Democrats cast doubt on feasibility of ‘new politics’
Written by changthai11 on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008
POLITICS
Democrats cast doubt on feasibility of ‘new politics’
Abhisit questions how PAD’s ideas will work
The opposition Democrat party has questioned the People’s Alliance for Democracy’s (PAD) proposed “new politics”, asking how it would work and if it is feasible.
Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said the PAD’s proposed election of professional representatives as MPs could overlap with those professional representatives who are senators.
If the professional representatives are MPs and senators from the same group, they could have problems carrying out their duties, he said.
Mr Abhisit said he was not certain about the model’s feasibility, where professional representatives were mixed with constituency representatives in the House of Representatives.
“This issue should be widely discussed. It should not be discussed only among the PAD and its supporters,” said the opposition leader, who added that the House committee studying the constitution could be a key forum for the issue.
On Sunday the PAD came up with a new draft of its “new politics” policy, which suggested MPs be elected as representatives of constituencies and representatives of professional groups.
Under the previous draft, the PAD called for 70% of the House seats to be filled by appointees, with the remaining 30% being elected.
The proposal was strongly criticised. Having a parliament where only 30% of its seats were occupied by people who were elected was not moving toward, but away from, participatory democratic government, the critics said.
Changes to the PAD’s political formula came after the core leaders met on Sunday for closed-door discussions with about 10 academics, all PAD supporters, at Government House, which they have occupied since Aug 26.
PAD core leader Chamlong Srimuang yesterday claimed all MPs would be elected under the political formula.
He said professional representatives would be nominated by members of each professional group, then those nominated would be elected by the public. He said this group of MPs would not be selected.
However, Maj-Gen Chamlong said the draft is still a preliminary model proposed by the PAD. The PAD will invite experts to discuss solutions to the problems in the country’s present representation system.
Asked how professional representatives would be different from the professional representatives selected as senators, Maj-Gen Chamlong said selected senators are nominated by a panel comprising a small number of people who are not really representatives of the people.
“The PAD must gear towards ‘new politics’,” Maj-Gen Chamlong said.
Another PAD core leader, Somsak Kosaisuk, said the idea behind the ‘new politics’ model is to enable the parliament to have representatives from different professions to pave the way for genuine public participation. He claimed that parliament is now full of business people and influential figures.
In Nakhon Ratchasima, Weerasak Bunploeng, chairman of Nakhon Ratchasima Lawyers Council, said his council is holding a seminar on the PAD’s new politics model at a hotel in Muang district today.
The council has invited the heads of state agencies in the provinces and the leaders of business organisations, including PAD leaders in the province, to brainstorm the PAD’s proposed model.
Commenting on reports the Somchai Wongsawat government is planning to negotiate with the PAD through Maj-Gen Chamlong’s military cadet classmate Maj-Gen Manoonkrit Roopkachorn, Maj-Gen Chamlong said he is willing to negotiate, but the PAD’s stance remains the same.
It opposes any charter amendments and the People Power party-led government.
