A new fund to develop political and democratic literacy among citizens will be established under the new charter, the Constitution Drafting Committee agreed yesterday - but only after an hour of fierce debate between supporters and sceptics.

It remains unclear how much money will be put into it and where it will come from.

The new fund, which will probably be called the Citizen Development Fund, is promised to usher in a new era of political participation by the general public, said proponents of the fund. "It should represent the new dimension for the new charter being drafted," said drafting committee member Choochai Supawongse.

Choochai claimed that virtually "every person in every province" had expressed their desire to see such a fund set up to boost grassroots politics and democracy.

"Communities will become stronger and their relationship with the middle class and elites will be transformed from a mere vertical relationship to more of a horizontal one," he said.

Opponents led by drafter Pisit Lee-artham warned repeatedly that some corrupt politicians may abuse the fund for their own political gain.

"How can we control the budget allocation? This is the weakness. The parliament may not have any oversight on the matter. People who barricaded The Nation office [to oppose the paper's portrayal of pro-Thaksin demonstrators] will also have the right to use the fund. I don't believe those assuming political office will have good intentions," he said.

The committee agreed to look into such details as to how it could be made accountable.

Drafting committee chairman Prasong Soonsiri threw his weight behind the establishment of the fund, which eventually ended the stalemate.

"People used to say when it comes to people's participation, politicians merely listen to them only to go back and decide things by themselves. Even with Bangkok's subways, were there any referendums over where to lay the tracks? Various mega-project initiators simply never listen to local people."

However, debates over issues of proposed land reform and community rights didn't get anywhere and were deferred.

An expert helping with the drafting process, who asked not to be named, told The Nation that the drafters "will pay the consequence" during the referendum if they vote against recognising and promoting community rights under the charter.

"Some people are afraid of giving people rights to exercise," he said. He added that some mega-projects may be delayed if community rights were properly enshrined but it was the right principle to recognise those rights.

The meeting yesterday also toyed with the idea of restricting all political parties to having equal campaign advertisements, as in Japan. The matter was also put aside for further discussion, however.

They also wanted to find ways to make asset declarations of aspiring MPs foolproof, but failed to come up with an answer at this stage.

The committee decided there was not enough time to keep debating whether to continue the party-list MP system.

The issue will likely be voted on in the next round.

Some drafters, feeling the strain of demands by various groups, complained the drafting process was being "interfered" with by certain people and the Constitution Drafting Assembly.

"What they are doing is trying to short-cut the work of the committee," said drafter Vijit Surakul, a former provincial governor and one of the 10 drafters directly appointed by the junta. "Once the power has been relegated to the drafting committee, no one can interfere."

Vijit was asked to comment about seeking public input, required by the junta's own interim charter. He laughed and said: "So let us see what will become of it. The drafters are now hesitant. When there's a parallel line of power, there tend to be problems."

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation