Junta's draft constitution slammed at Thai press meet

By Max Constant

BANGKOK

Politicians for Thailand’s main political parties have slammed a junta-sponsored draft charter of the country's first Constitution to be inaugurated after the 2014 coup as “illiberal,” underlining that is does not attempt to involve the people in the process.

Late Tuesday, a former foreign minister from the Democrat Party -- initially seen as favorable to the coup -- posed the question to the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand “what is the intention behind this illiberal constitution?”

“The military and the conservative bureaucrats believe they will obtain a better stability for the country if they rely on the civilian and military bureaucracy,” Kasit Piromya said to the Bangkok audience.

“It is a bureaucratic type of politics. It is not acceptable”.

A political adversary of Piromya, former deputy prime minister Pongthep Thepkanchana, concurred.

“The draft lacks good checks and balances and is weak on the separation of powers,” said Thepkanchana, a former judge and a member of the rival Puea Thai party, the political vehicle of overthrown prime ministers Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra.

“The courts of justice can check the cabinet, but why can’t the cabinet check the courts?” he added.

The document has drawn heavy criticism from civil society activists, academics and politicians for weakening the influence of elected politicians, by allowing the appointment of a 250-member senate and a non-elected outsider to be chosen as premier.

It is to be voted on at an Aug. 7 referendum.

Both Piromya and Thepkanchana also criticized the constitutional amendment process written into the draft charter.

“To amend the charter you have five hurdles to overcome, the first of these being the approval by 376 of the 750 parliament members, 250 of them being appointed by the military, and the last of these being a submission to a referendum,” said Thepkanchana.

“I cannot foresee any proposed amendment which could pass the five hurdles,” he underlined.

The draft was only defended by one panelist, legal expert Jade Donavanik, who serves as an adviser to the military-appointed drafting committee.

He insisted that the appointment of 250 senators for five-year terms through selection committees based on different socio-political groups would allow “people to choose among themselves who will become the senators”.

“Democracy through delegation of powers is also good. In this system, you can choose a person because you know what this person can do,” said Donavanik, who is also the dean of Bangkok University’s faculty of law.

“Representation can come from many kinds of systems, not only from direct elections."

Piromya and Thepkanchana also slammed the lack of public consultation in the drafting process and a recent ban on the public expression of opinion before the vote.

“Because of this process, the Thai people do not consider that this draft is their own constitution,” stressed Piromya.

“With that kind of guided democracy, I only see more trouble for the future because the people will ask for more participation and decentralization,” he added.

If the draft charter passes the referendum, elections are planned for the end of 2017.