He made the comment yesterday (Sept 16) to amplify remarks he made in an interview with Time magazine, in which the subject of Section 112 of the Criminal Code came up, reports the Bangkok Post.
“Article 112 still causes problems in Thailand,” Time quoted him as saying. “And if we get power, we will fix this law in compliance with the Constitutional Court verdict.
“The monarchy must be above politics… and still the core institution in Thailand. We must amend the law to reposition them and make them accepted by Thai people in the modern world,” he told the magazine.
Mr Natthaphong reiterated his long-held position yesterday, saying that his stance has remained consistent since he assumed the party leadership.
While acknowledging that certain aspects of the law remain problematic, he maintained that any amendments must be made in accordance with the decisions made by the Constitutional Court.
“Everything must proceed within the framework outlined by the court’s interpretation,” he said.
That interpretation led to the dissolution of the Move Forward Party, the predecessor to the People’s Party, in 2023, and 10-year bans on several of its senior figures from political activity.
The court maintained that Move Forward posed a threat to the constitutional monarchy and national security by continuously and seriously campaigning for the amendment of Section 112.
It is still reviewing an ethics complaint against 44 Move Forward MPs - 35 of whom are still serving in the House - who sponsored a bill to amend Section 112. They could be banned from politics for life if found guilty.
When asked whether stating that the party is “ready to amend the law when in power” could potentially expose it to political risks, Mr Natthaphong said that if the question referred to “legal warfare”, he could not give a definitive answer, as such factors are beyond their control.
However, from a principled standpoint, he maintained that the party’s position reflects a genuine concern: there are indeed certain problematic elements within the royal defamation law.
As for the likelihood of securing enough parliamentary support to push through amendments, he said that would depend on shared positions during government formation negotiations or on the individual stances of political parties.
Mr Natthaphong expressed confidence that the political landscape would eventually open a path forward - a path shaped by the will of the people, as expressed in the next general election.
When asked if the party was aligning too closely with the Constitutional Court’s framework - potentially at the expense of parliamentary authority - Mr Natthaphong said this was precisely why there is a pressing need to push forward with constitutional reform.
“Our aim is to redefine the roles and powers of independent bodies to bring them in line with international standards, and to end the practice of legal warfare,” he said.