Summary of the Standing Provisions of the
By Pakorn
Nilprapunt
Deputy
Secretary-General of the Council of State
Member and
1st Secretary of the Constitution Drafting Committee
pakorn.nilprapunt@gmail.com
(c) 2016
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Form of State:
Thailand is one and indivisible Kingdom.
Form of Administration:
Thailand adopts the democratic regime of government with the King as Head
of State.
Sovereign Power:
Sovereign power belongs to Thai people and the King exercises such power
through the National Assembly, the Council of Ministers and the Courts in
accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
Exercising of Sovereign Power:
All State’s organs as mentioned above as well as independence
organization and State’s agencies shall act in compliance with the provisions
of the Constitution, law and the Rule of Law for the benefit of the nation and
well-being of Thai people. This provision is therefore not prejudice to the
power of all State’s organs to perform any matter which is not prohibited by
the Constitution and law if such performance is beneficial to public.
Human Dignity and Equality:
1. Human dignity, right, liberty and equality of the people shall be
protected.
2. All Thai people shall be protected under the Constitution equally.
Supremacy of the Constitution:
1. The Constitution is the supreme law of the State. Any provision of
law, rule or regulation or any act which is contrary to, or inconsistent with,
the provision of the Constitution is unenforceable.
2. If there is no provision of this Constitution to apply with any matter,
the President of the Constitutional Court shall organize joint meeting of the
President of the House of Representatives, the President of the Senate, the
Prime Minister, the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, the President of
the Supreme Administrative Court, the President of the Constitutional Court and
the Presidents of all independence organizations to consider such matter along
with the Constitutional Convention of the Kingdom of Thailand. The decision of
the joint sitting shall be final and binding the National Legislative Assembly,
the Council of Ministers, the Courts and all independence organizations and
State agencies.
The King:
1. The King shall
be enthroned in a position of revered worship and shall not be violated.
2. No person shall expose the
King to any sort of accusation or action.
3. The King is a Buddhist and
Upholder of religions.
4. The King holds the position of
Head of the Thai Armed Forces.
Right and Liberty of the Thai People:
1. Right and liberty of Thai people and community right under the 1997
and 2007 Constitutions such as right in person, freedom of religions, freedom
of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, academic freedom,
family right, property right, privacy right, right to public information, right
to petition, freedom of association, freedom of peaceful assembly, consumer
right, right to conserve and protect local wisdom, art and culture, natural
resources and environment, political right, right to public service etc. are relatively
guaranteed by this Constitution. It is for the first time in Thai Constitution
that accord special protection and assistance to mother during a reasonable
period before and after child birth.
2. Additionally, this Constitution guarantees right and liberty of Thai
people to the greatest extent by imposing that in addition to the significant
right and liberty as specifically prescribed by the Constitution, the people
has the right to freedom to do any act he desires if it is not prohibited or
restricted by the Constitution or law.
3. The exercising of right and liberty by individual or community under
the Constitution shall, however, be accountable to public. No one shall
exercise his right or liberty in the manner that may affect public security or
safety, public order or good moral and right and liberty of others. A person
whose right or liberty is violated shall have the right to bring the case
against the violator to the court directly.
4. To secure right and liberty of individual from abusiveness, any law
to prohibit or restrict right and liberty of people and community shall:
·
be in accordance with
the provision of the Constitution;
·
not be contrary to,
or inconsistent with, the Rule of Law;
·
not causing harm to
human dignity;
·
restrict right or
liberty of individual necessarily and proportionately;
·
clarify justification
and necessity for the restriction of such right and liberty;
·
be applied indiscriminately.
5. The Constitutional Court shall have the duty to examine the
constitutionality of law.
Duty of Thai People:
All Thai shall:
·
protect the country,
religions and the Monarchy;
·
uphold democratic
regime of government with the King as the Head of State;
·
comply with law;
·
attend compulsory
education;
·
serve military
service;
·
respect right and
liberty of others and do not advocate any hatred in the society;
·
exercise voting right
independently with free will;
·
provide corporation
for the conservation and protection of environment, natural resources,
biological diversity and cultural heritage;
·
pay taxes as provided
by law;
·
counter corruption in
all forms.
Duty of State:
1. The past Constitutions contained only the provisions on the
fundamental policy of the State as a very broad guideline for State
administration and left each government the discretion to do what it thought
appropriate. In practice, such important elements for national development as
education and public health and for strengthening democracy as public
participation, openness and transparency had always been set at low priority
however. The result thereof produces negative impact for the country as a
whole.
