NLA railroading legislation through
like there's no tommorrow
By Jon Fernquest |
The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) is railroading legislation through at a furious pace:
Last week, legislators managed to endorse more than 40 bills in just two days. And yesterday alone, the legislators were supposed to endorse 40 bills - including 25 urgent bills which have already passed their first readings, and 15 new bills.
Waiting to the last moment to pass all these bills means it is virtually impossible to adequately study and debate the new laws.
Robin Hood (see photo) stole from rich to give to poor, the opposite of what seems to be happening now (see Jon Ungpakorn's analysis below).
Even with the help of assistants assigned to each legislator, it requires a superman (or superwoman) to be familiar with and understand the gist of all the bills so that he or she will be able to participate in the debate (or remain silent); at the very least they would be able to vote wisely, with full understanding of the contents of the bills...several legislators will simply be raising their hands to vote for the bills along with their colleagues, without knowing exactly the bills' intent.
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"...the National Flag Bill, which has come under heavy criticism for its ridiculous proposal which forces everyone, including motorists, to stop and stand at attention in a show of respect for the national flag when the national anthem is played twice a day at 8am and 6pm."
Most of the NLA aren't even there to vote!
A cause for even greater concern is that many of the bills passed last week were done so by just one quarter of the 241 legislators which make up the NLA. Many legislators could not attend parliament because they were tied up in meetings of various committees tasked with scrutinising all the bills which had gone through the first reading. Also, several legislators were on overseas trips and thus absent.
Jon Ungphakorn, former senator and activist, discussed why some of the bills were controversial in his weekly column Straight to the Point yesterday. The Internal Security Bill (discussed earlier in this blog) is the biggest concern:
...if passed into law this legislation would reserve a permanent place for the military establishment in the Thai political power structure, and allow military officers and their appointed civilian deputies to override basic civil rights guaranteed in the constitution.It would permanently undermine democracy in Thailand.
All the bills seem to stand Robin Hood ("rob from the rich to give to the poor") on his head and "rob from the poor to give to the rich." For example the Water Resource Bill threatens to take water away from poor people!
Also in the NLA pipeline is the Water Resource Bill which gives state agencies control of all water resources in the country, including resources traditionally managed by rural communities such as the "Muang-Fay" irrigation groups and networks that have operated for centuries in northern Thailand. This is clearly against the spirit of the constitution which stipulates the rights of communities to manage their local resources.If passed, small subsistence farmers could, for the first time, be charged for the water they use to grow rice.
There's no end in sight for Thailand's ICT tangle (see more articles):
Then there is the Radio and Television Broadcasting Bill (not to be confused with the Public Broadcasting Act) which if passed by the NLA in its present draft would allow both the military establishment and the Public Relations Department to retain all their present broadcasting frequencies indefinitely, thus preventing any real media reforms in terms of equal distribution of broadcasting frequencies among various social sectors. Army Radio and Television would be here to stay, hogging a sizeable proportion of the airwaves.
Agribusiness, of course, needs its share of the booty too:
Then there is the National Agricultural Council Bill which would create an agricultural policy making body consisting mainly of bureaucrats and representatives of agri-businesses. The millions of small farmers who grow our rice would have insignificant representation in this assembly.
And then there's a possible PPP election win, of course, which threatens to overturn all of it. Is this chaos? (Source: Bangkok Post, Jon Ungpakorn, 28-11-07, temp-link; editorial, 29-11-07, temp-link)
Vocabulary:
railroad, railroading through - force something to happen
legislation - laws to be debated and voted on by legislature (NLA)
like there's no tommorrow - acting quickly without much thought because the end is near
at a furious pace - very, very quickly
endorse - when someone with authority gives their approval
waiting to the last moment -
virtually impossible - almost impossible
adequately - do enough of it
gist - the general idea of a long text or speech
colleagues - people you work with
intent - what the goal was in doing it
screening - checking things before approving them
ensure - make sure somethign happens
on the surface - examining something casually without looking at details or digging deeper
ridiculous - silly, not logical, makes not sense, makes you laugh
a proposal - formerly making suggestions to adopt
stand at attention - stand up straight
national anthem - the official song of the country
cause for even greater concern -
tied up - busy with something, not available, not free
tasked with - given the job of doing
scrutinising - examining and chekcing carefully the details
first reading - the first of three readings in parliament, after which a vote is taken
guaranteed - say that it will happen for sure
undermine - weaken
Robin Hood - in English folk tales, a hero known for robbing the rich to provide for the poor and fighting against injustice and tyranny (See Wikipedia)
stand on its head - to reverse someone's ideas (Marx stood Hegel on his head)
in the pipeline - working on finishing, but not yet finished
"Muang-Fay" irrigation groups - ancient irrigation organisationa among farmers in northern Thailand
no end in sight -
ICT - Information and Communications Technology, study and research on the use of computers and communications technology such as networking or wireless/radio communication (See Wikipedia)
tangle - a complicated problem that is difficult to solve
military establishment - high-ranking powerful people in the military
retain - keep
broadcasting frequencies - the limited space available for sending radio and TV signals
reforms - improvements in policy or laws
here to stay - permanent, won't be changing soon
hogging - using too much, more than is fair
a sizeable proportion - a large percentage (over 50%, for example)
airwaves - see broadcasting frequencies above
agribusiness - agricultural done by big business (as opposed to small farmers)
a share of - get a part of
booty - valuable things taken after a successful attack
policy making body - a group or committee that makes public policy decisions
bureaucrats - permanent government officers
insignificant - very small and not noticeable
representation - people representing some large group on a small committee
threatens - will likely do something harmful
overturn - reverse, end something that already exists
chaos - complete disorder and confusion
