available.

When will the English version be available.

Not yet, apparently.

I have been doing a variety of searches for the past 2 months. No luck. The previous iteration was translated and appeared rather quickly online.

However, given the way the Thai media has backed off on this iteration, whoever might be motivated to do a translation will have to consider the risks. I'm assuming someone outside of Thailand will do it.

Very brief summary here: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/thailands-draft-charter-makes-auspiciously-timed-debut-37994643

The last sentence:

"The junta has generally equated criticism of its actions with incitement to unrest and instability."

In other words, if you criticize the junta you're a criminal. I'd post a little more, but, you know.....

How ironic that the cover of the chapter shows the Democracy Monument.

That monument was built by a dictator, the one who allowed the Japanese army to occupy Thailand for years and brought us the hard labor prisoner camp in Kanchanabury.

Sorry about that Thai apologists. This is a historical fact.

an abridged version

Why not an unabridged version?

An abridged copy can have omissions of sentences, sections, subparts, chapters, articles, etc. The copy is in digital format so there's no disadvantage publishing an unabridged version. So what the public will see now is not complete, lacks the Preface that the CDC will write after the draft is approved for endorsement, and not even finalized as the NLA continues its review.

Prayut said that a constitution is the most important mechanism that is used to run a country. It is the set of principles that all democratic countries of the world uphold. But the Thai populace only gets the short version in the referendum?