‘Nattawut’ insists that the People’s Party’s proposal to amend the constitution does not benefit anyone. He insists that the 44 MPs with ethics cases did not sign the petition. He hopes that the political institution will be stable and the people will benefit. He said that he has already talked to some senators to ask for their support. He is waiting to discuss the time frame with the 3 whips this week.
Mr. Nattawut Buaprathum, a party-list MP from the Prachachon Party, spoke about the proposal to amend the constitution on the issue of ethical standards for politicians, which both the Prachachon Party and the Pheu Thai Party submitted for consideration by the parliamentary meeting. He emphasized that currently, ethical issues that have been interpreted to extend beyond the intent of the constitution or what the public expects and wants, such as corruption, are unacceptable to all parties. However, when there are various details, it opens the way for independent organizations to consider interpreting it to e
xtend beyond the intent of the constitution, which is harmful to the development of political institutions and the development of democracy. Therefore, if the constitution is amended only, but not the organic law on the law on prevention and suppression of corruption, it will not be complete. This week, the president of the parliament will make an appointment with the whips of the three parties to set a time frame for considering the draft amendments to the constitution, which the Prachachon Party has proposed in total of 4 drafts. The main contents are different but are related. They should be considered together but voted separately for each draft. The Prachachon Party would like to have as much time as possible in the parliamentary meeting to consider amending the constitution article by article because it is important. If it takes only 1 day, we have to wait and see when it will be finished. However, if it is too tight, it may be requested to be 2 days. If the full time is used to consider the details, it
will be more beneficial.
When asked about the accusation that the proposed amendment to the constitution on ethical standards was for political and personal gain, Mr. Nattawut said that the draft proposed by the Prachachon Party, the members who signed were not the ones affected by the ethics case, namely the 44 MPs. The former Move Forward Party did not join in signing the proposed draft amendment to the constitution because they truly intended to lead to a review of the constitution in this section, not to benefit any individual or any group.
Mr. Nattawut added that the amendments to the ethics section and related sections were not for anyone’s benefit but for the stability of the political institution because the most important inspection system is the inspection from the people who voted. Even in cases where individuals are misled, each political party has a strict inspection process, such as the former Move Forward Party, which confirms that the amendment of the constitution is for the stability and ap
propriateness of the political institution and the benefit of the people. However, the parliamentary forum will use the people’s doubts to explain and clarify doubts that the need to amend the main points is to review the entire constitution, but the time of the entire amendment has moved from the original intended time, such as the referendum bill that was just approved by the Senate, which was delayed in terms of process. And the first referendum is still uncertain whether it will happen at the same time as the election of the provincial administrative organization president or provincial administrative organization council members in February 2025. Therefore, it is necessary to submit an amendment, section by section, of which ethics is only one part. There are also issues of the national strategy and the structure of things left over from the NCPO orders that need to be reviewed. And there are many other issues that I would like the people to follow up on to see that everything that has been done is to ma
intain appropriate political institutions in a democratic regime and does not benefit any one person for sure.
Mr. Nattawut said that he had informally discussed with the senators to ask for support for amending the constitution because it is an important part that requires support. This senator group is very diverse, unlike the previous senator group, so it may not be possible to talk to every group or every person. However, the important thing to do now is to make the public understand, which is to confirm that the amendment is not for the benefit of anyone or any party, but to maintain the political party system as one of the main political institutions. However, he believes that the senator who comes from the people must understand politics and the decision will be independent, not a push button to point in any way. Therefore, he is still confident that if the entire draft of the constitutional amendment is seen, the reasons and reasons presented by each member are considered, it will definitely receive
1 in 3 support from the senators.
Source: Thai News Agency