Drafting assembly begins final review of the new charter

CDA member Karun Sai-ngame failed to convince his peers to support a move he proposed be added to Article 5 of the draft.

Karun said the move would make Thailand more friendly to foreigners and tourists.

"It's a progressive issue," he told the assembly about his group's proposal to introduce non-discriminatory treatment for foreigners under Thai law.

"If more foreigners visit Thailand because of this new law then it's good and they will have to be under Thai law too."

But many were opposed to the move and took turns attacking the idea.

Drafter Suphot Kaimuk, a former diplomat, said: "I have been to many countries and there's no country that grants equal rights to foreigners. They are like second-class citizens. And many foreign criminals will enter the Kingdom if such a law exists. We must consider national security because there are Mafia, money launderers and terrorists.

"As for Medicare, we can't even provide adequate care to Thai people, so how can we offer it to foreigners?"

Drafter Pairoj Promsarn said that with over a million illegal migrant workers in the country, it would be a big problem if foreigners were treated equally.

Charan Phakdithanakul said: "We're drafting the Kingdom of Thailand's constitution and not the United Nations charter. Our world hasn't reached that utopian borderless era yet," he said, adding that decent and humane treatment of all people was already guaranteed under Article 4.

"We may become the only country in the world if we enshrined that," said Charan, who is permanent secretary of the Ministry of Justice.

A vote was called for and only 12 people supported Karun's move, while 63 CDA members rejected it.

Another move that failed yesterday was a plan to add a few words to bar privy council members from holding positions as rectors or members of university councils.

CDA member Krisada Hai-wattanakul claimed that some private universities had been inappropriately exploiting "the aura" of some privy council members for financial benefit.

But only 23 CDA members supported the proposal while 54 rejected it during the vote.

The CDA managed to introduce its own version of Article 29, which is closer to the spirit of the 1997 charter, in order to make the passing of any law that suspends the constitutional rights of citizens more difficult, and includes the wording that the passing of any law that suspends some rights must be done only when "necessary".

The Constitution Drafting Committee secretary Somkid Lertpaitoon tried but failed to convince drafters that the version suggested by the CDC was good enough. "Only the right to religion is inalienable. Others can be limited," Somkid told the assembly.

One CDA member was not convinced. "We can't predict the future as to whether the government will pass laws curbing people's rights or not," he said.

Some 68 voted against the CDC's version while only eight supported it.

The area outside parliament where the assembly met yesterday was blocked by thousands of Buddhist protesters who are calling for Buddhism to be made the state religion.

The group said Buddhism was "under threat" in the deep South, where Buddhists faces Muslim separatist rebels. It also added that countries like Bhutan, Burma, Sri Lanka and Cambodia recognised Budd-hism as their state religion.

Meanwhile, a group calling itself the People's United Front Against the Coup (PFAC) said bodies charged with drafting the new constitution were acting illegally and could only create an illegal charter.

"We condemn and oppose the Constitution Drafting Assembly in vetting the charter to serve dictators and the bureaucracy, which is leading Thai society towards a new low," the group said in a statement.

Pravit Rojanaphruk