Constitution changes for
Thailand By Marwaan
Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - Thailand's
eight-month-old constitution is at the center of a
growing political storm, heightening the prospect
of public outrage and even anger on the streets.
In the vanguard to shred the new charter
is the People's Power Party (PPP), which heads the
coalition government that was elected to power at
a December poll. The entire membership of the PPP
voted at a meeting on Tuesday to introduce a
battery of amendments to change the character of
Thailand's 18th constitution.
The PPP
wants to restore the principles enshrined in the
1997 constitution. That charter, the country's
16th since becoming a constitutional monarchy in
1932, was known as the "people's constitution" for
the many democratic features it upheld and
the
rare
role offered to the public to participate in its
drafting.
"What is written can be
rewritten," Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej was
quoted as saying in The Nation newspaper on
Wednesday following the PPP's unanimous decision.
"We amend the law every day and the people who
wrote the constitution also said if people did not
like it, it could be amended later."
The
1997 constitution was itself a victim of political
knives. It was shredded by the military leaders
who grabbed power following a September 2006 coup,
Thailand's 18th putsch. Forced out, consequently,
was the twice-elected prime minister Thaksin
Shinawatra and his Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thai
- TRT) party. Later, a military-appointed tribunal
ruled against the TRT, disbanding the party and
declaring that 111 executives of the party,
including Thaksin, be barred from politics for
five years.
But that was not all that
happened during the culture of revenge that took
hold during the 16 months of the junta's rule. A
committee selected by the junta was directed to
draft the new charter, which was approved by a
slim majority in a referendum last August. This
2007 constitution was unequivocal in its political
slant, tending to strengthen the bureaucracy, the
military and non-elected officials at the expense
of parliament, elected government and political
parties.
And for the PPP, the party that
took over the mantle of the disbanded TRT, the
current charter is anything but democratic. The
political pendulum has swung enough for it to
exact revenge on those it views as supporters of
the former military regime. Among the clauses that
have come under fire is one that insulates the
junta for staging the 2006 coup, a far cry from
the pro-people 1997 charter, which declared that
it was illegal to mount a coup.
The prime
minister is taking a political gamble by launching
the crusade against the constitution, warn the
government's critics. "Samak and his coalition
allies are playing a high-risk, high-stakes game
to ride out a political whirlwind, which can
either catapult the government into the
stratosphere of power or pummel it to pulp," wrote
Avudh Panananda in a commentary in Tuesday's
edition of The Nation.
In fact, the
growing war of words between the PPP and its
detractors over the constitution has prompted some
analysts to warn of the troubles that lie ahead.
"It is not easy to amend the constitution. But if
the PPP fights on, this could lead to more public
conflict and protests," said Michael Nelson, a
German academic who has written extensively on
Thai political parties.
"This might be a
sign of worse things to come. The mood seems to be
so dark at the moment," he added in an interview.
"It is not like the elections for a post-coup
government opened up new horizons."
Yet
veteran politicians like Chaturon Chaiseng, who
was a minister in the ousted TRT government, are
hardly surprised by the rising tensions. "This
clash was inevitable, because the new constitution
is undemocratic and needs to be changed," he said.
"We have to overhaul the entire document; not just
a few clauses."
Either way, a showdown
appears to be in the cards. "This debate to amend
the constitution can contribute to more tension,
because it was designed by a military regime," he
noted. "But if the constitution is not amended
there will be even more tension, because of the
powers it gives to a few unelected people to
control the country."
Typical among the
new powers enjoyed by the unelected is the makeup
of the Upper House, where half of the senators are
appointed, unlike under the 1997 constitution,
which called for all the senators to be elected.
Appointed senators had been a mainstay in Thai
politics during the years it was directly under
military regimes or influenced by the army.
But history also offers other parallels to
what is prevailing today. A new constitution
introduced in 1992 following a coup the previous
year also triggered popular discontent. The bone
of contention then was a clause in that charter to
permit the new prime minister to be a non-elected
member of the parliament. That avenue was created
to enable then military dictator General Suchinda
Kraprayoon to become the head of a new government.
Previous constitutions, too, have also
reflected the whims of the military generals who
have held power in this kingdom, rather than serve
as documents to uphold laws to strengthen
democracy. "There have been swings in the
constitutions in the past, some have been more
pro-royalist than others," says Giles Ungpakorn, a
political scientist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn
University.
The 1997 constitution was a
watershed in the country's constitutional
development, he said, because it firmly placed
Thailand on the road towards becoming a democracy.
"The new constitution has turned the clock back to
dictatorial times. The PPP has a lot of legitimacy
to change it, because it got a lot of votes at the
last election."
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