Protection racket

It seems that the gangster government is running a protection racket for the flawed military constitution.

Even Kla Tham, another gangster party, is calling out Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and his coalition.

Kla Tham Party deputy leader Anudith Nakornthap said “the government was trying to evade responsibility for the stalled effort to rewrite the charter despite having initiated the referendum process seen as a precursor to this.”

Recall that the referendum result was a 60% vote for beginning the process of writing a new constitution to replace the military junta’s 2017 Constitution.

Anudith slammed the government after it “announced that it would not be asking parliament to reconsider drafts of an amended constitution that have lapsed following the dissolution of the previous House…”.

Others reckon the government is going to ignore the referendum result and stick with the current constitution. After all, it is a constitution that backstops a conservative regime. Recall that:

The bill was being debated in its second reading in December 2025. It was returned to parliament from an ad hoc committee after two bills, proposed by Bhumjaithai and the People’s Party, passed in their first readings in October 2025.

However, the committee withdrew the bill for further adjustments after Parliament voted to reject a proposal that future constitutional amendments be approved by a simple majority in the joint sitting, opting instead to revert to requiring support from at least one-third of senators. In response to the vote, the People’s Party prepared to file a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. The House of Representatives was dissolved the next day.

Now the cabinet has decided that the newly-constituted parliament must come up with a new bill but decided that “MPs will also be prohibited from proposing a similar bill during this session…”.

Anutin and his coalition, now with a large majority, can either maintain the military’s constitution or be in control of “reform.” Any reform is likely to be equally conservative. If the establishment has learned one thing in recent years it is to have the basic law and the judiciary firmly in its pocket.