Difficult law to draw up

When the first draft of the charter being written by the Meechai panel is unveiled to the public on Jan 29, it will be missing a juicy element: a reconciliation committee.

Meechai Ruchupan, head of the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC), has recently revealed the reconciliation issue would not be incorporated in the draft constitution.

The country’s top legal expert seems to have given up on the issue.

In media reports he i ndicated he was “clueless as to how to write a law to achieve reconciliation, and writing anything down in the charter could not make the matter materialise”.

Mr Meechai has suggested that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha could use his special power or invoke Section 44 of the interim charter to appoint a committee to promote reconciliation and peace.

“So a committee on reconciliation may not be included in the charter. It can be set up at any time, possibly by the prime minister who can use his power under Section 44. There is no need to put it in the charter,” Mr Meechai said.

The coup-appointed National Legislative Assembly (NLA) has floated the idea of setting up a peace committee to bring about reconciliation. The planned peace committee, according to the NLA, will comprise NLA members, representatives of rival political camps, academics and peace specialists.

Attempts at establishing reconciliation have so far been only a shambles.

The findings and recommendations by the defunct Truth for Reconciliation Commission led by Kanit na Nakorn remain on paper.

The proposed reconciliation committee has awakened fears over a bitterly controversial “crisis panel”, so called on account of it being entrusted with the power to break a political impasse in time of grave national crisis and having the dreaded ability to override the government.

The crisis panel idea was put forth by the previous CDC chaired by Borwornsak Uwanno. The proposal was met with wide criticism, not least because the crisis committee was to be made up mainly of military top brass. Critics see it as a scheme to legitimise coups.

Despite Mr Meechai’s remarks, attempts at promoting reconciliation and avoiding political conflicts are not being abandoned entirely.

CDC spokesman Chartchai Na Chiangmai has a proposal and is ready to bring it up before the full committee this weekend. The CDC is now meeting in Phetchaburi’s Cha-am district and the charter drafters are going through the first draft section-by-section.

According to Mr Chartchai, his proposal which is backed by some charter drafters, calls for intervention from heads of the country’s three courts — the Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court and the Constitutional Court — and a select group of judges when a political stalemate occurs and involves the government of the day.

It is based on public confidence and faith in the judiciary’s independence and integrity.

“Unlike the crisis panel, our version doesn’t include the military top brass. The court judges will invite all stakeholders involved in the conflict to hold talks and hammer out a solution. It may as a last resort recommend the resignation of the prime minister or a House dissolution,” he said.

“The committee won’t order the government to do something ... this is to ensure it doesn’t overstep the mark by meddling with the executive branch. Its opinion serves as a guidance on how to resolve a [dead-end] situation.”

This weekend we will know whether the Meechai committee is behind Mr Chartchai on leaving the reconciliation committee on the back burner, and whether his idea can create enough interest among those who have grown weary of reconciliation, a concept that is popular but open to too many questions.