“Don’t worry, the only reason we’re joining up with the [army] is because we want to fix the constitution and make it more democratic,” my friend, a Democrat Party MP candidate told me right after the 2019 election.
The Democrat Party had, at the time, just broken their election promise that they would never join in any coalition with Palang Pracharat and their coup-making leaders.
Relentlessly, on the campaign trail and in television debates, candidate Abhisit Vejjajiva and his party consistently told the public in no uncertain terms that they were would never band with someone that would overthrow a democratically elected government.
Of course, this was a party without integrity and the promise lasted about two minutes after elections.
“Trust me,” my friend said. “We’re going to get this constitution amended and you will see that it will be worth it that we joined the party. I believe in Khun Chuan [Leekpai, now speaker of the house].
I pointed out to my friend that there was no reason the PPRP would ever seriously consider changing the constitution, that not only does it enshrine the military’s power for the next 25 years, there was also no reason why Generals Prayut and Prawit would level the playing field when doing so would see them lose the power they so vulgarly crave.
“If they refuse to help us change the charter, then we can just leave the coalition,” my friend said.
To the Democrat’s credit, about one month after elections, Prayut signaled that he would be open to seeing some charter changes as coalition talks were underway.
Of course, that was lip service, just few words to keep the Democrats salivating that they might actually be able to keep a campaign promise for the first time in half a century.
Prayut is doing it again, saying this week that he might consider charter amendments as his administration comes under pressure from student protesters and opposition politicians over the military-drafted constitution.
Again, this is just lip service, do not fall for it.
The reality is, the Democrats have failed – once again. They have failed not only to draft or amend a new charter but even begin the process of doing so.
They have become the former junta’s lap dog, a party with no electoral direction, led by a rudderless cowardly leadership that has no plans for the future and is just doing what it can to hang on.
As for the charter, the only way it will ever be changed is through continued pressure from the opposition and the protesters.
There’s too much that favors the generals and the ruling PPRP for them to just change it based on an empty promise to a meaningless coalition partner.
