Academics and a veteran politician yesterday predicted a gloomy outlook for the new constitution, pointing to the possibility of the bureaucracy's return to political domination.

Leading Thammasat University scholar Rangsan Thanapornpan said the new charter would not be democratic, but rather one for the bureaucracy.

"Anyone who believes that the new constitution would look like the 1997 [People's] constitution must be very naive … The future constitution will be a clone of the 1991 constitution [drawn up

following a previous coup]," he said.

"The coup was staged not to remove Thaksin Shinawatra but in order to revive bureaucratic rule [over Thai society]."

This could be seen from the interim constitution and the lack of transparent rules in drafting the new constitution. The junta and its constitution drafters might try to ensure that future prime ministers could be appointed, he said.

Rangsan, a professor of economics and well-known commentator on Thai politics, was speaking at a symposium to mark the 40th anniversary of the Foundation for the Promotion of Social Sciences and Humanities Textbooks Project.

To another speaker, caretaker Thai Rak Thai Party leader Chaturon Chaisang, Thai politics has suffered a severe setback due to the September 19 coup, taking the Kingdom back to the 1960s and sending a wrong signal to the world that Thailand is more used to this kind of regime change and military rule.

"It's more damaging than past coups because many leading intellectuals have come out to support the notion that if you're not satisfied with the government, you can seize control [through force]," he said, adding that even pro-democracy forces had reversed their position by supporting the coup and the junta's rule.

"Their children or grandchildren may still have to fight on for democracy," he said.

The finger of blame was quickly pointed back at the former ruling party as Chulalongkorn University political scientist Thitinan Ponsudhirak said it was ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra and his cohorts who set the stage for a coup.

Thitinan also voiced concerns about the new constitution, saying the selection process for the National People's Assembly (NPA) was very secretive and lacking in people's participation. "The [whole] process is not very assuring," he said.

"They may want a return to a semi-democratic rule," he said.

Worachet Pakeerut, lecturer in public law at Thammasat University, concurred with Rangsan that the new constitution would likely revive the bureaucracy's grip on power.

"Democracy ended together with the acceptance of the coup," said Worachet, who also countered claims that Thai democracy failed because its constitution was too westernised.

Worachet said the fact was that most failings of the constitution were due to the peculiar Thai-style adaptations, such as creating independent bodies under the charter.

"For the first time, a [2006 interim] constitution was written to endorse a coup. To me, this is the most tragic thing for law studies," Worachet opined.

Kanokrat Lertchusakul, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University, urged the public to try to have a better understanding of the poor people who still support Thaksin and younger activists who oppose both Thaksin and the coup.

He said the democratic rule of law should be strengthened instead of "lauding the intervention of some groups of people to solve political problems".

Pravit Rojanaphruk,

Subhatra Bhumiprabhas

The Nation