Take care in changing charter

Take care in changing charter

The 1997 Constitution -- or the "People's Charter" -- will be
five years old on Oct. 11. The Constitution's Article 336 says
five years after its promulgation, Parliament may consider
amending the charter or its organic laws based on recommendations
to be made by the Election Commission, Constitution Court or
National Counter Corruption Commission.

Already, the political think-tank, Prachadhipok Institute, has
held seminars to discuss possible constitutional amendments.

Problems related to overlapping of powers and duplication of
work among key independent agencies have been well publicized
since the charter was promulgated.

Some "what-we-thought-were-good" measures prescribed in the
Constitution may need to be reviewed. For example, the
requirement that an election candidate must have been a member of
his or her political party for at least 90 days was intended to
curb party hopping and rebellions that destabilized Thai politics
in the past, but this has been seen by some as promoting
"absolute power" as big parties can hold their members hostage.

Mishandling of any constitutional amendment could become
controversial or even divisive. Each independent agency will try
to make changes to maintain or increase its powers. Some will try
to prevent any checks-and-balances mechanism working against them
to avoid public accountability or monitoring by other agencies.

These self-serving intentions should not be allowed to succeed
as they would contradict the spirit of the Constitution.

Any attempt to amend the Constitution must be carried out in a
transparent manner at all stages. Even what is considered to be
the country's best Constitution can be subject to review. But the
amendments must be based on the very same objective of this
charter's creation -- to ensure that power rests with the people.

-- The Nation, Bangkok