'Stick with tested democratic ideas'
A 1997 CHARTER drafter said yesterday that society should deal with crises according to the prevailing system because it is questionable whether implementing an outside mechanism to tackle problems would restore peace.
Prof Dr Likhit Dhiravegin told a peace seminar at Siam University yesterday that though it was true that last year’s coup might have prevented a serious political clash, it was yet to be seen whether the current government could truly maintain peace.
“Firstly, can the current political situation keep things going back on track?” Likhit said. “Also, will the situation be sustainable long term?”
Likhit – a member of the 1996 Constitution Drafting Assembly and a Royal Society Institute fellow – believes the government is pulling things backwards.
He said principles derived from a previous era could not be adapted to use for new events. Considering that the country has in the past been on a democratic course, the military-installed government is acting against time, he concluded.
Likhit urged society to deal with future crises within the system, not outside it.
He also called on people to foster respect towards one another as a vehicle to long-lasting peace. “In a democratic system, [the government] also needs to respect people,” Likhit told The Nation separately.
Likhit also questioned the reform and reconciliation timeline proposed under the idea of establishing the National Strategic Reform and Reconciliation Committee (NSRRC).
“Reform will take decades, and to think that it can be completed in four or five years is senseless,” he said, referring to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s comment that the NSRRC and himself would stay on to drive reform.
Likhit suggested that old faces of the Constitution Drafting Commit-tee should be left out of the new CDC so as to avoid repetition of controversial points. “If they [the controversial points] are written again, the draft has to be voted down again. That’s undeniable,” said Likhit, who also rejected the notion that he had never been sounded out for a post on either the old or the new CDC.
