Proponents of a constitutional clause that recognises Buddhism as the state religion plan a large street procession tomorrow  to drum up support for the cause, a leader said yesterday.

Phra Rajapanya Medhi, vice rector of the Mahachulalongkorn Buddhist University, said in a statement that the procession would start from the Buddhamonthon religious complex in Nakhon Pathom and pass along Rajdamnoen Avenue before arriving at the Parliament.

Many Buddhist monks and lay people supporting the proposal have gathered outside the Parliament compound.

The monk said the procession would carry what he described as "the world's largest flag of the Dharmachakra" (Wheel of Dharma).

Participating in the "March of Dharma" would be Buddhist priests and lay people, both Thais and foreigners, vehicles and elephants, he said.

The monk did not specify the number of people expected to join the procession.

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday said the issue should be discussed carefully as it "could cause confrontation".

Deputy Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA) chairman Seri Suwanpanont, said the CDA must carefully consider the proposal as there are sound reasons given by both supporters and protesters on the issue.

The CDA chairman Noranit Sethabutr had told the CDA

members to find time to discuss with senior monks and the advocators, he said, adding the discussion "was not over yet".

In a related development, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont yesterday asked all parties to drop their stubbornness and join hands in drafting the constitution as it was not too late to revisit and fix controversial issues.

The prime minister said all Thais should help take part in the drafting. There was still time for opinions, listening and amending the draft.

All Thais should carefully consider the draft and send their opinions to the CDA so that they could improve it, he said.

"I talked to the CDA chairman Noranit Sethabutr about this. On April 26, the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) will submit the draft to the CDA, I will discuss this again when I receive an official copy of the draft," he said.

He said the draft was not aimed at preventing ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's regime from coming back, and if people were not divisive, it was not too late to fix the issues.

Seri said the drafters needed to listen to opinions from all sides, then compare the reasons, benefits and possibilities.

"I want to tell the CDC that listening to people's opinions is crucial. The drafting is different from last time, when it was finalised in Parliament. This time, the last process ends with the people's vote," he said.

He said the Constitution must not lead to rifts in society.

He said deliberating each Article should not be a problem as the even the 1997 Constitution drafters deliberated on almost all the Articles. All CDA members could ask for the draft deliberation within 30 days after receiving the draft from the CDC.

He said that although the charter draft had been criticised, the CDC was still one of the most reliable agencies currently.

Meanwhile, Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva proposed revision in three issues including senators to be selected instead of elected; independence of constitutional independent agencies and the measures in case of a crisis.

Election Commissioner and CDC member Sodsri Satayatham said the Election Commission's (EC) work could be delayed as the CDA had not proposed the Bt1.5 billion budget plan for the EC to hold a referendum yet.

The EC had requested the CDA for the budget on March 26. To prevent the EC work being delayed, the CDA should propose that the Cabinet approves the budget by May 10, she said.

Matchima Group leader Somsak Thepsuthin said yesterday he believed the Constitution draft would not pass the referendum as many groups opposed the draft on many issues.

He said the CDA should have been more active in trying to improve the draft and the members should "drop their bias".

Matchima Group was content to be a mediator with the public so that the Constitution drafting can be finished successfully and elections held, Somsak said.

He said the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) had shown too few accomplishments by only passing 26 laws in the past six months.

Piyanart Srivalo,

Prapasri Osathanont,

Sathien Viriyapanpongsa

The Nation