Green light given for open debates on draft charter



BANGKOK: -- Bowing to increasing pressure for open debates on the draft constitution, the government has given a green light for debates to be staged in all provinces.

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said Thursday that the debates will be open to all stakeholders under the supervision of provincial election commissions with the governors overseeing the debates in their respective provinces to make sure they are held in peace and order.

The above debates will be on top of the 10 debates to be staged by the Election Commission in cooperation with Thai PBS. EC will be responsible for setting the issues for the ten debates and all stake holders are invited, including the New Democracy Movement and iLAW which will be allowed to participate in some of the debates.

Regarding the query of a network of academics and activist groups about what the government or the NCPO will do next if the draft charter fails to go through the referendum, General Prawit said that the interim charter would have to be amended.

But he admitted that he was still in the dark about who will amend the interim charter and how. He said both the government and the NCPO would need to discuss the matter some time in the future.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/green-light-given-open-debates-draft-charter/


-- Thai PBS 2016-07-22

This is amusing .

It's really an attempt at appeasing human rights observers.

Their so called free debates have more mine fields for prospective " No " case than a Laos minefield.

You can for instance be deemed giving out false information by pointing out the clause that gives the military a five year intervention right.

You can be considered rude by using language they can twist as anti nationalistic.

You can only work within a frame work .

Risk ending up in prison or ditch or on some Trumped up LM charge.

Why bother?

The elites have this whole one sided show that they call government ( read unelected military ) referendum tightly under control.

It's a simple fix

The ' debates ' will be overseen by provincial governors to ensure peace and order and I'm sure they will be tightly overseen with governors assisted by as many people in various coloured uniforms as necessary.

Of course if all is handled carefully in advance maybe the only people to turn up will be those who are there to say the right things.

Left side: Yes

Right side: Yes

Debate finished.

Those who debate against it will be paid a visit, that much I am sure of.

Nobody in their right mind would openly declare their opposition after all the threats and intimidation that have been thrown around at dissenters.And the guys in the background of the picture don't exactly look like babysitters!

I wonder how many debates will be held at universities, now that could be interesting?

"Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said Thursday that the debates will be open..."

Open to interpretation by the ruling party. Time to play Chubby Checker doing "The Twist".

Persons allowed

The governor and 3 others

Yes well, two weeks is a long time to have this opportunity to discuss the new charter. I am still unaware of anyone in the populace who has been given the opportunity to see what is in it.

The debates will 'be open to all stakeholders', well isn't that everybody, but it appears not so.

Such is life in a dictatorship.

"Bowing to increasing pressure for open debates on the draft constitution, the government has given a green light for debates to be staged in all provinces."

In the hope, no doubt, that it's now too late for any effective opposition to be organised.

I think they're wrong, and that this is perhaps the final nail in this draft constitution's coffin.

The great unmasking of Batman and Robin is approaching, after this, there can be no more pretending to the watching international community.

Wnnie

Whatever is not mandatory is forbidden.

Whatever is not forbidden is mandatory.

It's all so perfectly simple.

Edited July 22, 20169 yr by Hayduke

Asked the GF if she could tell me about what is in draft charter. She didn't have the faintest idea.

Open debate? BTW have they caught that group that dared to wear tee shirts (and post) "Vote No" printed on them?

Guess you have to open cell door.... before you slam it shut

Aired on an obscure channel at the same time 3 & 7 are sending the lakorns, right? Total viewers Somchai+dog but Somchai has passed out.

Prawit admitted that he was still in the dark about who will amend the interim charter

When standing on the Dark Side, one can see out of the Dark. It is the Light of Truth that blinds them.

Prawit certainly knows who can amend the interim charter once again.

A poor attempt at giving legitimacy by claiming they have allowed "open debate" of the draft.

"open debate" 2 weeks before the vote, Many would suggest that is not legitimate at all.

But it's ok guy's soon there will be the standard junta spokes person claiming the UN and international communities have no problems with the time allowed for "open debate ".

The problem is that only very few people will "openly" denounce the draft and risk being charged with being "rude" and saying un-nationalistic comments and therefor causing disturbance to peace and gaoled for ten years.

OR they will already have been visited by some friendly fell's to give happy wholesome advise on things that can be talked about that will not have any adverse affect on themselves of their family's again...

A statement like "Bowing to increasing pressure for open debates" should never be used. It does not indicate anything good

I believe I read the other day, that the full document is dozens of pages long, I wanna say in excess of 50?

When was the last time any ordinary "common man" Thai person you know sat down and read and understood a 50+ page document relating to their government?

Green lights don't mean much in Thailand - Red lights even less (

).

As for the rest of this article, some of its words are guaranteed NOT to inspire confidence in the whole referendum process.

Apparently, the debates are to be "... staged by the Election Commission...", while "... he (Prawit) admitted that he was still in the dark..."!

Open? Open to creating new hit lists, like those arbitrary corruption lists of people.

I believe I read the other day, that the full document is dozens of pages long, I wanna say in excess of 50?

When was the last time any ordinary "common man" Thai person you know sat down and read and understood a 50+ page document relating to their government?

An English language translation of the draft constitution is 137 pages http://www.un.or.th/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/2016_Thailand-Draft-Constitution_EnglishTranslation_Full_Formatted_vFina....pdf . I read somewhere the Thai language draft is 101 pages, but after a quick search I wasn't able to find that source.

When was the last time an ordinary "common man" from any country read and understood a two page legal document? How many people have read the constitutions of their own countries, or even the user agreements and privacy policies of the apps and social media websites they use?

In the case of the Thai constitution, the best way for voters to become informed is for people with knowledge of Thai law, politics, past constitutions and history to read the document, identify contentious points, and debate these points in a public forum. Of course this requires freedom of speech and press, two things the junta banned immediately after taking power.

Edited July 23, 20169 yr by heybruce

On the subject of freedom of speech, this week's "Economist" news magazine will never be distributed in Thailand. It is the July 23 - 29 edition with the cover story "Erdogan's Revenge". It has two well researched articles on Thailand that describe how the country got into its current mess and provides informed speculation on where it might go from here.

You can find it on-line. Click past the subscription offers, it will allow you to read several articles without paying.

as the article says debates will be "staged" and i think that is the operative word