re: "New charter may not be democratic" (BP, December 10, 2020)
Dear editor,
As Constitution Day again rolls around, what do Thailand's constitutions tell us about the kingdom? The current and previous permanent constitutions of the Thai nation explicitly define Thailand as having "a democratic regime of government with the King as Head of State" (sect. 2 of the 2017 constitution). This fact tells us that those who make up these constitutions, or at whose behest they are made up, feel the need to at least pay lip service to the democratic aspirations of the Thai nation, which is the Thai people, to whom, so it is written, "Sovereign power belongs" (sect. 3 of the 2017 constitution).
Since it is acknowledged in its supreme rule of law that the Kingdom of Thailand is and desires to be a democracy, "one and indivisible" (sect. 1 of the current constitution), those who would claim the mantle of patriot must, at a very minimum, respect these primary principles explicitly set out at the head of each Thai constitution.
The protestors bravely taking a stand on the streets qualify as Thai patriots: there is no doubt that they share the Thai nation's aspirations for the justice that comes only from democracy.
Conversely, could anyone who sees democracy as inimical to their own selfish interests, even to thwarting or colluding to thwart the Thai nation's just aspirations for democracy, qualify as a Thai patriot? you cannot overthrow the defining rule of law of a nation and pretend to respect its highest ideals as written in that constitution.
Well, perhaps you can so violate the nation's deepest wishes whilst loudly protesting loyal friendship, but can such a claim be credited where honest reason is permitted? Only in the land of 2+2=5 could such a deceit thrive. You might as rationally hold that suppressing free speech is a cure for corruption.
Felix Qui
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The above letter to the editor is the text as submitted by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post.
The text as edited was published in PostBag on December 11, 2020, under the title "Defining patriotism" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2033515/defining-patriotism
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