Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has assured the one-year roadmap to democracy promised by his regime will be completed on schedule.
The premier was speaking after a meeting of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), the cabinet, the National Reform Council (NRC), the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) and the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) — which he called "five rivers" — at the army's Gesagomon auditorium yesterday.
Responding to concerns there is a time limit to proceed with the roadmap for national administration, he said the work designed to be completed within one year must be finished by then.
However, he noted that reforms will also have to be carried out beyond the timeframe.
The country is now moving ahead according to plan by adopting the lessons learnt from past problems and finding ways to reach a sustainable solution covering security, society and the economy, Gen Prayut said.
The premier said the NCPO and the government have made numerous suggestions, while progress in charter writing has also been made by the CDC, the NRC and the NLA.
"We must arrange the tasks at hand according to the order of urgency. It must be determined what should be sped up and what must be done together with the help of the government," Gen Prayut said, insisting that all the five bodies are working in concert without conflicts.
He said he still adheres to the NCPO's principle that the administration will not try to stir up social conflicts and find ways to create a reform environment.
He also appealed to members of the public and politicians not to criticise the laws which are being drafted to serve reforms as the process is still ongoing.
Gen Prayut maintained that no attempts have been made to obstruct public participation in reform.
Ways must also be found for the country to move forward without conflict, and due justice must be upheld, he said.
The country is now moving toward the goal of having a general election under good governance with qualified people to organise it, the premier said.
He insisted the CDC will be able to submit the charter draft for further vetting by the reform council within April as planned, adding that it could be even quicker than that.
Asked whether the election could be held early next year as expected, Gen Prayut said the timeframe for the election will be strictly observed.
Though organic laws related to the charter must be drawn up, this would not take much time, he said.