Meechai Ruchupan, chairman of the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC), pointed to “a lot of attempts at distorting” issues related to the draft written by his team.

He rejected allegations that the CDC wanted to have a non-MP become prime minister by not clearly stating that a government head also had to be an MP as had been specified in the 1997 and 2007 constitutions.

The CDC chief said all PM candidates nominated by political parties might not be MPs when the list is submitted to the Election Commission (EC). “But how can they be sure if their PM candidates will be elected?” Meechai asked. “People who tell you that the CDC favours a non-MP prime minister, they are lying. It is us, the voters, who choose the prime minister.”

The chief drafter also rejected the perception that the new charter would impinge on the rights of communities and individuals, saying the CDC had based this clause on the 1997 and 2007 provisions on this matter.

“Our conviction is to ensure that the stated constitutional rights are actually applied to one and all, not just those who fight for their rights. That’s why the CDC wrote in the charter that it is the government’s duty to ensure everybody has the same rights, or it will be regarded as a violation of the constitution,” he said.

Meechai added that there were moves to distort the constitutional clauses about community rights. “Some people wrongly claim that the CDC has removed everything related to community rights. I am not sure if they have read the draft. We mention community rights in six provisions in the draft charter,” he said.

The CDC chairman added that the new constitution would not be exactly the same as the two previous ones because the problems faced by the country are different now.

However, he added, all the rights and liberties guaranteed by the previous charters are included in the new one. “But we made some revisions to make it bolder,” he added, without elaborating.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday called on people to read the charter draft carefully themselves instead of listening to claims being made by politicians, Government Spokesman Maj-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said.

In a related development, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, who is in charge of the government’s legal affairs, said yesterday that relevant state agencies would convene next Wednesday to discuss whether people who obstruct the referendum on the draft charter should be punished. He added that the EC had set regulations on the plebiscite, but had not set penalties in relation to this matter.

National Legislative Assembly president Pornpetch Vichitcholchai yesterday called on the government to amend the post-coup interim charter to clarify whether the draft needs approval by a majority of actual votes cast and not a majority of all eligible voters.

The CDC is seeking to readjust the time span for writing the organic laws from eight months to five to six months instead.

Meechai had said earlier that because as many as 10 organic laws had to be written, it was likely the next election would be held late next year. However, Prayut on Tuesday stuck to his July 2017 schedule, repeating his earlier promise.

Initially, the transitory provisional clauses stipulated that 10 organic laws be written and completed within eight months after the constitution is promulgated. But that would delay the road map proposed by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) by a couple of months.

However, the chief drafter pleaded that if necessary, the road map could still be deferred for 15 to 20 days. Also, Meechai expressed concerns over the strong criticism of the charter draft. He said it was a “Thai thing” for people to believe what they hear even though the information might be inaccurate. “And then they keep criticising based on such false news,” he said.

Meanwhile, at the daily press briefing yesterday, CDC spokesman Amorn Wanichwiwatana explained about a new television program called “Unveiling the New Constitution” to be broadcast twice daily, after the national anthem at 8am and 6 pm.

“It isn’t that we’re trying to cover your eyes and ears or brainwash you. It’s just that we see the constitution is important and we want to communicate with everyone, especially when some people are trying to distort our work. Plus, each episode is only three minutes long,” the spokesman said.

He added that the idea came from the charter drafters, and not the NCPO.

Banjerd said he had no idea what the reason was for not allowing the seminar. “But this would bring about a negative image (to the junta),” he said.

He said the seminar aimed to dissect the constitution over politics and human rights and the overall outlook of the whole charter.

CDC spokesman Chartchai na Chiangmai who also works as a Nida lecturer, said he had not seen Nida make one negative comment over the charter draft since it began the drafting process. “Banjerd and Nida helped take part in drafting many charters. I do not believe the institute would present only the negative side of the draft,” he said.

Speaking at a meeting on preparation of annual budget for the fiscal year 2017 held yesterday, Prayut, who is also National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) chief, asked everyone to reduce spending to boost the country’s revenues. “Every person in the nation, especially civil servants, must help find ways to raise our income to exceed spending … From fiscal 2015 budget, we have to tighten our budgets,” Prayut said.

The country has not had enough money to cover its spending as shown in its deficits over the past few years.

Prayut said every project proposal at the initial stage must show forecasts and strategies on how much return on investment would be received. “Any proposal that can be implemented within the planned timeframe might be revoked so that we can use the budget to spend on other projects instead, he said. He also emphasised that we must be prepared in areas such as human resources, research and development and social welfare how to respond to the global economic revolution.

He said that this year, the NCPO would have to complete some of reforms that were easy to carry out while moving ahead with the country’s 20-year strategic plan simultaneously.

There would be also an assessment every five years.

“We also raised matters that needed their help. For instance, we asked them to tell the government to stick to the road map,” the source said.

“They can help us in this regard. In fact, they have already been stressing this with the government.”

Murphy reportedly met with a group of activists, including academic Nidhi Eoseewong, on Wednesday and yesterday.

“I don’t know why this time news of the meetings was leaked. It could be that they took a commercial flight this time,” the source said.

Murphy and other embassy officials had earlier met with red-shirt leaders and other groups of activists involved in the recent political crisis. Red-shirt leader Korkaew Pikulthong, who is also a politician from the Pheu Thai Party, said it was normal for foreign missions to meet with various groups of people to discuss topics of mutual interest, including progress on drafting the new charter.

The foreign embassy officials that he had talked to had also sought his opinion on the new draft charter, he said.

He said the Election Commission (EC) does not have the authority to issue regulations against offenders for wrongdoings such as tearing up ballot papers or blocking elections, point out that only the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) could write a decree on a referendum or the PM could resort to Article 44.

