Cautious Pheu Thai likely to seek charter change article-by-article
Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra said his sister's government will avoid conflicts like those that led to his ouster in a 2006 coup, even as it presses ahead with efforts to curb the power of the courts.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's ruling Pheu Thai Party will probably drop plans to completely rewrite the Constitution and amend it section-by-section instead, to side-step challenges that caused previous governments to fall, Thaksin said in an interview in Singapore yesterday.
It will also shelve a bill granting a broad amnesty that would include him - until the timing is right, he said.
"If we cannot amend the Constitution that we have now, it's difficult," said Thaksin, who has lived overseas since fleeing a 2008 jail sentence. "It's like the government is living in a house full of land mines. So you have to be very cautious of what you are doing."
Planned amendments would decrease the power of independent agencies such as the Constitution Court and give more say to elected officials, Thaksin said.
"We are working carefully and also we are in consultation with the Constitution Court, [about] which area is acceptable," he said, referring to plans to change the charter. "We want to do things that are acceptable [to] everybody."
The approach may extend the tenure of Yingluck's 13-month-old government, which has already outlasted the last Thaksin-linked administration, which collapsed in 2008 after protesters seized Bangkok's airports. The stability has pushed Thai stocks to a 16-year high as increased spending on rice helped the economy grow more than economists expected in the second quarter.
Thailand's benchmark SET Index has gained 23 per cent since Pheu Thai's election win on July 3, 2011, the second-best performer in the world behind Venezuela, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Thaksin praised his sister Yingluck, saying her personality has reduced animosity among his opponents.
"She handles politics much better than me," Thaksin said.
"While another coup can't be ruled out," Thaksin said, "it wouldn't easily succeed."
"If it were to happen again it would not be a quiet coup, [with] no blood," he said. "It's because the people are aware. The last coup made their life worse so they know they would not allow it to easily happen again."
Thaksin, 63, said he was visiting Singapore to watch a Formula One race as a guest of Temasek Holdings, which in 2006 bought the telecommunications firm he founded. He said he's in no hurry to return to his native land, having grown accustomed to a life where he flies every three days on average to cities like London, Dubai and Hong Kong.
In 2010, a court seized Bt46.4 billion held by Thaksin's family after ruling that policies during his five years as prime minister increased the value of Shin Corp, the telecommunications company now controlled by Temasek.
Thaksin declined to reveal his net worth, while saying his enemies "clipped his deep pockets".
"The principle is about justice," Thaksin said, referring to his seized wealth. "Did I have enough justice? Did they treat me correctly? Did they observe the rule of law while treating me? If not, I have to be remedied."
The reconciliation committee, set up by Abhisit's government after the violence, also cautioned against a broad amnesty and called for constitutional changes to be explained to the public, as well as for the military to stay out of politics and for judges to remain neutral. When releasing its report, committee chairman Kanit Na Nakorn called for Thaksin to stay out of political affairs.
"That's the view of a very few people, especially the chairman," Thaksin said, adding that Kanit was still angry with him about a dispute over who to include in his Thai Rak Thai political party, which brought him to power in 2001. Kanit declined to comment directly on Thaksin's remarks when reached by phone late yesterday.
Thaksin also said any changes to a law that protects His Majesty the King and other Royal Family members from insults should come from the King's advisers.
"The privy councillors should be the ones who consider whether we emphasise the process, whether it should be amended," Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 coup, said, referring to the lese-majeste law. "I don't think the government will initiate [it]. It must be initiated [by] the privy councillors."
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Source: http://www.news.thethailandlinks.com/2012/09/26/thaksin-says-pm-will-avert-political-crisis/
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