Deputy leader of the Palang Pracharat party, Mr. Paiboon Nititawan, has urged fellow MPs who want to protect the Monarchy to reject the draft constitutional amendment proposed by the Internet Law Reform Dialogue, or iLaw NGO, claiming that it is unconstitutional because the organization accepts foreign funding.
In his speech on iLaw’s draft in parliament today, Mr. Paiboon said that the draft is unconstitutional because iLaw has accepted financial support from foreign sources and, hence, cannot get involved in political activities.
He also accused the NGO of opposing the Monarchy and questioned its motive for introducing a clause which opens the door to all kinds of people, including those banished from politics and even “bandits”, to apply to become members of a future Constitution Drafting Assembly.
He announced that he will reject iLaw’s draft and urged his fellow legislators to do the same.
Senator Seri Suwanpanont, meanwhile, questioned iLaw representative, Jon Ungphakorn, who admitted that the NGO accepts foreign funding, but assured that the donors do not have any influence over the organization.
The Senator cited 11 key points in iLaw’s draft, claiming that all of them concern Thai security, such as the proposed scrapping of the 20-year national strategy, the proposed dissolution of the Constitutional Court, the National Human Rights Commission and the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
He also questioned whether the almost 100,000 signatories actually signed their names in support of iLaw’s draft in the presence of Mr. Jon, or just signed online.
Seri suggested that there are many more people who disagree with iLaw’s draft, which claims to be a “people’s draft”, adding that he is loyal to the Monarchy and could not accept iLaw’s version of the supreme law.
