Law professor Worachet Pakeerut had to pay the price earlier this year for standing against the tide of popular sentiment in favour of royal intervention in the ongoing political turmoil. When he made his comments in public, many people accused him of not being loyal to His Majesty the King, but Worachet stood by his opinion, saying that he was doing his duty as an academic to educate the public on the legal issues.

"The law needs to be defined by principles, not politics, otherwise it will be blended into politics," says Worachet, who teaches law at Thammasat University.

Worachet's was a minority voice, however, as many of his colleagues at the law faculty, including his rector, expressed support for the call for the royal intervention. They said the conflict was dividing the people and the royal power was the only way to reconcile society, as had had happened in past crises.

But Worachet says Thailand has already changed to a political system that places the royal institution under the Constitution so that the royal power must be exercised through the Constitution. "In the beginning, I too supported the People's Alliance for Democracy's movement, but it was not about the call for the use of Article 7 [of the Constitution]," says Worachet, who received the King Bhumibol Award for being the top-scoring law student at Thammasat University and won the King Ananda Mahidol scholarship to pursue a PhD in Germany.

The young professor returned home in 1999 with first class honours from Goettingen University. His PhD dissertation on "The Evolution of the Theory of the Administrative Contract in the German Legal System" has been published as a book in the German language and distributed worldwide.

In the six years since his return, Worachet has contributed his knowledge to many special committees set up to discuss legal issues, as well as made public comments on such issues. He opposed the government emergency decree imposed in the three southernmost provinces, and says it is wrong that the government extends it every three months without parliamentary approval.

Even in the current situation, where people see the justice system as the only hope of ending the political crisis, Worachet expresses concern about the possible abuse of the law to serve a political agenda, albeit for a good cause. "Political transition doesn't mean we can do anything. I do not agree with people who say that the end justifies the means. I think that the means are also important," he says.

Citing the recent publicly praised court decision to sentence three members of the Election Commission (EC) to four years in jail and deny them bail, Worachet says he accepts the verdict but believes that bail is a basic right for everyone.

However, the professor says, his comments on this case are restricted. The criminal court on Thursday jailed four people for contempt of court for their actions following the reading of the verdict against the three commissioners on July 25.

"Though the court said academic comments could be made, I don't have the confidence [to make stronger comments]," he says.

"But I am sure that the verdict will be taken up for academic discussion. It is debatable," he adds.

Worachet notes that with the political conflict spreading to all sections of society, the royal institution and offences relating to the institution, especially the accusation of lese majeste, have often been used as a tool to destroy political rivals.

The law scholar doubts whether the people who keep talking about royal power, especially those who have accused others of being "less loyal" or committing "lese majeste", really believe in and understand the role of the royal institution in a constitutional monarchy.

But people could learn from the King's speech to the Administrative Court judges on April 25 this year, he says. His Majesty said that he had never done anything that violated the law, and rejected calls to intervene and exercise Article 7 of the Constitution to name a royally-appointed prime minister, as was being demanded by the PAD, opposition parties and some academics.

The King also said that he had suffered a great deal because, whatever happened, there would always be calls for a royally-appointed prime minister. He asked people to go back and read the Constitution.

Worachet says the royal remarks gladdened his heart.

His Majesty also told the judges that Article 7 did not empower the King to make a unilateral decision.

It talks about constitutional monarchy but does not give the King power to do anything he wants; if the King made a decision, he would overstep his duty and it would be undemocratic, His Majesty said.

Worachet says it was the desire of the People's Party in its 1932 revolution to bar the royal institution from involvement in politics. But, as seen from past political episodes, the institution has never been allowed to remain distant from politics.

The law scholar also says that charges of lese majeste, used sometimes as a political tool, also showed that Thai society tried to isolate the royal institution.

"The monarchy is tied to people's lives and society, [we] should be able to talk about it at some level, but to what extent?" he says.

Subhatra Bhumiprabhas

The Nation