The framers of the constitution have already identified 10 fundamental principles that will determine the scope and extent of the issues to be discussed in detail when they sit down to write the full draft in the coming weeks and months. The provisional Constitution stipulates that the new constitution must be drawn up and passed by the 100-member Constitution Drafting Assembly within six months, or by early July, before it is put to a public referendum.

If approved in the referendum, the new charter must be submitted to His Majesty the King for royal endorsement and promulgated in time for a general election to be held before the end of this year. If rejected, the Surayud government and Council for National Security are required to draw up another charter based on any of the previous constitutions and promulgate it within 30 days to pave the way for the general election, which will restore full democracy in this country.

In general, the charter writers' working draft conforms to the spirit and letter of the 1997 constitution - widely known as the "People's Constitution" because of its idealistic aspirations and the high degree of public participation that went into its drafting.

Sensibly, they have also placed emphasis on the need to plug loopholes in the previous charter that allowed deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to undermine the democratic system through manipulation of "independent" watchdog agencies and wholesale rigging of elections to gain unchallenged power, which was then exploited to advance his selfish interests at the expense of public good.

But setting a framework for the constitution drafting process is the easy part. The hard part is how to make sure members of the civil society and the general public, who are the stakeholders, get to participate in this vitally important process to not only restore democracy but also to ensure that it is sustainable. It seems such public participation will not be easy to organise given the polarisation in Thai politics that pits the urban middle class, who were opposed to the Thaksin regime, against the rural masses who are still enamoured of its populist policies.

The public must stay vigilant and get organised to devise effective, practical ways to ensure that their voices are heard and taken into consideration by the constitution writers. One positive development is that the panel of constitution writers has so far demonstrated willingness to publicise all topics of discussion in the drafting process, which sparks healthy public discourse.

The most important thing that the charter writers must keep in mind is that there is no such thing as a perfect document that will guarantee democracy will be restored and take root in this society. Even with a basic law that is as close to perfection as possible, it will still be up to the Thai people to ensure that the administrative, legislative and judicial branches of government function smoothly together, complete with check-and-balance mechanisms, so that their best interests are served.

To improve the chances of approval in the referendum, the new constitution must be written in a way that takes into consideration common democratic values and at the same time ensures fair competition between diverse interest groups under plurality rule.

The other priority, given the current circumstances, is that the new constitution is delivered on time so that it is clear beyond any reasonable doubt that full democracy will be restored and a smooth transfer of power to a democratically elected government take place by the end of this year.