Thaksin Shinawatra's "Mr Clean" - former deputy premier Purachai Piumsomboon - isn't any less a straight shooter with his critiques now that he's a member of the Constitution Drafting Assembly.

"Purachai Piumsomboon Yon Roi Patiwat" ("Purachai Piumsomboon Traced Back the Coups"), released last week, is a selection of his political views compiled by Montri Sansuk.

Rather like a lecture series on history, politics, social studies and philosophy, it stresses that the key to establishing democracy in Thailand is to foster it among children, long before they reach voting age.

Democracy takes time to develop, Purachai says, but meanwhile its basics should be taught in schools - what it is, where it came from, what can go wrong, how it can be fixed.

"I've seen eight Thai governments overthrown in my life," the 56-year-old politician said at the book launch.

"Coups have been used to take control of the country on average every seven years. Since 1932 we've had 17 constitutions, and now we're drafting No 18. Just playfully calculating the figures, we find that each constitution has lasted only four years! What's going on in our country? Have we learned anything about democracy?"

Corruption is the usual rationale behind coups, Purachai said, but he's never seen a coup leader prove the ousted government guilty, let alone punish it.

"The clock is ticking. There's only one year for the interim government and the Council for National Security to follow through on their promises. I really don't want to see the latest coup fail to verify the truth."

Purachai is the author of three best-selling books: "Khon Dee Mai Mee Suem" ("A Good Guy Never Changes"); "Luk Khong Por Por Khone Luk" ("Son of the Father, Father of the Son") and "Cheewit Nawk Baan Purachai Piumsomboon Yoo Yang-rai Nai New Zealand" (Purachai Piumsomboon's Life Outside the Country: How to Survive in New Zealand").

He drafted Thai Rak Thai party policy from 2001 to 2005 and enjoyed widespread popularity because he was untainted by corruption.

In the new book he's asked what's missing in the Thai political system. It's a leader, he says, who has absolute faith in his political ideology and devotes himself to developing democracy, meaning he wants the people to be educated and self-reliant.

Too many Thai leaders have sought to keep citizens uneducated so they can be more easily controlled, Purachai says.

Thailand also needs a leader who has the courage to stand up against special-interest groups. "These groups might appear good to the public, but inside they're no different than thieves," he says, adding that there's too much emphasis on rights these days, and not enough on duty.

"Every time coup-makers take control of the country, the scapegoat is the Constitution. It's just a piece of paper - how can it fight? As long as people don't have faith in, understanding of and love for the Constitution, how can we hold onto it?

"I wish there were a TV show like the one that teaches one Thai word a day, but this one would explain one term from the articles of the Constitution every day, terms like equality, liberty and duty, and the fundamental rights."

In a political deadlock, a coup can be metaphor for temporary pain relief, Purachai said, but it's no cure for the disease. And if the painkiller is misused it can have side effects.

"It is a pity that people often think of a country's stability in terms of construction. Think about the Great Wall of China or the Egyptian pyramids - they may well represent civilisation, but in the end the wall couldn't protect China from the Mongols and the pyramids caused the fall of the Egyptian empire.

"Instead of developing the quality of human resource, people are weak spiritually. The apparent winner can turn out to be the loser in the long term."

"Purachai Piumsomboon Yon Roi Patiwat" is on sale at all bookstores for Bt150.

Kupluthai Pungkanon

The Nation