Why the bickering about a new constitution?

Loyal readers of Thailand blog must gradually begin to wonder: why are they nagging Thailand what about the constitution? There is a simple and complicated answer to that question.

The simple answer is: that constitution pleases ruling party Pheu ภาษาไทย and not the red shirts, because it is a legacy of the 2006 military coup and protects the military junta from legal prosecution. The complicated answer is: that constitution gives some authorities too much power and that irritates Pheu ภาษาไทย.

First of all: most Thais will not care what the constitution says. They do have other concerns on their mind, such as the rising cost of living. Besides, soap operas and comedies on TV are much more fun than the political bashing, which I can't blame them for.

Constitutional Court

The bodies under fire are the Constitutional Court, the Ombudsman and the Electoral Council. Politicians suffer. For example, the Constitutional Court has the two predecessors of the current governing party, ภาษาไทย Rak Thai (from Prime Minister Thaksin) and the People's Power Party, dissolved and let 111 politicians of Thai Rak Thai twirl their political thumbs for 5 years.

Another example: in 2008, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs signed a joint communiqué with Cambodia on the application for Unesco heritage status for Hindu temple Preah Vihear. The Court ruled that the communiqué should have been approved by parliament and the minister had to resign.

Electoral Council

The Electoral Council cannot count on too much sympathy either, especially among politicians who are used to buying votes or handing out showers. If that is discovered and proven, they are screwed. They can even lose their parliamentary seat later on, when they are already high and dry on the parliamentary plush.

During the election campaign, Pheu Thai promised to revise the constitution. This will be the nineteenth since 80 years ago absolute monarchy was replaced by constitutional monarchy. But to keep their hands clean, the party had decided: we will not do that ourselves, but let a citizens' assembly do it. Very democratic, isn't it? And the composition can be manipulated. So article 291 of the constitution had to be changed first. That article states that only parliament can amend the constitution.

Phu Thai

The parliamentary consideration of the amendment to amend Article 291 was halted on 1 June by the Constitutional Court. Last Friday, the Court recommended that a referendum be held first, in which the population is asked whether they want to amend the constitution. I'll summarize briefly.

And now Pheu Thai is in a difficult position. It is true that 15 million Thais helped put the current government in place, but 23 out of 46 million votes are needed to get voters' mandate for the amendment. Even a legal expert from Pheu Thai has to admit that this will not be easy.

There are also other options. The hardliners in Pheu Thai and the red shirt movement want to ignore the Court's verdict and simply continue with the parliamentary process. Others advocate that parliament should review the constitution article by article. But that will take at least 3 years.

As deputy editor Nattaya Chetchotiros headlines her analysis in the Bangkok Post: 'Pheu Thai is in a quandary'. (I drew on some of her analysis in writing this article.)