Taking a look at the PAD and it’s ‘New Politics’ proposal has generated some interesting comments. Some say it may be treason and others just think it is a good idea. The thoughts and concepts are simple, put the government on a leash.
The PAD has proposed a set of conditions that would let the military intervene if the government did not police itself. The intent of this is to shorten the time it takes to come down on bad boy politicians. The New Politics Proposal is more or less a form of insuring political correctness with Thai politicians. Although the concept of ‘New Politics’ is sound, the methods proposed have some flaws.
There are mechanisms in the constitution to deal with a bad government, however the government can slow or even stop those mechanisms if enough of the government is corrupt. Issues must go through parts of the government before they are turned over to the courts. Once in the hands of the court the government like anyone else must respect the courts rulings.
The four basic elements of the New Politics proposal is as follows;
New Politics allowed the military to intervene in politics under four conditions.
- First, if somebody committed lese majeste and no legal action was taken.
- Second, if the government did nothing for the people of Thailand.
- Third, if state officials became involved in corruption.
- Fourth, if Thai sovereignty was infringed.
Ironically all four of those conditions exist and that is why some in government see it as treason because it is calling for military intervention. By taking that stance is simply admitting those conditions exist. If the conditions did not exist there would be no sense of threat and such a strong negative comment would be unlikely. Under the New Politics principle, without the four conditions, the military would not get involved.
Article 113 says that people who try to abolish the constitution or the legal, administrative, and judicial powers which it underpins will be sentenced to life imprisonment or death for treason.
This can only be described as a short leash for the government, and many would agree it is needed. If the government can’t or wont police themselves then big brother military steps in.
The flaws in this proposal is it steps outside the constitution as it is written and would certainly see people jailed if it was implemented without adapting new constitutional language to support such policing. In short making necessary coups legal. There would need to be provisions for circumstantial evidence to be uses as the government would simply bog things down like it is doing now. There would need to be a panel of un-bias watchdog overseers with their finger on the violation button that starts the military in action.
Simply there is a need for what the PAD is calling for because the government can stall or stop criminal investigations of itself. For Thailand to move forward the government must be functional and working for the people. It is amazing how such a noble idea of getting the government to work properly may be called treason.
