More questions than answers on draft

Fluorescent lights on the ceiling were turned on, dimly revealing a conference room inside Samut Sakhon City Hall filled with long tables lined up one after another.
Some seats were occupied by government officials, but several others were empty, especially those on the front rows close to a podium, where a few panellists from the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) and its provincial charter content dissemination trainers, known as Kru Kor, were sitting in preparation to share what they had just learned recently.
As soon as these 30-plus government officials were ready, the panellists started to “preach” the contents of the new charter.
“I think it’s going to be fine,” said an official from a district public health office in the province, who asked not to be named.
“I am intending to explain only those parts on welfare concerning public health, which are not a lot. I think I can manage [what I learned today]”. Interior Ministry officials and CDC representatives last week held a training session on charter content dissemination for some officials recruited from various district offices in this province.They would become Kru Khoh, district-based charter content mouthpieces, expected to help pass on the contents further down to community-based volunteers known as Kru Khor. 

The training was in line with the CDC’s campaign held across the country in the past two weeks aimed at helping disseminate the contents of the charter door-to-door eventually, ahead of the referendum scheduled for August 7. But as observed by The Nation, the general atmosphere was rather mundane, with visible struggle to learn the lessons during the seven-hour session from time to time. This again raises the question asked by the public – whether such an approach was effective enough to help pass on the essence of the charter to voters before they cast their ballots. During those seven hours in this city hall, Kru Kor took turns speaking at the podium on their topics of expertise, following the chapters in the charter – from education rights to election methods. Each presented texts and graphics prepared by the CDC, and read aloud to the trainees, alternating with presentation of videos featuring the drafters repeatedly lecturing on similar topics.
It was much about one-way communication, apparently.
Kru Kor were apparently trying hard to pass down information as much and as effectively as possible to the trainees, but as the struggles broke their learning loop, attention was lost along the way.
At one point, some students were struggling to upload the constitution contents to their computers, while some others were staring intently at the canvas screen presenting the articles and a summary of parts of the constitution.
At another point, some were flipping pages of the given text back and forth and taking notes, trying to follow and capture the rather overwhelming lecture.
Those who failed to keep up turned to their smartphones and chatted with someone.
At a question and answer session before the wrap-up, an attentive trainee raised concerns about some terms used in the constitution and asked how they should explain them.
Off script, the trainer could hardly provide answers and just beat around the bush to get himself out of such an awkward situation.
Another trainee asked for reassurance of the referendum law’s provision of protection for them, and what risk they could be taking in possibly breaching Article 61 which prohibits influencing voting.
Udom Rathamarit, spokesman for the CDC, conceded that they have to be careful. But if they are not sure, there was a way to be on the safe side.
“Tell them, ‘We only provide you with necessary information about the charter. You should decide for yourself how you want to vote’. And you will be fine,” he said.
Somchai Suktrakulvet, senior assistant chief of Ban Paew district, expressed his frustration to The Nation, saying he did not know how to act as the constitution mouthpiece.
“So, we’re not supposed to sell the constitution or persuade voters to vote for it, or we will be punished by the referendum law.
“But what are we supposed to do exactly? Delivering just as we were trained today is like speaking of only the positive side of the draft?”
Kru Khoh should actually do a lot more homework and be able to point out also the downsides of the charter, otherwise they would just become propagandists of the regime, he said.
“I just doubt if we would do that,” he said before leaving the room with his fellow officials after the seven long hours of the charter content dissemination session and several harder questions to go home.
Spokespeople of CDC campaign

Kru Kor, Kru Khoh and Kru Khor are the terms coined by the CDC for its spokespeople following the order of the Thai alphabet.
Kru Kor are provincial officials recruited to receive training first-hand from tbona fide charter drafters, and are tasked with passing on the knowledge to Kru Khoh.
Kru Khoh are heads of government agencies at the district level and are tasked with passing on the knowledge to Kru Khor.
Kru Khor are volunteers from communities, who receive training from Kru Khoh, and will knock on the doors of their neighbours to brief them about the charter ahead of the referendum.