On the military junta’s interim constitution II

Khaosod has a very appropriate editorial on the military dictatorship’s interim constitution. With the title “Junta’s Charter Paints Grim Future for Thailand’s Democracy,” it stands in stark contrast with the anti-democrat, pro-military coup op-ed by Post Publishing boss and dictatorship propagandist Pichai Chuensuksawadi.

Khaosod, more cognizant of the threat posed by the military dictatorship begins: “The junta’s 2014 Interim Constitution is robbing Thai people of their political voices.” That certainly is the junta’s plan, just as it was for the anti-democrats when they opposed and prevented elections.

The editorial observes:

The National Council For Peace and Order (NCPO) dissolved Thailand’s 2007 constitution almost immediately after seizing power on May 22, and until last week, ruled over the Kingdom without a charter.

This is not entirely true, for the military junta kept the articles on the monarchy, and notes this in the interim constitution. We mention this to note its symbolic and political significance.

Identifying the “2014 Interim Charter … [as] a discouraging step backwards,” it points to the “Article 44, which effectively enshrines the NCPO’s absolute power into the Kingdom’s highest body of law.”

Article 44 grants the NCPO power to unilaterally intervene “regardless of its effects on the legislative, executive or judiciary” in the name of defending Thailand against threats to “public order, national security, the monarchy, national economy or sovereignty.”

Not only is the NCPO given this carte blanche to intervene in almost any situation, but “all orders or acts [taken under these circumstances] are to be regarded as lawful and constitutional.”

In other words, nothing the NCPO does can be considered illegal. Furthermore, this absolute power will not be subject to any oversight, judicial or otherwise.

The 2014 interim charter also establishes three governmental bodies that will be tasked with fundamentally restructuring Thailand’s system of government, yet are unlikely to represent broad swaths of the population.

The National Legislative Assembly, Reform Council and Constitution Drafting Committee all see the junta “granted the power to appoint the members of these bodies,” and will see them “dominated by military personnel and their loyal allies.”

That “the charter makes no mention of putting a draft of the permanent constitution up to a referendum,” is a red herring; putting constitutions to a referendum might be symbolic of something, but the idea that a large and complex legal document can get a yes/no response is silly. The more significant point is that the junta is not about to allow any significant participation or consultation in drafting the charter.

Khaosod states that the junta’s “vision for Thailand” is to “involve a curb on human rights, political freedoms, and democratic values.”