2. This Constitution for the first time then adds the urgent priorities
that the government “must do” for long term development of the country in the
Duty of State Chapter so as to ensure that all these fundamental matters for national development shall have to
be implemented continually by the governments.
3. The important State Duties are: viz.
·
maintaining national
security and public safety;
·
maintaining law and
order;
·
providing special
care for the best development of 1-3 years kids and shall provide free
education for all children from kindergarten
through secondary school or Grade 9 (Totally 12 years). All sorts of education
after compulsory education shall be equally assessable to all upon voluntary basis.
Education fund for supporting the taking care of 1-3 years kids and for the
provision of after compulsory education shall be established so as to reduce
inequality in education between who have and who have not. There is no
provision of the Constitution that prevent the State from providing free
education or any other assistance for people who eagers to learn after
compulsory education if the government thinks it is appropriate. All education
shall be directed to the full development of personality of each learner and
shall aspire all learners to have civic consciousness, to be proud of being
Thai and to be responsible to family, community, society and the nation.
·
providing quality
public health service thoroughly, and free public health service shall be
provided for the people who have not as provided by law. Thai traditional
medicine shall be promoted;
·
providing necessary
public utility in accordance with the principle of sustainable development, and
fee to be collected therefrom shall be at reasonable rate;
·
conserving and
preserving natural resources and environment as well as biological
diversity. The utilization of natural
resources shall produce the least impact to the people, community and
biological diversity;
·
conducting public
consultation with related stakeholders and the public if any act or project or
the granting of any permission may produce serious adverse impact to
environment, health, quality of life of the people or community. EHIA is
mandatory required prior to the beginning of the project or the granting of
permission and fair and appropriate remedies shall be provided to the
interested stakeholders without delay;
·
conserving and
preserving local and national arts and cultures, and public space for the
performance of arts and cultures shall be arranged. The State shall enhance participation of
individual, local community and local administration on this matter;
·
facilitating the
public to access information in possession of the State other than confidential
information as prescribed by law so as to enhance transparency and
accountability in public sector;
·
protecting consumer
rights and strengthen consumer network for the purpose of consumer protection;
·
maintaining public
finance discipline;
·
counter corruption in
all forms and provide efficient protection to whistle blowers.
Policy of the State:
1. Policy of the State under this Constitution is different from that of
the forerunners. It is not a set of broad guidelines for State administration
as ever, but it becomes the commitment by which all governments have to comply
with.
2. The important State policies are: viz.
·
causing to have, with
public consultation, the National Strategic Plan for sustainable development of
the country in the long run;
·
strengthening
international relation with other States and international organizations upon
the basis of reciprocity and non-interference of internal affairs;
·
causing to reorganize
justice administration with a view to provide justice without delay and at
reasonable cost. The poor shall obtain legal aids and remedy as provided by
law. All officers through the judicial process shall be guaranteed of their
impartiality in the performance of duty;
·
strengthening
protection of Buddhism which is the religion upheld by most of Thai for very
long time;
· encouraging research
and development as well as innovation;
·
promoting all Thai
ethnic groups to live their lives in accordance with their conventional custom
and culture;
·
strengthening the family
which is the natural and fundamental group unit of the society, cause to have
affordable and appropriate housing for the people, enhance quality of lives of
the people and encourage the development of quality of human resource;
·
promoting minor,
youth, women, elderly, disable and the poor to live their lives appropriately
and protect them from all sorts of violence or unfair treatment. The injured person shall be rehabilitated and
compensated;
·
preparing government
budget fairly with due regard to the difference of gender, age and conditions
of person;
·
causing to reform
economic structure of the country upon the concept of fair, inclusive and
sustainable growth and the philosophy of sufficient economy;
·
causing to have better
legislation for better lives through the ex ante assessment (Regulatory
Impact Assessment: RIA) of all draft legislations and ex post evaluation
of all existing legislations.
etc.
The Legislatives:
1. The parliamentary system of Thailand under the Constitution bases
upon bicameral basis, the House of Representatives and the Senate. All bill
shall be introduced to the House of Representatives and then forward to, upon
the approval of the House of Representatives, the Senate for consideration. The
bill approved by the both Houses shall be submitted to the King for His
resignation and it shall come into force upon its publication in the Government
Gazette.
