Which is the very reason why Thai society finds itself in desperate need for a thorough constitutional reform in the first place.

The previous Senate, born of the 1997 "People's Constitution", which was looked upon as a champion of political reform, ended up selling its soul to insidious anti-democratic forces.

In a burst of enthusiasm after being elected in 2000, the majority of the 200-member Senate appeared to be taking their job seriously by vetting legislation with intellectual debate and an apparent high degree of independence. For a time, the Senate played its part relatively well. It even disagreed with the ruling Thai Rak Thai-led coalition government on certain key pieces of legislation that were backed by an overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives.

Armed with enhanced powers, the elected Senate is tasked with vitally important roles, including the hiring and firing of members of the various independent organisations set up to ensure transparency in governance and the checks-and-balances that should regulate government. Not to mention the power invested in the Senate by the Constitution giving it the final say in impeachment proceedings against a prime minister and other holders of high political office.

In hindsight, the public should have known better, given the fact that most senators are political old-timers - including former MPs and their relatives - in addition to the retired government officials and a sprinkling of academics, social workers and independent thinkers.

Little surprise, then, that a Senate with a majority of people with doubtful credentials and track records should turn out to possess questionable integrity. Self-respecting senators who are performing their duty honestly are few and far between and thus have little if any impact on the working of the Senate as a whole.

As a political institution, the elected Senate's precipitous decline was remarkable for its speed and the depths to which it sank. Starting as an institution entrusted with the mandate to clean up Thailand's dirty politics, the Senate has been co-opted by the powers that be to become an active partner in corruption.

The most vicious elements of Thai politics that have kept Thailand weak, backward and poorly governed seem to have succeeded in perpetuating their evil designs - the corruption of Thai political, economic and social life for their personal gain - as exemplified by caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his Thai Rak Thai Party.

The problem is that the majority of senatorial candidates seeking election this time are basically no different from their counterparts in the previous election. The most worrying thing is that Thailand could be condemned to the same predicament of having a corruption-prone Senate that could be easily manipulated.

However, the reawakening of freedom-loving individual members of the public, political-action groups and civil-society organisations, which have risen up against the Thaksin regime and successfully forced him to suspend his political career, offers a glimmer of hope. The heightened political awareness among people could mean they are more likely to scrutinise and choose their senators on a better basis, leading to the creation of a Senate with a higher proportion of senators who will serve them honestly - the way they should.

Unless more people make better choices in this senatorial election, the outcome of the current struggle for Thailand's democracy to correct itself will remain uncertain.