Holding a referendum to gauge public opinion about a charter rewrite looks to be more complicated than the Pheu Thai Party had previously thought.
UDD co-leader Jatuporn Prompan tells Pheu Thai supporters of the need for charter reform at a school in Uttaradit's Tha Pla district last year. The speech was one of many by Pheu Thai and the UDD to push for charter amendments and national reconciliation.
It won't be "a piece of cake" as the Man in Dubai once boasted about the prospect of mustering 25 million "yes" votes to win the referendum.
The path to a referendum is strewn with legal traps which can deliver a devastating blow to the party's attempt to rewrite the charter in its entirety or to amend it section by section.
The party's legal panel, led by Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana, is studying the referendum option.
Last Friday it sought clarification from the Election Commission on some legal issues related to the holding of a referendum.
For example, the referendum law requires the process to be undertaken on the same day across the country, yet referendums staged overseas, such as in the United States, may have to cover another day because of the different time zones. So are those referendums valid and legally binding?
The law says a referendum must be completed within 120 days from the date of its announcement. What if somebody challenged the referendum in the Administrative Court and a ruling is not handed down until after the 120 days? Does that mean the referendum becomes null and void?
Can public forums be held to educate the people about the referendum in parallel with the staging of the referendum?
Because of the perceived obstacles, Pheu Thai remains hesitant about making the final decision on which of three options it will pursue in dealing with the charter issue.
The first option is to ram the bill to amend Section 291 of the constitution, which is still pending in parliament, through its final reading.
The bill would set up a charter drafting assembly and is being pushed by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship and hard-core party members.
The second option is to stage a referendum to gauge public opinion on the writing of a new charter, and the third is to amend the charter section by section which is favoured by Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung and several moderate party members.
But all three options are beset with legal traps which can backfire on the charter rewrite or amendment. The opposition and anti-government political groups will try to stop or stall the process by taking the issue to the Administrative Court or to the Constitution Court.
Red-shirt co-leader Jatuporn Promphan traded barbs last week with Constitution Court president Wasant Soipisut over the referendum issue.
The UDD has asked the Constitution Court to make clear _ without any lingering doubts _ its earlier ruling about whether a referendum needs to be held before the charter is rewritten. It wants to know whether that was an order, or merely a recommendation.
Mr Wasant rebuffed the UDD's request saying UDD co-leaders simply pretend to be stupid in not understanding the court's ruling.
Hitting back in a similar vein, Mr Jatuporn said he would like Mr Wasant to pretend to be smart to provide a way out of this charter dilemma.
Of late, the party has come up with another option proposed by Poomtham Vechayachai, the party's secretary-general, which is seen as providing justification to the charter rewriting attempt.
The country's top three educational institutions, possibly with the help of foreign-based institutions, will be invited to conduct a study on how to amend or to rewrite the charter.
The study will take 60 days and a report will be submitted to the Pheu Thai Party for consideration.
But so far, there is no response from top universities such as Thammasat and Chulalongkorn.
Academics have expressed reservations about the government's move, fearing they may be used by the ruling party to justify its political agenda.
As a matter of fact, they have a good reason to be cautious and not to immediately jump in and take the bait. Obviously, the bitter lesson of the King Prajadhipok's Institute is still fresh in the memory of academics.
Over a year ago, former coup maker Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin in his capacity as chairman of the parliamentary reconciliation committee, commissioned the KPI to come up with recommendations on how to go about national reconciliation.
However, only certain recommendations deemed favourable to the Pheu Thai Party were adopted, resulting in an uproar in parliament and heavy criticism hurled at the KPI. Finally, the KPI withdrew its report.
There is no guarantee the Pheu Thai Party will accept any recommendations made by the educational institutions on the referendum and charter rewriting issues.
What if they recommend the government drop all its attempts to amend or rewrite the charter and instead focus all its resources on pressing economic issues?
Could the party or the UDD accept that?
Like the KPI report on national reconciliation which was withdrawn, a new study on the referendum and charter rewrite will be pointless and a waste of time and money if the ruling party or the government has no intention of accepting the study and its recommendations.
For the sake of common sense and for political stability, why bother with the constitution now? Why bother to disturb a hornets' nest?
Veera Prateepchaikul is a former editor, Bangkok Post.
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Writer: Veera PrateepchaikulPosition: Former Editor
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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2013/01/14/slippery-path-to-charter-reform/
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