Public needs charter facts | Bangkok Post: opinion

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Public needs charter facts

It now appears that the government is adopting a cautious approach in its attempt to rewrite the current constitution instead of ramming the pending charter amendment bill before parliament through its third and final reading.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra voiced her support for a referendum on the charter change issue before a final vote in parliament on the rewrite bill.

She said that both the Justice and Interior ministries had been assigned to settle on ways to ensure that charter changes were a participatory process involving the public.

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Your comments

  • Discussion 6 : 13 Dec 2012 at 20.166

    Ringmaster - Describe 'ruling elite'.
    Now try to differentiate between your description and Thaksin...
    Not so easy, is it?

  • Discussion 5 : 13 Dec 2012 at 07.425

    Thaksin has spent a lot of time creating a network of party canvassers in the north and north-east - people who benefit from his populist schemes and who are now expected to return the financial favours by persuading the people to vote for the Charter changes he wants. They will certainly use the arguments outlined above, and they will probably have a "marketing fund" to help them do the job. I expect that he will get the result he wants, but then the Opposition will not accept the result of the referendum because of the methods he used to get the result he wants so that he can return laundered. We'll still be no better off in terms of peace.

  • Discussion 4 : 13 Dec 2012 at 06.544

    Click like to this post if you have read more than 50% of the 2007 Constitution. Click dislike if you have not, and hence are not fully informed of the issues.

  • Discussion 3 : 13 Dec 2012 at 05.583

    "But blaming the constitution for our country's political ills and conflicts is too simplistic and grossly misplaced." I agree. Most of the blame should go to the ruling elite and military generals who don't respect election results. More specifically they don't respect democracy which is why they tore up the 1997 Constitution and replaced it with something less democratic. What is democratic about appointed Senators? What is democratic about judges altering election results? I think the people understand why the current Constitution needs to be changed. It's in their best interest.

  • Discussion 2 : 13 Dec 2012 at 05.382

    The good prof. Prokati has held a mirror up for everyone to see. Will law makers and members of Thai society recognize their reflection or continue to see themselves as simply victims and incapable of affecting change as a society rather than as members of various special interests? As far as the referendum, it reminds me of a game on TV in the US. Contentants would have something of value, but then were asked to blindly pick something behind one of three doors in exchange for it. A good game show..bad government.

  • Discussion 1 : 13 Dec 2012 at 03.271

    ...."so that people can make an informed decision and not simply cast their votes without knowing anything about the law"... LOl and LOL... isn't this exactly the description of the poor gullible red masses???

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