Maintaining a 'historical compromise' | Bangkok Post: opinion

COMMENTARY

Following the controversial proposal by the Nitirat group for reform of Thailand's monarchy, a few academics have come out and demanded that the King come under the constitution.

I was surprised by the request. To my understanding, that we are governed by a regime called ''constitutional monarchy'' should indicate clearly that the monarchy, like other democratic mechanisms, functions according to the rules prescribed by the charter.

However, as an institution that pre-dates the constitution, it is inevitable that the monarchy is expected to fulfil a traditional role in the continuity of Thai cultural mores, which is beyond the functional realm of the charter.