85 academics repudiate Constitutional Court’s ruling against monarchical reform bids

By Thai Newsroom Reporters

EIGHTY-FIVE UNIVERSITY academics today (Nov. 17) issued a joint statement to repudiate a ruling of the Constitutional Court recently delivered against monarchical reform efforts.

These political scientists, historians, sociologists and humanists attached to Chulalongkorn, Thammasat, Silpakorn, Prince of Songkla, Ramkhamhaeng, Chiang Mai and Ubon Ratchathani universities, among others, adopted the joint stand to reject the Constitutional Court’s ruling that the monarchical reform attempts spearheaded by pro-democracy activist groups were merely designed to “undermine democratic rule with the Monarch as head of state.”

The opposing academics contended that monarchical reform was primarily connected to the democratic principles under which the Monarch could be highly regarded as the spiritual leader of the people and practically free of political powers.

The university academics charged that it was the Constitutional Court judges appointed by a military junta following the 2014 coup and backed by the military-installed Senate, and not the pro-reform activists, who may have looked to undermine democratic rule with the Monarch as head of state by delivering such ruling which, they argued, was largely based on false knowledge, thus rendering the allegedly false judgment.

They called on other units of the judicial branch to never adopt the Constitutional Court’s ruling which, they contended, was by no means based on the democratic principles as a legal precedent for the delivery of their respective judgments on cases which may as well involve future monarchical reform efforts.

Twenty-three university student organisations earlier released a joint statement to repudiate the Constitutional Court’s controversial ruling as well, arguing that the aborted reform bids were primarily designed to uphold and preserve constitutional monarchy in magnificent, perennial fashion and by no means to undermine democratic rule with the Monarch as head of state as ruled otherwise by the court.

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The Thai Constitutional Court logo. Top photo: Thai Rath, Home Page photo: Siam Rath