The Thai saying "nee sua pa jorokeh" which literally means escaping the tiger only to be faced with a crocodile, aptly describes the political dilemma Thailand is facing at the moment.
The tiger is the crass majoritarianism of the Pheu Thai government which has pursued policies that betray ethical standards as well as putting the country under great risk of economic hazards and environmental destruction.
The case in point is the rice-pledging scheme. Shrouded by secrecy, lies and corruption, the scheme is costing taxpayers more than 700 billion baht now with an estimated loss of 400 billion baht.
The 350-billion-baht water management scheme is also threatening to destroy the country's ecological landscape on a massive scale. Meanwhile, the 2-trillion-baht infrastructure investment plan lacks transparency and is thus open to massive corruption.
The Economist describes majoritarianism as the credo of an expanding group of elected but autocratic rulers around the world, which holds that electoral might always makes you right. This is not true democracy, it argues.
Egypt and Turkey are prime examples of this kind of majoritarianism which eventually led to popular unrest.
The Pheu Thai-led government also fits the bill for being blind to ethical standards, the bedrock of democratic legitimacy besides the ballot box. The government's arrogance from its electoral might is encapsulated in the trickery involved in changing the original amnesty bill to absolve the crimes of Thaksin Shinawatra and in pushing it through the House in the wee hours at 4.25am when the country was asleep. This was the last straw that led to street mayhem and a new round of political crisis.
But if we believe Suthep Thaugsuban can save the country by purging the Shinawatra family and allow the new regime to run under his "people's council", then we are out of the frying pan and into the fire.
In an exclusive interview with the Bangkok Post on Wednesday, Mr Suthep declared he was waging a "people's coup" to reform the country. A set of people would be hand-picked and others elected from different professions to form the "people's council" to amend the charter and propose an interim prime minister for royal endorsement.
Mr Suthep is right about the country's need for decentralisation, police reform, and good governance at all levels of the administration. But he is dead wrong about how to make it happen.
To start with, the idea of invoking Section 7 of the charter to have an interim prime minister and cabinet was criticised by His Majesty the King himself in his 2006 speech for being undemocratic.
In addition, Mr Suthep is proposing a closed government system that, by its nature, will lead to autocratic rule. Pretending that the 16 million supporters of the Pheu Thai Party do not exist will also lead to violent conflicts to be played out on the streets again.
During the royal birthday speech on Thursday, His Majesty the King urged each and everyone to do one's duty in a cooperative manner for the common good. For that is what has kept the country stable and safe.
Mr Suthep has done his duty by leading a mass protest against the government's majoritarianism. He must stop there. The Yingluck government must change its ways and show responsibility by dissolving the House. Both parties must cooperate and let democracy run its course. It is the only way to keep the country stable and safe.