Reform panel puts hurry-up on change blueprints

Reform panel puts hurry-up on change blueprints

National Reform Council (NRC) chairman Thienchay Kiranandana yesterday urged the council's 18 committees to speed up work on their reform blueprints and to keep strictly to schedule.

Mr Thienchay said some areas of reform could be implemented immediately while many, especially those dealing with restructuring, could take months to come to fruition.

He said the reform blueprints — whether they are short-term, medium-term or long-term — should include steps to implement them.

Mr Thienchay said he would meet the NRC's coordinating committee on Thursday to make preparations for an upcoming brainstorming session in which the NRC members would discuss their visions for the reforms.

NRC member Boonlert Khachayutthadech yesterday called for a two-day debate to allow NRC members to discuss issues that involve structural reforms.

NRC Poldej Pinpratheep voiced concerns about the NRC's limited time-frame and urged the committees to meet urgently to prioritise their reform proposals.

"They should meet this week and set priority areas — what are urgent, what should be done in a year or later — and submit them to the coordinating committee," he said. 

Nimit Sitthi-trai, an NRC member, suggested the NRC should work closely with the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) and should be kept abreast of the charter-drafting progress.

He said the NRC and the CDC should have a communication channel because the NRC is required to deliberate the draft charter and decide if it should be adopted or rejected.

Bowornsak Uwanno, NRC vice-chairman and CDC chairman, said the CDC meeting reports are forwarded to the NRC's public participation committee, which is in charge of distributing them to the NRC members.  

He said the NRC members are welcome to observe the CDC's work. The committee will start writing the charter, article by article, on Jan 12.

According to Mr Bowornsak, the CDC plans to invite the members of the NRC committees to take part in the deliberation when their charter proposals are put up for consideration.

Last month, Mr Bowornsak said more than 300 proposals had been submitted to the CDC via the Defence Ministry and the Senate Secretariat.

He said he had formally received proposals for the charter from Mr Thienchay and NLA president Pornpetch Wichitcholchai.

Mr Borwornsak said the chapter of the constitution regarding the monarchy is set to be drafted first, from Jan 12-16.

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