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Between The Lines

Amid uncertainty about a Cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's government is also facing another time bomb: amendment of the constitution.



The PM and the government whip recently announced that as soon as Parliament reopens they would submit a motion to amend the 2007 Constitution.

The more Samak and other People Power Party (PPP) MPs express strong intentions about amending the charter, the greater the opposition they will face from many quarters of the public.

The idea of amendment is regarded by many people as a move to benefit the government and former PM Thaksin Shinawatra.

The government has already faced protests from groups like the People's Alliance for Democracy.

If the government pursues this goal, it could add fuel to the fire as many people would protest, an informed source said.

However, ruling PPP leaders now realise the situation. A source from the party said they had decided to delay the amendment and adopt a "wait and see" stance on how public sentiment would shape up.

"We shouldn't be in a hurry, because it would go against public opinion. No matter how well we reshuffle the Cabinet it may not improve the government's image. And the country may face riots," the source said.

Samart Kaewmechai, chief of the government whips, said on Monday that the government had agreed to submit the motion to amend the charter in Parliament, which will reconvene soon.

The whip will assign a subcommittee chaired by PM's Office Minister Choosak Sirinin to consider which points should be revised.

The body will use as its guidelines the conclusions of an ad-hoc committee set up to study the problems of enforcement of the 2007 Constitution.

The ad-hoc committee is set to propose the study to the House by August 18. The government will listen to all opinions from academics too, Samart said.

Article 190 of the charter, concerning international agreements that require parliamentary approval, should be the first to be changed in terms of some of its wording, Samart said.

Article 237 has to be amended to state clearly that a political party that was not aware of poll fraud committed by an individual executive would not be held accountable for the wrongdoing and the party would not be dissolved, he added.


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