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2 J. Comp. L. 137 (2007)
The Ombudsman Principle in Thailand

handle is hein.journals/jrnatila2 and id is 141 raw text is: PETER LEYLAND The Ombudsman Principle in Thailand PETER LEYLAND * INTRODUCTION In recent years, ombudsman offices have been created in many nations with disparate constitutions and political systems.' There are obvious advantages to having grievances against central and local governmentand other publicbodies investigated by an independent adjudicator rather than relying on political representatives to become investigators, or expecting the more cumbersome procedures of court-based justice to handle grievances against administrative organs. This article seeks to provide a provisional assessment of the ombudsman office in Thailand as it operated under the 1997 constitution.2 The 1997 constitution originated from a more inclusive process than existed previously, with many organisations consulted on a nationwide basis before formal codification was undertaken.3 The ombudsman office was introduced as part of this trend towards a new form of participatory democracy. However, this attempt to establish a form of liberal, democratic government was brought to an end on 19 September 2006 by a bloodless military coup which removed the prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, and suspended the constitution. In the run-up to the coup, there had been increasing evidence of abuses of constitutional processes, reaching to the top of the government.4 Since the coup, Thailand * Professor of law, London Metropolitan University. This article is part of a study of the Thai Constitution being jointly undertaken with Professor Andrew Harding, University of Victoria, Canada. For further details, see: <http://www.law.uvic.ca/seals/lgcrt.htm>. The Nation and Bangkok Post are daily English language newspapers published in Thailand. 1 See Drewry, G (1997) 'The Ombudsman: Parochial Stopgap or Global Panacea?' in Leyland, P and Woods, T (eds) Administrative Law Facing the Future: Old Constraints and New Horizons Blackstone Press; Seneviratne, M (2002) Ombudsmen Public Services and Administrative Justice Butterworths; Roberts, S and Palmer, M (2005) Dispute Processes: ADR and the Primary Forms of Decision Making Cambridge University Press at 346ff. 2 Article 330 of the 1997 Thai Constitution provided that the law on Ombudsmen must include the following issues: (1) the performance of the duties of the ombudsman; (2) the courts, public prosecutors, officials under investigation, or other state agencies must co-operate with the ombudsman; (3) qualifications of, and procedure for, the appointment of the secretary general of the office of the ombudsman; (4) powers and duties of the office of the ombudsman. The office of the ombudsman is referred to herein as 'the [Thai] ombudsman'. For more details, see note 10 below. 3 For political context, see McCargo, D (2002) (ed) Reforming Thai Politics Nordic Institute of Asian Studies; McCargo, D and Pathmanand, U (2005) The Thaksinisation of Thailand Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. 4 See 'Singapore's Trouble Shin Corp Deal' (13 December 2006) Asian Times. The deal by Thaksin Shinawatra to profit from the sale of the Shin Corporation provoked street demonstrations and prompted the boycott of an election by the opposition. After an appeal by the King, the election was declared invalid by the Constitutional JCL 2:1 137