Enshrining the monarchy

Charnvit Kasetsiri, historian and former rector of Thammasat University, has called for the “monarchy must be enshrined as the country’s highest institution to prevent it from being exploited for political gain by any particular group” (Bangkok Post, 20 August 2009: “Rector: Charter amendment time bomb”).

That wouldn’t be an unusual call by a royalist, but PPT would not have considered Charnvit in this category. Why is he making this call now?

Charnvit apparently fears another coup. He reportedly said that the “September 2006 military coup will not be the last because the constitutional amendment proposals are a political time bomb…”. He added that the “failure of the old political party to win the hearts of most people through its populist policies amounted to a second political time bomb.” Presumably he means the Democrat Party. He fears that the country faces a “political tsunami as there is no solution to the social, economic and political problems.”

Hence Charnvit reportedly suggested four solutions, of which “enshrining the monarchy” was one. The others were: creating a “sense of unity between the grassroots and the middle and high classes in Bangkok and other big cities,” rewriting the 2007 constitution ” to ensure a true democracy,” and ensuring that the military, civil and and justice arms of government must be free from political interference.” Without these factors in place, “the country would never escape the continual upheaval.”

The unity of the people argument is a hackneyed and essentially conservative. Differences exist and will continue to exist until there is fairness and equity established.

That aside, PPT thinks that Charnvit is making three good points that are inextricably linked. Together they raise an essential question: how is the monarchy, enshrined or not, going to be prevented from playing politics for its own gains? Clearly, the monarchy and its palace infrastructure have been and continue to play a major political role. They also use the bureaucracy, courts and especially the military for their own ends. How can they be separated? Only by separating them out can the monarchy be brought under a democratic constitution and made essentially ceremonial and politically irrelevant.

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