I just got myself a copy of the yellow book, AKA, the new draft of Thailand’s oh so democratic constitution.
OK it’s not like I can’t read Thai but the Thai people use in these law texts is horribly incomprehensible for normal people. Guess they’re trying to fool us with their big words so we’d think it sounds so official and legit so we’d be like, “Oh we should respect it and blindedly say yes.”
But I got it anyway just wanna see what it’s really like and it’s really like what I thought it would be.
Long, winding, complicated and doesn’t really mean anything.
Like for example, they’re saying something like you can express your opinion as long as it doesn’t conflict with the morals and ethics, or something along that line.
So what are the morals and the ethics that’s considered “legitimate” here? These things cannot be defined it depends on the people. How could you make ethics a law?
But anywho I’ve searched the net over for some easier versions of this thing and so far this is the conclusion I have come across:
For a regular citizen, vote yes, as it will restore the democracy into the country to a certian extend, and this new one deals with the rights of the people better than the old one.
For a media person (journalist, blogger, whatever), vote no, as the new draft limits a lot of freedom of expression and rights to public opinions, so it’s not really democratic to stop people from speaking their minds freely.
So now, am I a citizen or am I a media person? The No vote sounds tempting but then the country will probably never stop being chaotic. But if I vote Yes, I’d feel like I’m betraying my own principles a bit. When people bitch at me in my blogs, I don’t ban them, I don’t tell them to f*ck off, I left their comments there for people to see and make their own opinions. And when I say something people don’t like, I don’t remove it or edit it as it is my blog as I say whatever I want. Now will I be betraying what I do if I say yes to the limit to the freedom of expression?
Well if you’re stuck in the same situation, check these sources out:
Prachatai – A few reasonable points to vote no from the media perspective
Parliament.go.th (PDF) – In Thai. A comparison between the 1997 one and this one – by the people who made it – so I guess you know what their answer is.
You can get yourself a copy of this yellow book at various Thailand Post Offices. They are the one who distributes the copies to your home so some might have extra copies left in their stock. Call before you get there or you can download the PDF version here (in Thai).
Educate yourself before you make a choice you’ll regret on Aug 19.
About the Author
Kitz is a Thai girl but she has a very western attitude. For more articles visit her site at gnarlykitty.blogspot.com/