Every military coup is followed by the drafting of a new constitution, which some people seem to believe would set new rules for politics and make everything better.
However, if all our past efforts at "coming up with new rules" still ended with the May 22 coup, should we still hold on to that same hope for the current draft charter being prepared?
I personally believe we should not accord panacea status to the document.
I also believe it is a mistake for the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) to make it appear as if the 2015 charter will be a political cure-all.
The CDC is not only drafting a charter that will lay out a new, rather complicated method of voting to ensure future governments are run as coalitions, but it is also prescribing a recipe for national reconciliation and paving the way for multi-faceted reforms to be implemented in the same document.
Overly ambitious seems to be an understatement, considering the situation.
The 36 charter drafters may have acted with good intentions as they came up with hundreds of rules and regulations they believe would compel politicians, parties, voters and the government to behave in a certain manner.
But like well-meaning parents who draw up tight instructions of what their children can or cannot do from the minute they wake up to the moment they go to bed, the charter drafters may have overlooked the fact that a person's growth or a country's democratic development can't be dictated.
Children need room to learn by themselves, to make mistakes and to grow past them, on the path to responsible adults.
The same is true for citizens in democracy. Certain behaviour — relationships between political parties, their candidates and voters for example — grows organically. It is part of a political culture or tradition. It's odd for the charter drafters to try to force changes to culture through legislation.
The charter drafters seem convinced they are entitled to draw the new set of rules some of which will govern wide-ranging areas of the country's administration far into the future because the mission entails perceived nobility.
Like the junta or government, the CDC apparently views itself as the country's saviour. The drafters believe they are there to solve the country's problems, to prevent a political crisis from taking place and destroying the country again.
The notion of self-grandeur has resulted in the draft being fundamentally misguided. By fundamentally, I mean it's not just details of the draft charter that do not seem able to address political problems facing the country but entire assumptions appear to be off the mark.
It's not just the matter of having a selected Senate or non-elected prime minister. The question I have for the new draft is much broader as it has to do with its very nature.
From what has been made available to the public, the CDC seems to want the new constitution to govern almost every aspect of political life and government work, down to how the cabinet will manage the budget.
A regime of constitutionalism has come to mind, in which legal limits become the order of the day. Despite the CDC's conviction, I can't see the grandiose vision becoming a reality.
For me, the best the 2015 constitution can ever dream to be is a transitory document, one that will oversee a transition to democracy.
There is no basis for the new draft charter to go further and impose more restrictions on Thai people. The charter drafters may believe in the sanctity of their mission but the reality of the situation is not everyone in the country has their support.
The CDC can't escape the fact it has come into existence because of a military coup. The charter drafters themselves can't claim to represent anyone or any interest groups. They were handpicked by a few people comprising the junta.
Without connections to the people, it's difficult to find justification for their long-term prescription on how the country should progress. It's true a referendum to approve the new draft once it is finished could go a long way to making it acceptable to the public. Even now, however, it's still unclear whether the draft will be put to a poll. The lack of clarity only provokes a further lack of trust.
Every military coup is followed by the drafting of a new constitution, which some people seem to believe is a recipe for a better future. The cycle has been repeated more than a dozen times. For now, it seems to invoke only a terrible sense of déjà vu.
Atiya Achakulwisut is Contributing Editor, Bangkok Post.