On the 4th of May, 2015, I was interviewed by a journalist from Matichon. The journalist wanted to know about my positions, with regard to the case that is now being made within Thailand, for a constitutional referendum to be a prerequisite for the new Thai constitution. Relative to most of the rest of the main Thai media publications, Matichon has been generally considered to be a strong advocate for just such a referendum.
The following is my translation-interpretation into English (as it is not possible to make a direct translation or transliteration from Thai into English) of the interview, which appeared in print, on the 6th of May, 2015. I have taken it upon myself to insert a certain amount of additional contextualisation within the brackets, in order to account for the places where the print interview paraphrased my arguments - something, which would have been done, either, because the publication may now regard such details as being fairly self-evident to their Thai readership, or, because of print-space constraints:
“[I would argue that in terms of the questions relating to the legitimacy of the new Thai constitution, and therefore, the importance of holding a constitutional referendum…] In principle, once they are agreed upon, the laws should then be accepted by all the stakeholders within the country. However, although some of the members are, evidently, properly qualified and trustworthy [in terms of their educational background], there remains the question of the overall legitimacy of the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC). All of those on the CDC were appointed by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), and so this has raised these questions of legitimacy, and those [questions] of the draft of the new constitution.
There are a number of problems with the current draft of the new constitution. It contradicts with a major statement made by the CDC, which highlighted that: “[The] citizen is the centre of this constitution, where power is in the hands of the citizen.” Nevertheless, there are a number of articles within this draft of the constitution, which act to undermine the power of the citizens of Thailand, such as the introduction of more selected and appointed members to replace the elected members. The process of selection and appointment will result in questions over the qualifications and the legitimacy of those who would be appointed. [This is because it has already been observed that appointments can also bring about the problems of conflict of interest, and abuse of power and public resources for personal gain. Examples include cases of appointing family members to be assistants and secretaries of the members of the existing National Legislative Council.]
I would like to emphasise that the holding of a referendum [for any new Thai constitution] is an important matter, which has to be recognised and prioritised by those who are in power, today. The holding of a constitutional referendum will bring a greater sense of legitimacy to an attempt to confirm that the constitution is actually being accepted by all of the stakeholders within Thailand, and this will then provide the CDC with more legitimacy. The sooner a [democratic general] election is held within Thailand, the better it will be for the country, overall. However, I remain rather pessimistic about this issue. I do not believe that Thailand will hold such an election in the very near future.
Indeed, if the NCPO and the government were to hold elections soon, then the pressure from the international community, such as that from the European Union and the U.S., would decline. Thailand need not perceive these kinds of pressures and their opinions as a form of [unwarranted] intervention, because Thailand is [itself] part of the international community. Moreover, Thailand cannot truly isolate itself from the international community, because of the complexity of economic relations and other interests between this country, and the rest of the world.
There are two main things that those who are in power, would have to do now; firstly, holding a referendum for the new constitution, and secondly, holding an [a general] election. However, I am not optimistic that they would listen to academics, or take any of my advice. There have been a number of statements from different groups of stakeholders within Thai society, which have been ignored by those who are in power, today. Nevertheless, given the current political circumstances, at least we still have a bit of room to speak out, even if there is, now, very limited space for much freedom of expression.”
