Academics support constitution draft

The academics are political scientists and law lecturers from leading state universities, including Thammasat and the National Institute for Development Administration.

"It is certain the new constitution and other laws are not perfect, nor can please everyone, but the attempt to project a frightening scenario about accepting the charter is unjustifiably pessimistic," they said in the statement.

The statement outlined four features of the charter - boosting rights and liberties, reducing the centralisation of state power, promoting transparency and ethics and improving the system of checks and balances.

Political commentators said the statement was meant as a rebuttal against the anticharter campaign led by the September 19 Network against Coup.

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanond said he had just finished reading the charter and he found it an improvement on the suspended 1997 Constitution.

He urged voters to scrutinise the charter provisions in order to form their own opinion.

"The government is doing everything it can to promote awareness of the August 19 referendum and to encourage voters to render their judgement on the charter," he said.

Government spokesman Yongyuth Mayalarp said authorities would recall all stickers with a message encouraging voters to accept the charter.

"The message is misleading and has been distributed by mistake," he said.

The stickers were produced before the July 1 Cabinet resolution banning any attempt to sway referendum votes.

The Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship filed a petition demanding that two charter writers debate the pros and cons of the charter.

The alliance want Constitution Drafting Assembly chairman Noranit Sethabutr and Constitution Drafting Committee chairman Prasong Soonsiri to participate in a roundtable discussion to be aired by all television stations.

In regard to the planned distribution of 20 million copies of the charter, Prasong said he received a report about 100,000 erroneous copies although this would not disrupt the distribution timetable.

The printing problem arose after certain officials modified the contract awarded to a consortium of nine staterun printing houses without informing the committee in charge of printing and distributing the charter, he said.

The Nation