EDITORIAL Getting serious about reform
- Published: 22/04/2009 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: News
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has finally grasped the moment and admitted what everyone knew and few would face. He has called for a two-week, national brainstorming session to directly address political reform.
At the top of his suggested agenda is amending the 2007 Constitution. The first suggestion he directly addressed is Article 237, under which entire political parties have been dissolved because one or several executives have been convicted of breaking election laws.
Mr Abhisit deserves credit for getting down to the brass tacks of political reform. His earlier suggestion of hiving off the issue to a special commission at King Prajadhipok Institute was timorous and ultimately doomed. There are several ways to broach this important issue, but a blue-ribbon panel meeting in secret is probably the least likely to succeed. If reform is to have a chance, the public and politicians must both have their say.
One hopes it is obvious to Mr Abhisit. Assuming his two-week moratorium gets the response it deserves, the prime minister must be ready to move to the next step right away. His call on Monday for proposals included only vague outlines of an action plan. He did not even say where the proposed changes should go. After two weeks, all the ideas should be put to the public. It is unfortunate that his proposal tapered off. He gave no concrete suggestion as to the next step.
Still, as the premier stated, constitutional reform is a national priority. Without it there can be no proper political reform. To say the 2007 Constitution is blemished is understating the case. Written by military-friendly drafters working under deadline in a tense political atmosphere, the charter is biased in several key directions. Mr Abhisit is correct that Article 237 is deeply flawed. It is undemocratic to punish rank-and-file party supporters for the secret actions of senior politicians or administrators.
The constitution governing the country at the moment is anti-democratic in other ways. The appointment of senators is offensive to voters nationwide. Many question whether it is necessary to have a bicameral legislature at all. If so, it is a serious question as to how different the Senate should be from the House of Representatives, and how the upper houses's duties should differ from that of the lower house. There is little popular support for the current constitution. By comparison, the forward-looking and democratic "people's constitution" of 1997 remains a huge and shining achievement. The proposal, backed by many advocates, to reinstate the previous charter also deserves a serious hearing. Amending and re-adopting that progressive constitution would arguably be preferable to trying to patch the current document.
In any case, the man in both the spotlight and the hot seat is Mr Abhisit. Soon, the country will learn whether he truly backs political reform, or whether his two-week brainstorming proposal was just an attempt to buy time. The premier must act now to set up channels for the reform proposals he has solicited. He must put forward an actual plan to move on reform.
Constitutional and political reform require public input - not just token hearings, and not just from organised civil groups. The country is at a political crossroads, and it is clear that top-down reform will be divisive and probably rejected. A full constitutional assembly will be necessary to write or rewrite the charter. Mr Abhisit now must follow up on his call, and either lead reform or allow credible bodies to proceed with the necessary actions.
