Another interesting point revealed by the poll, which was conducted between February 2 and 13, and involved 4,736 eligible voters in 23 provinces who said they followed political news at least once a week, was that 62 per cent of those interviewed said they never read the 1997 constitution or that they did not care to find out what was in it. Only one-third of those surveyed said they were familiar with small portions of the charter, while only 6 per cent said they had read the entire document.

While the outcome of the poll does not come as a surprise, it may provide some clues as to why Thailand's dreams of a sustainable democracy continue to remain elusive. The lack of understanding of the role of a constitution, which is the codified embodiment of the democratic aspirations and consensus of people living in this society, is one of the reasons our effort to establish a rules-based civil society have consistently failed.

Another key reason is the Thai people's refusal to let go of the patron-client system, which is a legacy of our feudalistic past. People continue to rely on the corruption-prone power of patronage to get things done instead of counting on democratic institutions and the rule of law to function the way they should to ensure that the administrative, legislative and judicial branches of government serve the people wisely, honestly and responsibly. To achieve that, Thailand not only needs a well-written constitution but also politically-aware people who exercise their rights and civil liberties effectively.

Those who are busy preparing a working draft of the constitution should pay special attention to the Thai people's character flaws if the new charter is to serve its intended purpose. The Constitution Drafting Assembly and its drafting committees should implement public education programmes designed to make people from different socio-economic backgrounds understand the true meaning of a constitution and what it does in a democratic society.

Given time constraints, such activities must be carried out at the same time as the actual drafting of the new constitution.

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. This provisional constitution stipulates that the new constitution must be drawn up and passed by the 100-member Constitution Drafting Assembly within six months, before it is put to a public referendum.

To decide whether to accept or reject the draft constitution, voters must be able to familiarise themselves with what the proposed charter contains. The dissemination of the draft constitution in various formats, including full text, summaries and excerpts, must be accompanied by easy-to-follow explanations that are suitable for different target groups.

If approved in a 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 the 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.

To make sure that its good work does not go to waste, the Constitution Drafting Assembly must do its utmost to ascertain that as many people as possible are able to make sense of the key concepts, their underlying principles, along with the intent and purpose of the proposed constitution.