2. The House of Representatives consists of 500 members (MP) by which
350 MP are the persons winning direct vote in each constituency upon the basis
of first past the post while the remaining come from party list basis. In
calculation of the number of MP from party list basis in which each political
party should have, popularity of each political party shall be the ground for calculation.
In this case, all votes that each political party obtained in the general
election shall be brought into calculation. A political party which occupies
the seats of MP upon the basis of first past the post more than the number of
MP that such political party should have from the calculation shall not be
entitled to additional party list MP, but the party obtaining seats of MP upon
the basis of first past the post less than the number of MP that such political
party should have from the calculation shall be entitled to additional party
list MP to fulfil the deficit for fair. The House of Representatives has a term
of 4 years. The House may be dissolved for re-election by the Royal Command
upon the recommendation of the Prime Minister.
3. The members of at least 1/5 of the House of Representatives may file
the motion of no confidence once a year, but the members of at least 1/10 of
the House of Representatives may file a motion for general debate as
appropriate. If the leader of the opposition in the House of Representatives is
of opinion that there is a problem concerning with public security or safety,
he may file a motion for general debate between the National Assembly and the
government. In this case, the Council of Ministers shall have the duty to
attend the meeting.
4. The Senate composes of 200 members in which the qualified candidates
from all walks of life nationwide elected among themselves (indirect election)
from district level, provincial level until national level. The term of office
of the Senate is 5 years. The Senator who vacates office shall not be
re-elected.
5. Any person having been sentenced by judgement of the court on such ground
as acing official service in bad faith, fraud, narcotics drug, gambling, money
laundering, human trafficking or violating the law on election as well as a
person who having been fired or dismissed on the ground of corruption shall not
be eligible as candidate in an election to be a member of the both Houses.
The Executives:
The Council of Ministers composing of a Prime Minister and not more than
35 Ministers. The Prime Minister shall be voted by the House of
Representatives. All candidates for the office of the Prime Minister shall
however be named in public by the resolution of the political parties and with consent
of those persons. Each political party may nominate not more than 3 eligible
nominees. The political party shall therefore be accountable to public directly
for its nomination.
The Courts:
The Court shall be established by law. The Constitutional Court’s
jurisdiction is constitutionality of law and the violation of right and liberty
as guaranteed by the Constitution. The jurisdiction of the Administrative Court
is the administrative case as provided by law, while the Military Court deals
with the matter relating to military case as provided by law. The Court of
Justice’s jurisdiction covers all cases which is not in the arms’ length of the
aforesaid Courts.
Independence organizations:
1. There are 5 independence organizations; viz. the Election
Commission, the Ombudsmen, the Human Rights Commission, the National Counter
Corruption Commission and the State Audit Commission. Each independence
organization shall have the duty and power as provided by the Organic Law
related thereto.
2. All independence organizations, like such organizations abroad, have
been established since the 1997 Constitution so as to enhance accountability
and transparency of State administration. The referendum of 2007 Constitution
confirmed that the provisions related to all independence organizations had to
be an integral part of Thai Constitution.
Conflicts of Interest:
The Constitution specifies acts of conflicts of interest clearly. Any
person who violates or fails to comply with these provisions shall be brought
to judicial process in accordance with the rule and procedure provided by law.
Local administration:
Local administration shall be provided upon self-administration of the
people in each locality. The establishment of each form of local administration
shall be in accordance with the law.
Constitution Amendment:
1. An amendment of the Constitution shall be made if it is not an
amendment on the form of State and the form of administration.
2. The motion for Constitution amendment shall be introduced by the
Council of Ministers or 1/5 of the members of the House of Representatives or
1/5 of the members of the National Assembly or not less than 50 000 people
having the right to vote.
National Reform:
1. The Constitution lay downs a mandatory reform on the following priority
matters with a view to maintain public security and safety and national
harmony, to strengthen inclusive and sustainable growth in compliance with the
philosophy of sufficient economy, to create well-being, fairness and equality
atmosphere, to enhance better lives of the people and public participation
State administration:
·
Politics;
·
State administration;
·
Law;
·
Judicial process
(including police);
·
Education;
·
Economics;
·
Other.
2. There shall be the law on national reform, and the reform of the
aforesaid matters shall begin within one year as from the date the Constitution
comes into force and outcomes thereof shall be measured within five years.
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