Talk:Constitution of Thailand

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Constitution of Thailand appears on Thailand Portal as the "Selected Article" of March 2007.

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Please sign and date your posts by typing four tildes (~~~~). Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic. New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Ask questions, get answers.	Be polite Assume good faith No personal attacks Be welcoming	Article policies No original research Neutral point of view Verifiability

	To-do list for Constitution of Thailand:	edit  · history  · watch  · refresh
Make a note when the draft interim charter is promulgated (should be Sunday 1 October) Update introduction to note that current charter is 2006 Interim Charter of Thailand. Add link prior to intro in italics Note any changes from draft to final for interim charter Expand on details of human rights protections in interim charter (make sure this is done before the 6 October anniversary/protest) When a reference is used for most/all of the content in a paragraph, the footnote citation should be moved to the end of the paragraph, not in introductory sentence. (see Wikipedia:Footnotes#Where to place ref tags) When the drafting for the permanent constitution begins, create a new article and add a {{mainarticle}} link from this article. Keep detail in this article to a minimum. Add details on Sarit's 1959 Charter. Add references for 1946, 1959, and 1977 Constitutions. Add more references for 1968 and 1974 Constitutions. Create new article for 1997 Constitution, shorten down sections in this article. Shorten down sections on 2006 Constitution, remove some more detail to main article. Note (lack of) timeline for permanent constitution. Check for usage of "stipulated" and "promulgated". Bridge Thai history references to create context for following paragraphs ((e.g., the king's death in 1946, the results of the 1969 elections)

Contents 1 Reminder 2 Article length 3 Why did Sarit retain the '52 Constitution for a year after he seized power in '57? 4 Kobkua Suwannathat-Pia's "Kings, Country and Constitutions: Thailand's Political Development 1932-2000" 5 Some major themes in Thai constitutions 5.1 General 5.2 Seperation of Powers

[edit] Reminder

Hi there. Please remember that

• All important or contraversial facts in the article should be backed up by a reference. To do this, put the reference <ref>inside a pair of ref tags</ref>. For further information on how to use the ref tag, see Wikipedia:Footnotes.
• If you think an external resource would be useful to the reader, but haven't included any facts from that external resource into the article, put it under "Further reading"
• Discuss anything important in the Discussion page. Remember to sign your posts with four tildes (~~~~) Patiwat 19:44, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Article length

As of 16 Sep 2006, the article body (not including Intro and References) is less than 5,700 words long and 51KB in size. This is less than the suggested 6,000 to 10,000 word length which Wikipedia:Article size notes as the limit at which readers may tire of reading a page. It is, however, larger than the 30-50KB recommended article size. Its large size, despite its reasonable length, is due to the large number of footnotes and citations. Subsequent edits should try not to significantly increase the overall size of the article body.Patiwat 10:02, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Why did Sarit retain the '52 Constitution for a year after he seized power in '57?

The article portrays Sarit's abrogation of the 1952 Constitution as occuring immediately after he seized power. But this wasn't so: Thanet (2001) lists that it was only abrogated in 20 October 1958. So for nearly a year, during which Pote Sarasin was appointed as figurehead Premier, elections occured on 15 December 1957 (military backed parties and a slightly smaller contingent of Democrats), General Thanom was appointed Premier, and Sarit got treatment for his liver, the country was governed with the 1952 Constitution.

But that's weird. Didn't the 1932/1952 Constitution ban coups? So how could he (and his figurehead and crony) rule under it? Patiwat 06:47, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Kobkua Suwannathat-Pia's "Kings, Country and Constitutions: Thailand's Political Development 1932-2000"

I wish I had a copy of Kobkua Suwannathat-Pia, "Kings, Country and Constitutions: Thailand's Political Development 1932-2000", RoutledgeCurzon, ISBN: 0700714731. The book costs $135 on Amazon.com - no used copies. And I don't have access to an academic library, either. Patiwat 17:39, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Some major themes in Thai constitutions

The current article is organized chronologically. It could also be organized by themes.

[edit] General

• Cabinet Members must not be civil servants/military officers. 7 constitutions had this clause: 1946, 1949, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1991, 1997.
• Prime Minister must be elected. 5 constitutions had this clause: 1932a, 1932b, 1974, 1991/1992, 1997.
• Ministers must be Members of Parliament. 3 constitutions had this clause: 1932a (all Ministers), 1932b (at least 14, 58% of all Ministers), 1974 (at least 50% of all Ministers).
• President of the House of Representatives is the President of the legislature. 3 out of 9 bicameral constitutions had this clause: 1994, 1991/1992, 1997.

[edit] Seperation of Powers

• Judges and Tribunal Members must not be political civil servants or hold political positions. 4 constitutions had this clause: 1994, 1998, 1991, 1997.
• Ministers must not be Members of Parliament (i.e., they must resign in order to become Ministers). 2 constitutions had this clause: 1968 and 1997.

Source: Prof. Rangsan Thanaphornphan, "Constitutional Convention and Santiprachatham", Puay Ungphakorn lecture, 9 March 2007. - Patiwat 22:23, 15 March 2007 (UTC)