The junta should spell out national reform details and a timeframe for executing them in the next three months before the proposed reform council takes shape, a forum was told.
Participants of the Thailand Development Forum in Bangkok yesterday agreed a clear timeframe, and substance of reform measures should be unveiled before the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) puts in place the legislative assembly and reform council. It wants those bodies running by October.
These steps would be essential for designing the structure of the council and assembly which would be needed to enact reform laws, the forum was told.
Poldet Pinprateep, the forum chairman, said the NCPO should address fundamental reform-related elements which also include the charter amendment.
It also should answer important questions such as how long the process for drafting the new constitution will take.
The answers will then be presented to the reform council, the constitutional drafting body and the national legislative assembly, which will set the direction for their work, he said.
Issues regarding the power structure which should be settled by the reform council include whether the bicameral (two-chamber) system of parliament should be retained; if cabinet members should be directly elected, and whether there should be quotas of MPs and senators representing certain professional groups.
Wasant Paileeklee, of the Thammasat Apiwat group, said his group had proposed measures to fight corruption as part of the reform efforts.
He said fighting graft must be made a national agenda item.
A central fund to combat corruption was needed, tougher measures to check tax records of political post-holders, and legal proceedings sped up in major corruption cases.
The group also called for removal of the statute of limitation in corruption cases.