Political reform is a long and arduous process and it could take up to 10 years, respected social critic Prawase Wasi says.
Dr Prawase was speaking to reporters on Thursday after attending a seminar held to mark the 15th anniversary of the founding of the King Prajadipok's Institute.
He said political reform will be no easy task to achieve and it may take many years before it bears fruit and produces tangible results.
The political reform process must involve wisdom, information and knowledge while anger and hatred must be avoided at the same time, Dr Prawase said. Thai society requires wisdom to move forward, he added.
He also commended the government's attempt to end the country's political divide by holding its political reform assembly.
It was normal that an assembly would have both supporters and opponents, although it would be pointless to question the motives of the assembly, Dr Prawase said.
He stressed the need for all sides to work together to resolve the political divide through a participatory process involving the public.
The reform assembly has presented such an opportunity and Thais should grab it, Dr Prawase said.
He said Thailand has made several attempts at political reform but they were unsuccessful because reform took place "among people at the top".
This latest political reform push must involve people at the bottom, which means that it is the public who must initiate the reform process, Dr Prawase said.
He said the public should initiate reform at the individual, organisational and policy-making levels.
Dr Prawase also reiterated his formula to end the political conflict which he has dubbed "the triangle to move the mountain".
He said the triangle will be made up of the government's political reform assembly working with networks of civic groups and organisations.
Civic networks and the public can always take part in the reform process and suggest ideas to the reform assembly which represent their needs.
Although the opposition Democrat Party has boycotted the assembly, Dr Prawase said the party was working toward national reform which will become a means to achieve a similar end, which is to forge national unity.
Earlier this week, the Democrats wrote a letter to reiterate their stance on national reconciliation.
The letter was addressed to the organiser and participants of the recent forum "Uniting for the Future: Learning from Each Other's Experiences" in Bangkok.
The party said it remained committed to peace and reconciliation. But it insisted the unity process must begin with an inclusive consultative process.
However, this is unlikely to occur unless the government stops using a majority vote to try and push through the amnesty draft bill being deliberated in parliament, it said. The party called this strategy political intimidation.