Take care in changing charter<\/p>\n
The 1997 Constitution -- or the \"People's Charter\" -- will be
\nfive years old on Oct. 11. The Constitution's Article 336 says
\nfive years after its promulgation, Parliament may consider
\namending the charter or its organic laws based on recommendations
\nto be made by the Election Commission, Constitution Court or
\nNational Counter Corruption Commission.<\/p>\n
Already, the political think-tank, Prachadhipok Institute, has
\nheld seminars to discuss possible constitutional amendments.<\/p>\n
Problems related to overlapping of powers and duplication of
\nwork among key independent agencies have been well publicized
\nsince the charter was promulgated.<\/p>\n
Some \"what-we-thought-were-good\" measures prescribed in the
\nConstitution may need to be reviewed. For example, the
\nrequirement that an election candidate must have been a member of
\nhis or her political party for at least 90 days was intended to
\ncurb party hopping and rebellions that destabilized Thai politics
\nin the past, but this has been seen by some as promoting
\n\"absolute power\" as big parties can hold their members hostage.<\/p>\n
Mishandling of any constitutional amendment could become
\ncontroversial or even divisive. Each independent agency will try
\nto make changes to maintain or increase its powers. Some will try
\nto prevent any checks-and-balances mechanism working against them
\nto avoid public accountability or monitoring by other agencies.<\/p>\n
These self-serving intentions should not be allowed to succeed
\nas they would contradict the spirit of the Constitution.<\/p>\n
Any attempt to amend the Constitution must be carried out in a
\ntransparent manner at all stages. Even what is considered to be
\nthe country's best Constitution can be subject to review. But the
\namendments must be based on the very same objective of this
\ncharter's creation -- to ensure that power rests with the people.<\/p>\n
-- The Nation, Bangkok<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/take-care-in-changing-charter-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }