House Speaker Wan Muhammad Noor Matha has agreed to meet a House committee on political development, mass communication and public participation to discuss constitutional amendments later this month.
Mr Wan said he would meet with the committee on Nov 27 after its chairman, People’s Party MP Parit Wacharasindhu, expressed a wish to discuss the constitution and related issues, including the possibility of shortening the referendum process required.
The speaker said the House is ready to cooperate and work out ways to break any impasse if the proposed amendments, proposed by the governing Pheu Thai Party and the opposition People’s Party, are beneficial to the public.
Any bills that are not in violation of the constitution or parliamentary regulations will be put on the agenda, Mr Wan said.
“As far as I’m concerned the People’s Party charter-amendment drafts are seeking to revise the charter on a section-by-section basis,” he said.
“Still, we’ll have to examine the content first.”
Mr Wan has said previously that amending critical areas of the charter or changing it entirely would require a favourable referendum vote in advance before any work is done.
He voiced support for holding three referendums to pre-empt the amendment process potentially being nullified later by the Constitutional Court.
He had previously refused to approve House deliberation over concern it would be in breach of a March 11, 2021 charter court ruling.
That ruling stipulated the need to allow members of the public to have their opinions heard on parliament’s rewriting of the charter by way of a referendum both before and after the new version is drafted.
The House committee’s proposed talks with Mr Wan are the panel’s attempt to ensure the country will have a new constitution written by a charter-drafting assembly before the next general election in 2027.
To do so, the government will have to settle for two referendums instead of three.
- About Politics: No change, no charter