He explained that the 2009 charter organic law could not be used to hold a referendum on the draft charter.

However, Wissanu said it was not likely that people would be banned from campaigning against the charter.

“We may have a provision stating that those who violate the EC would face punishment,” he said.

The EC will also be meeting Wissanu to discuss the ambiguity about majority votes in the referendum.

EC member Somchai Srisuthisyakorn said the commission was scheduled to meet Wissanu, the Council of State and related agencies next week at the request of the NLA after it rejected EC’s proposals on regulations for the plebiscite.

He said the EC and other concerned agencies would decide whether or not to seek a Constitutional Court ruling on the referendum vote criteria — if it is the majority votes of eligible voters or the majority of votes cast.

He said there were actually four options: to ask the interim charter writers to clarify the point; to have the government seek a Constitutional Court ruling; to get the NLA to clarify the ambiguity; have the government do nothing, which may give rise to negative criticism for its inability to clarify the law.

Somchai said critics had pointed out that the draft charter gave too much power to independent agencies, but added that this was not true with the EC because its power had been greatly reduced. For instance, under the new charter, the EC will no longer be able to issue red cards against election candidates.

He said he will meet the EC’s legal team today to seek recommendations about the draft charter and will call a meeting with the rest of the commissioners on Tuesday to endorse revised recommendations and forward them to the Constitution Drafting Commission.

THE CONSTITUTION Drafting Commission (CDC) yesterday faced a long list of inquiries in regard to its drafting work on the new charter from members of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) and the National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA) during their meeting at Parliament yesterday.

The inquiries challenged almost all of the sections the CDC has introduced, ranging from a new single-ballot electoral system, the MPs, the senators, the PM candidates lists, as well as the empowered Constitutional Court.

The drafters were asked to explain to them, for instance, how the newly proposed electoral system is better than the others, as well as how the new draft could deal with corruption or electoral fraud. Also, they asked about the transitory provisions that would to some extent determine the fate of the so-called “five rivers”.

The drafters responded to some of the inquiries and promised to give further explanations in the form of proper documents because some issues were complicated and would take time to explain.

The CDC yesterday met formally with the NLA and the NRSA with the principal purpose of explaining to them the content of the charter draft before they make formal recommendations and submit to it by mid-February.

The CDC had released its initial charter draft last week and is currently working to publicise its work to the public so they could also give opinions on the draft.

“Before we started working on this draft, we had consulted concerned agencies and concluded that we should work on whole new content so that it would not be tied with any limitation of any previous version. It must be perfect, and it must be tight, with the goals to achieve solutions for corruption, lack of discipline, as well as loose law enforcement,” chief drafter Meechai Ruchupan said at the beginning of the meeting.

Meechai said the charter draft follows Article 35 – the framework of constitution writing – of the interim charter very strictly. The points included mechanisms to keep corrupt people away from politics. Besides, the drafters also had taken into account that the three major challenges for the country were – corruption, discipline, and law enforcement. Hence, the CDC had crafted the new constitution accordingly.

Meechai explained point by point how articles in the new charter will serve the framework. With regard to corruption, for instance, the Election Commission is empowered to issue yellow cards to fraud-prone candidates. Besides, the qualifications and disqualifications of electioneers are also more intense.

Regarding the lack of discipline and the poor law enforcement, Meechai explained that reform plans on education and the police could work to boost them.

He also clarified on the contentious points that have been drawing criticism. On rights and liberties, Meechai reassured they were not less than what were provided in previous constitutions. More importantly, they addressed properly the state’s duties to make sure those rights could be enjoyed.

On the issue of prime minister which many fear would pave the way for an outsider, Meechai explained that the candidates must be proposed only by political parties and must be approved by the House.

The CDC, he said, cannot stipulate to prohibit a non-MP because on the day the lists are proposed, nobody is really an MP as an election has not taken place yet.

Meechai conceded that many points raised by the NLA and the NRSA members made him aware of the charter content. His team had noted them and would table them for serious contemplation, he said.

The meeting lasted for around two hours before being wrapped up. NLA member Surachai Liengboonlertchai said the assembly would take the CDC’s explanations into consideration in its recommendations, set to be made tomorrow at the NLA meeting. The NRSA, meanwhile, is scheduled to do the same next Monday.

Despite a long list of inquiries, the overall mood at the meeting was calm and it was conducted smoothly.

The visit was conducted after the United States and other countries agreed to lift an economic embargo on Iran early last month. The embargo was imposed in 2012 in an effort to curb Iran’s nuclear programme.

In a press conference, Somkid said he considered this visit successful and a big step toward closer and better cooperation between the two countries.

“The meeting is a big step towards greater bilateral economic cooperation. Iran has great potential in many aspects including natural resources and human resources. Thailand could support it in the development of production and services,” he said.

“Hence, this connection will be fruitful for both countries. Also, the Thai premier has insisted that the focus is put on maintaining sustainable relations and friendship, rather than just trade benefits,” Somkid said, adding that he personally was willing to promote Iran as a tourist destination.

Shariatmadari said the visit had shed a light on Thailand’s sincerity and commitment to cooperation with Iran, adding that the Thai team’s determination to develop trade in a brother-and-sister style is greater than just business cooperation.

This is the starting point of proper relations, he said, adding that Iran wanted Thailand to help in the development of human resources and nano technology. Both leaders witnessed the signing of six pacts on bilateral cooperation including on trade and nano technology at the dialogue.

Shariatmadari also commended Thailand for maintaining relations with Iran over the past 60 years despite certain incidents.

In a separate interview, Don said Iran also hoped to see an exchange in prisoners. There are about 200 Iranians in Thai prison, while there is one Thai being detained in Iran. Don will have his ministry’s concerned departments look into the request, while the Justice Ministry will make a decision on details.