THAILAND: Open letter condemning the Thai Junta's Interim Constitution
August 2, 2014
An Open Letter from Thai Citizens Against Dictatorship forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC).
THAILAND: Open Letter Condemning the Thai Junta's Interim Constitution
As Thai citizens, we are writing to make clear that the military junta's Interim Constitution does not represent our
will, nor does it represent the will of the Thai people as a whole. It is no one's rules, but the junta's own. We regard
the Interim Constitution as Thailand's most anti-democratic constitution in half a century. We condemn it emphatically
on three points.
1. The Interim Constitution is an attempt to entrench dictatorial rule in a permanent constitution, and force-feed it to
the population.
Under the Interim Constitution, the new, permanent constitution will be drafted and voted through only by bodies
appointed by the junta. It will not go through a popular referendum. Such an undemocratic origin will not give rise to a
democratic content. The population will be force-fed with a permanent constitution that continues the junta's
authoritarianism, only in a permanent form. This is all the more abominable because it is done in the name of "reform"
for a better democracy.
2. The Interim Constitution abolishes civil and human rights, and redefines arbitrary use of force as rule of law.
Rights are rights only when they cannot be arbitrarily violated. While Section 4 of the Interim Constitution says that
basic civil rights of citizens must be protected, it also says that these rights are subject to constitutional
provisions, which includes the provision that gives the junta absolute power to issue any arbitrary order as law
(Section 44). With this recognition of arbitrary use of force as legitimate, the mention of rights is meaningless. No
rights are actually protected at all. In this sense, the Interim Constitution pretends to protect civil rights, when in
truth it abolishes them. At the same time, in an Orwellian move, the Interim Constitution redefines arbitrary use of
force as rule of law.
3. The Interim Constitution grants the junta impunity for their past, present and future crimes.
The Interim Constitution grants the junta impunity from "any guilt or responsibility whatsoever for any illegal act
committed before, during, or after 22 May 2014" (Section 48). Pretending that they are bringing peace, order and
happiness, the junta give themselves a wild card to continue, or even escalate, their human rights violations without
ever being held responsible.
We call on the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to immediately repeal the Interim Constitution, so as to
annul impunity, protect civil and human rights, and allow for the permanent constitution to be drafted by an elected
body and approved by the people in a free, fair and inclusive referendum.
Thai Citizens Against Dictatorship
1 August 2014
ENDS