Thailand Update: Constitution

Ive been somewhat remiss with the political updates on the blog,partly yes because of the travelling, but also partly cos Im really getting very tired of the military and its pretend-democratic front.
As you know there will be a referendum to vote on accepting the Constitution being drafted by military-installed people on 19th August. In Thailand there is a large part of the voting population that live outside their constituency,and during elections they will be advised to register to pre-vote or vote outside their constituency...the same applies to voting on the referendum. Except of course for the tiny small little fact that this time the Election Commission seem to have done SUCH a great job of advertising these deadlines thatthe first I heard of it was one day AFTER this registration process had closed!! And guess how many people registered? 50,000! this compared to the already more than 2million Bangkokians who have their house registration outside of Bangkok! This number could be higher....

and now the latest? Taxi drivers have been warned they could get arrested for displaying stickers on their car with a message saying they rejectthis draft Constitution!?!?! huh?? and why would that be a crime?! read more at the Nation article on this here

Politics Thai style

so..I hadnt posted since the judgement day....but as said....result was as I feared....Thai Rak Thai dissolved...and ofcourse Democrat the victorious hero with a clean slate. To make matters worse is that all TRT executives were also banned from politics for 5 years, thats 111 exec members! The problem is this ban is a result of a law that was incorporated into the Interim Constitution by the military junta since September 2006. The crime committed by the TRT took place in March 2006....so the Constitution Tribunal applied the law in retrospect for crimes that was committed before the law existed! Im no expert of the law...but gee....if they can always choose to do that then perhaps 5 years from now if say eating/possessing/buying chocolates suddenly become banned and chocolate considered an abused substance...then applying that law in retrospect....guess Id be going to jail for a really really long time with all the chocolate trade Ive been involved in as of today!!

interesting things about how lawyers will always use their technical jargon to intimidate us layfolks....but wait....I thought this was meant to protect OUR civic rights? hmmm

ofcourse being Thailand...the story doesnt end there does it........already from day 1, and then only a couple of days later....they are talking about Amnesty...by the very same junta leader who had that ridiculous law imposed into the interim constitution in the first place......all in the name of national unity...what a load of <> oh nevermind
but seriously.....how can people, particularly the so-called educated Bangkokians with their mightier-than-thou attitude fall for this. stop letting these junta and people with vested interest manipulate you by using words like national unity, and ofcourse the all time favorite...we do this because we love the King. wake up thai people....oh u are awake???then better open your eyes too!! and ears....and please.....use that alleged wonderful education you claim to have :)

Speaking of Thailand's Human Rights Commission

heres a piece I wrote a few months ago about the set up and functioning of Thailand's National Human Rights Commission. It has some pretty positive things about it.

Some highlights:
* the setting up and working of the NHRC has been a participatory process
* public hearings were conducted
* set up of the Commission is mandated in the Constitution, as well as a specific NHRC Act
for this reason the Commission can continue to function under the NHRC Act, eventhough the Constitution has been revoked. (but ofcourse if the new Constitution being drafted propose that the Commission be combined with the Ombudsmen office, then this will change things entirely)
* The Commission extends its service to all people living in Thailand--this includes foreigners living in the country without legal status.
and the one that I think is quite progressive
* Thai NHRC can take the initiative to start an investigation on issues without receiving complaints.

ofcourse there are drawbacks too.....
you can read the full article on Thailand's National Human Rights Commission here.

Thailand's Constitution Drafting Committee

For months I tried to refrain myself from making comments on the political situation in Thailand, but within these same few months, I have watched the military junta together with the body that they installed as government slowly but steadily foul up the democratic strength of Thailand!!!! So today I decided I can no longer sit quietly.

As you know the first thing the coup makers did after they took over powers was to throw out the 1997 Constitution (the one that is widely accepted as the People's Constitution...as it had the maximum people involvement). Anyhow over the months various contentious issues have been toyed with..including things such as an appointed Prime Minister! an appointed Senate body (upper house of parliament), or making Buddhism the religion of the country (dont know the technical term for it, but this will mean Thailand will no longer be a secular state if this were to happen. How do they see that will sit with other religious minoritites in the country...not to mention the very same Muslim population in South Thailand where the situation is already at boiling point?!?!0 anyhow today I will only talk about the below issue that got me really mad!!

The members of Consitutional drafting committee has proposed to dissolve the NHRC (National Human Rights Commission) or combine it with Ombudsman. Presently the Commission is an independent body that was established in line with the Paris Principles (internationally accepted guideline for establishing a truly INDEPENDENT human rights commission).

Thailand's NHRC is one amongst 4 that exist in ASEAN countries, and in the past Thailand together with the Philippines has been in the forefront to work on establishing an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism. Other countries such an independent commission exist include: Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. Cambodia has recently agreed to establish its national commission, while also voicing support for the ASEAN wide body. True that in the political world such support will take years before it turns into substantive actions, but if the thailand body is to be dissolved, this would not be only a huge step back for thailand, but also for the entire region! The efforts has taken atleast 10 years of hard work before we reached this point.

without going into other contentious issues that this Constitution Drafting Committee are playing around with, the issue of the National Human Rights Commission in itself is already a huge blow and certainly a jump backward for thailand's democracy!!

I cant describe how mad this makes me!!!!!!