There is no light of democracy at the end of Thailand's political tunnel, as Thaksin Shinawatra's absolutist regime has given birth to another in the form of the Council for National Security (CNS), leading academics warned after dissecting the 2006 interim Constitution yesterday.

Calling the interim charter a "dictator wearing a democratic jacket", Thammasat University's political economist Rangsan Thanapornpan said Thai people would not see meaningful political reform under the charter because of the lack of accountability, checks and balances and public participation.

"How can we expect something that came from a dictatorship to carry democracy's soul?" he asked.

He cited Article 3 of the charter, which he said gives the false impression that the CNS recognises civil rights and the liberty of the Thai people, while in fact there is no mechanism to guarantee such rights in practice. There were also limited checks and balances between the administrative, legislative and judicial branches.

"The National Legislative Assembly cannot launch a censure debate against the government," Rangsan said. "All they can do is to ask for some clarification of government policies, but the government ministers don't have to answer those questions."

Law professor Worachet Pakeerut of Thammasat University agreed that Article 3 was cosmetic, used to make the charter look friendly to the people. He wondered why political gatherings were still limited to no more than five people at a time, in accordance with an early announcement of the Council for Democracy Reform (CDR), the forerunner of the CNS.

"Don't be surprised at the contradiction," Worachet said. "Just look at Article 36, which declares that all announcements and orders issued by the CDR will remain in effect. In other words, the civil rights and liberties stated in the charter will follow what is said in the announcement."

Worachet said the permanent constitution to be drafted in a year would also have the fingerprints of the CNS all over it, because the drafting process would be tightly controlled by the council, from the selection of members of the Constitutional Drafting Assembly to the final approval of the charter.

Although there is a referendum process involving Thai citizens, there were no clear voting rules and the CNS still had veto power, Rangsan said.

"The new constitution will not reflect people's preferences because members of the drafting committee were not elected," Rangsan said. "Besides, the CNS has too much power while people have too little say in the drafting process."

Thammasat political scientist Kasian Tejapira said having a charter written by a government limits people's rights and liberties. "After a coup, people fall back to a state of war ruled by might without right. That continues until people give consent to the new constitution."

Nantiya Tangwisutijit

The Nation