Thai Post-Coup Constitution Gains More Opponents

The growing number of opponents to Thailand's draft post-coup constitution could derail the army's plan for elections.

The growing number of opponents to Thailand's draft post-coup constitution, including monks who want Buddhism to be the state religion, could derail the army's plan for elections by the end of the year, analysts said.

The interim government in charge since the Sept. 19 coup against Thaksin has promised elections under a new charter in December.

"Judging from all the political campaigns and turbulence now, the chances of having a general election in December are less than 50 percent," political radio commentator Sukhum Nualskul said on Monday.

The coup leaders and cabinet expect protests to intensify this month and next as the pro-Thaksin camp tries to rally support around PTV, a satellite television station the army-backed government refused to allow on air.

But the new post-coup constitution, whose first draft was made public last week, is stirring up anger in so many quarters its ratification in a referendum expected in September is far from assured.

A retired major-general and Buddhist activist who led 300 protesters outside parliament last week hopes for a much larger rally of monks and laymen on Wednesday to demand Buddhism become the national religion.

Tongkhao Paungrodpant, who has tried and failed with similar bids in the past, said his Buddhism Protection Centre would encourage its supporters to reject the charter in a referendum if his call was ignored.

"Unlike Muslims, who pressure the government to get what they want by killing soldiers and police and beheading villagers, we Buddhists can only threaten the government with a 'no' vote in the referendum," he said.

Although 95 percent of Thailand's 63 million people are Buddhist, it has never been the "national religion" for fear of offending minorities, such as the Muslims who form the majority in the violence-torn southern provinces.

ARMY WARY

The generals have also accused Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party, the political juggernaut that swept him to unprecedented landslide election victories in 2001 and 2005, of machinating against them despite a ban on political activity.

Although the numbers of demonstrators are small, the generals -- who will have watched the street protests against Thaksin snowball from a couple of hundred to more than 100,000 in a matter of weeks last year -- are not taking any chances.

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont was in the Thaksin heartland of the northeast on Monday to listen to the grievances of farmers and prevent them from heading to Bangkok.

PTV, which has staged several rallies attacking the government and the Council for National Security, as the coup commanders are now called, is planning another march against the draft constitution on Friday.

"There are a lot of items hidden in the draft charter that we will expose," PTV Vice President Jatuporn Prompan told Reuters. "We can't allow this draft to sail through."

His particular concerns were the creation of an appointed, rather than elected, Senate and the reduction in the number of MPs to 400 from 500.

"They are doing everything they can to stop the government and the coup leaders achieving their goal of finishing Thaksin, including rejecting this draft constitution," political analyst Prayad Hongtongkhum said. (Reuters)