“Thawee” believes that the Senate’s rejection of the referendum draft has nothing to do with the Blue Party. He insists that he will use the remaining 3 years to move forward with amending the constitution. He says that no one can order the government except the people.
Pol. Col. Thawee Sodsong, Minister of Justice and leader of the Prachachat Party, mentioned the case of Mr. Phumtham Vejjayachai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, who will meet with the core leaders of the political parties about the approach to amending the constitution. He said that he has not yet called, but he only heard from the media. Normally, the coalition parties will meet to discuss, but in the past, there was a flood, so they had to help the people first. However, amending the constitution is an important policy of the government, which according to the government’s term, will last another 3 years. Amending the constitution is considered the government’s intention. It must be amended, so we have to talk because it re
quires votes in the parliament, which is a vote.
When asked whether the amendment of the constitution would require the votes of the Senate, and therefore be seen as some political parties behind it in order to make the amendment of the constitution follow their own direction, Pol. Col. Thawee said, ‘I don’t believe that will happen because at the beginning of the amendment of the constitution, Mr. Anutin Charnvirakul, Minister of the Interior, as leader of the Bhumjaithai Party, was the first person to talk about this matter, while I was sitting with him.’
And when asked again whether it would be an order from the Blue Party for the Senate to reject the draft referendum bill, Pol. Col. Thawee said that he believed that there was no one who could order the government, except the people. The people were not there to serve the government. The government had to serve the people. The people who could order the government were the people.
As for whether discussions with the coalition parties must follow the sam
e approach, he said that discussions are a dialogue, not a debate. Therefore, there can be different opinions, but in the end, it will end with unity among all parties.
As for the fact that the senators have a common resolution to change the draft amendment to the constitution into a two-tier referendum, how will it affect the referendum? Pol. Col. Thawee stated that it is the power of the senators because if there is a disagreement, it can be argued. Therefore, there is no concern that the constitution will not be amended in time during this government’s term. In the end, it depends on the reasons of each side. Although this group of senators did not come from direct elections, but came through an indirect election system, they must see its importance because they believe that they see the flaws in this constitution.
Source: Thai News Agency