Jon Ungphakorn, former senator and coordinator of the People's Democratic Forum, which is collecting public views of what should be included in the new charter, said yesterday that leading members of the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC), including its chairman Prasong Soonsiri, said the committee would be the final arbiters of the new charter.

This a reflection of their unwillingness to truly listen to the voices of the people, Jon said, and points up that they are not elected by the people to carry out the task but appointed by the junta.

"I believe they already have a blueprint," Jon said. "The likelihood is that we'll have to draft a new charter. The constitution they're drafting doesn't reflect the public's views but those of the military."

Jon said keys issues such as welfare, community rights, freedom and liberty, along with freedom of the press would be the indicators of whether the new charter was backward or not.

The former senator warned both the junta and the drafters that they would risk rejection of the charter in the referendum.

"If the charter comes out badly, we shall propose that the constitution not be approved, even though the junta has forced us, under a rule that states that if the new charter is rejected then an older and even worse constitution from the past may be adopted. However, I believe that after we are through with the junta era there will be a new constitution drafted that will be better than the 1997 charter."

Jon added that the CDA had backtracked on an earlier agreement in order to allow Prasong, a figure close to the military and the anti-Thaksin Shinawatra People Alliance for Democracy, to become chairman of the drafting committee, which he said was proof the military actually controlled the drafting process.

"The design of the questionnaires for public feedback is also not being done to gauge independent views but to lead the public to certain conclusions," he told The Nation.

On Thursday a sub-committee of the CDC also decided to discontinue the party-list system in the new constitution.

This will affect a number of political aspirants who want to infuse substance into political parties, Jon said.

He added that scrapping the party list MPs would lead to politics based on personal charisma instead of party platforms and policies.

"It's dangerous. I'm very worried about the situation. If the finished product is backward, the public may be dissatisfied. Violence may be instigated by people resorting to dirty tactics against the junta, though I for one do not like the regime either," Jon said.

National Human Rights Commissioner Jaran Ditta-apichai expressed a similar view, saying he had also heard the junta already had a blueprint of what the draft charter should look like. "They will have a problem during the referendum if they don't change their stance," he said. "The CDC is not the final arbiter of the new charter; that view is simply wrong."

He added the scrapping of the party list would return Thai politics to the days when big parties had a huge advantage over smaller ones and members of civil society would be left out of formal politics.

"In any case I personally do not accept the junta-led process of drafting this constitution," said Jaran, who is also a co-founder of Friends of the 1997 People's Constitution Group.

"If it is not as good as the 1997 constitution we will certainly oppose it [during the referendum]."

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation