Charter 'will increase divide'
The new constitution will be a regressive charter for a class-ridden society in which the advantaged will hold all power and the social gap will grow, key civic leaders said yesterday.
The majority of constitution drafters voted on Tuesday for an appointed Senate and rejected moves to introduce an inheritance tax or real estate tax. Former Bangkok senator Jon Ungpakorn said the drafters had failed to understand problems faced by the majority of Thais. A charter that rejected tax systems which could help the less well-to-do showed it was more aimed at benefiting advantaged groups. "[New] tax systems would have helped bring justice to society and build a quality of life for the majority," he said. Phairoj Pholphet, of the Union for Civil Liberties (UCL), said the new charter would not help resolve problems in society - it was more likely to expand social gaps. "Both inheritance and real estate taxes, and land reform, were most important measures that could create justice in society, but the drafters weren't concerned about these points," he said. Phairoj said the charter draft voted for on Tuesday was worse than the 1997 Constitution. The two weakest points were the vote for a selected Senate and the new National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). "It gave absolute power to a selection committee while barring participation from the people. An independent [selection] body will be dominated by just three organisations [three representatives from the courts, the House speaker and opposition leader]," he said. Phairoj also wondered about the vote to reduce the number of NHRC commissioners from 11 to seven. "Due to increasing cases of human rights violations faced in the society, I don't understand why they [the drafters] voted to reduce the number of commissioners," he said. Former senator Jon, meanwhile, described the new charter as a "regressive constitution". It was obvious, he said, that the drafters did not trust politicians but put their trust in the bureaucracy and the judiciary. "I can't accept the selected Senate and giving too much power to the judiciary," he said, adding the charter was most beneficial to bureaucrats. "The new charter will bring back bureaucratic powers and drag Thailand back to partial democracy, like the era of Gen Prem Tinsulanonda's administration," said Jon, who has organised the People's Democratic Forum since the coup in mid-September. Subhatra Bhumiprabhas The Nation
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