AT DAWN before stepping out of houses on their way to the paddy fields, farmers in Ban Sommai village in Udon Thani province hear a familiar voice over the village’s public address system.

But being in a rush to plant rice before the scorching hot sun reaches its zenith, farmers do not catch many of the words. They do, however, recognise the voice of their headman mumbling along with an unfashionable song about the constitutional referendum on August 7.

Farmers have heard that routine broadcast every morning at dawn for more than a month. Not until the beginning of Buddhist Lent, however, when people gathered at a temple to make merit, did villagers realise what those sounds over the PA system meant.

In the local temple, the village head and nine village committees explained the draft. They are Kru Kor, or “Teacher C”, acting as draft representatives to knock on doors and explain the charter to villagers.

“We [Teacher Cs] disseminate details of the draft by talking to large groups at social events, so they can further discuss among themselves, which saves time,” said Krisada Monthathip, Udon Thani province’s Ban Sommai village headman.

Krisada’s routine duty starts at 6am every morning when he speaks via the PA system, asking villagers to cast ballots and explaining briefly what the referendum is about.

Teacher Cs were trained for two days before disseminating draft content to villagers – but it was not enough training for them to provide all the answers to people, Krisada said.

Villagers keep asking about the draft, but he does not know the answers because he could not fully learn about all the content during the two days.

What he does remember is that “Teacher Bs” repeatedly reiterated that Teacher Cs must not induce voters to vote in any particular way, otherwise they might be charged with breaching the referendum law. Prohibitions regarding the referendum campaign, a code of conduct when approaching voters, and permissible messages to be disseminated were also on the training agenda, he said.

He admitted Teacher Cs, who each received full charter drafts five weeks before the referendum, have failed to give local residents a good understanding of the draft as the explainers themselves do not fully understand it.

“They are just ordinary people without a legal background and knowledge and we feel the draft contains a lot of technical terms,” he said.

“Even the community leaders do not understand the law, so how can the villagers?”

‘Climate of fear’

The lack of information is not just the result of technical problems.

Teacher Cs cannot give a clear answer to villagers, Krisada said, because of the climate of fear and the junta’s ban on influencing voters. So the people tasked with explaining the draft often prefer to keep silent.

“What villagers want to know most is if this draft is good or not, so they can make a decision,” he said.

Villagers do not have time to study the draft and do not understand technical terms in the law, he said. They just want someone they trust to honestly tell them the pros and cons of the draft and the consequences if the draft is approved or rejected, he added.

“What’s the point in wasting time and budget training us, Teacher Cs, if eventually we cannot explain anything to our neighbours? The only message we can give is ‘please go to cast ballots in the August 7 referendum’. That’s it,” he said.

Following the schedule, one month before referendum day Teacher Cs asked voters to study the draft. However, the draft booklet “10 things you need to know about the draft” was delivered to villagers just two weeks prior to the referendum day, while the full draft was not provided.

“Only advantages of the draft were mentioned in the booklets,” said a villager, who asked to remain unnamed.

Military pressure

Plainclothes military officers also interfere in Teacher Bs and Cs’ mission, said lawyer Teerasak Thongsuang, head of Nong Tad tambon of Buri Ram province. He also serves as a Teacher B.

“They kept observing whenever we were working.”

Teacher Bs were trained for only one day and then tasked to educate Teacher Cs.

As a Teacher B, he said, he feels uncomfortable having officers follow and record video when he and other Teacher Bs train Teacher Cs. He said the Second Army Area commander was also present when provincial Teacher As trained him and others in Buri Ram.

However, a military source said officers did not interfere with the work of draft explainers. He said officers instead supported the referendum mission, following Teacher Bs for security purposes and ensuring that no troublemakers interfered in the referendum campaigners’ work.

Like Krisada, Teerasak said he does not deeply understand the draft – even though he has a legal background – because he has not had time to study every article in the draft.

His duty is training Teacher Cs to read aloud draft booklets to villagers and also to follow Teacher Cs to explain the draft content.

He said local people were mostly concerned about topics perceivably close to their lives, namely social welfare, elderly welfare, free education and important election methods. “They asked me whether it was true or not there would be cuts to elderly welfare, as they had heard from others.”

To answer that question, Teacher Bs explain that it depends on organic laws and policies of the next government as the draft does not confirm whether the elderly would get the same assistance from the state. He said he tried his best to neutrally explain the issue to people who asked him questions but often it remained unclear.

When villagers asked whether the new electoral system, mixed member apportionment, enshrined in the draft works or not – and what would happen if the country uses that system – he cannot speak out because he fears doing so could violate the law.

“That is the best thing we Teacher Bs and Cs can do.”

Waiting for an elected government

Teerasak said local people do not understand the draft and its consequences so they might make a decision based on their favourite politicians or trusted leaders. Villagers also want the climate of fear to end because they are very bored with disputes and argument regarding the draft, he said.

“They want the referendum to end as soon as possible so that they can exercise their electoral rights,” he said.

People want a government and a new local administrative body, he added, as the current powers-that-be cannot fix the country’s economic, social and other problems.

People believe that no matter how well the draft is written, at the end of the day it will be amended by the next powers as has been witnessed in past decades, the sub-district head said.

Importantly, the people feel it is not necessary for them to try to understand the draft, which will be used by the next government rather than as a real guarantee to protect rights.