PM orders stronger cooperation among drafters, reformers

The National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA), the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) and the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) need to co-operate, he said. “If their work is not in aligned, there will be problems and we will face difficulty passing the charter draft in a public referendum,’’ Prayut said.

“I would have liked the first charter draft to be accepted, but it didn’t happen and I could not order it to be passed. Everyone [National Reform Council members] said they were independent and not under orders from me.

“I want the new charter draft to be accepted,’’ he added.

The Premier said he would not ask the three agencies to complete their work faster to pave way for an early general election. “The interim charter sets the rules on this. I do not understand this country. They want things to be done their own way,’’ he said.

Government Spokesman Maj-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the five core agencies – the Cabinet, the National Council for Peace and Order, the NLA, the CDC and the NRSA – would meet next Wednesday at Parliament to find ways that of working together. 

“Previously we had whips coordinating the work of each of the five core agencies, but now we will have whips for the Cabinet, the NLA and the NRSA,’’ he said.

At a meeting of the NRSA yesterday, its chairman Tinnapan Nakata pointed out that 61 assembly members were also members of the National Reform Council and thus knowledgeable about reforms, while the remaining 139 NRSA members must learn about the issues so they could push for concrete reform results.

NRSA deputy chairman Alongkorn Ponlaboot said the assembly did not need to consider which reforms should be implemented first since the NRC had already gathered public opinion on the matter.

Assembly members have signed up for 11 separate groups to consider reform in such areas as politics, administration, law and justice, local government, media and the social sector. The members also discuss what to be the five top urgent reform issues that must be implemented first.

They presented their opinions to the whole assembly in the afternoon. 

Tinnapan told the assembly that CDC chairman Meechai Ruchupan had allowed the NRSA to incorporate reform issues that it believed were significant in the charter draft. He said this must be done by the end of November, ahead CDC public hearings that begin in mid-December. Other reform details could be incorporated as part of the charter’s supplementary laws, Tinnapan quoted Meechai as saying.

The move to address national reform in the charter is believed to have been made to strengthen the charter and better its chances of public acceptance.

Alongkorn said the five areas for reform that NRSA members believed should get first priority are politics, education, anti-graft, law and justice, and the economy.