A referendum question being discussed could prove costly both in monetary terms and for the reputation of Srettha Thavisin's administration.
The warning comes from critics watching the charter amendment process unfold with caution and dread.
Half-hearted as the ruling Pheu Thai Party was thought to be in pursuing amendments, it has put Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai -- an authoritative figure in Pheu Thai -- in charge of the committee directing referendum business, a compulsory prelude to rectifying the constitution, as stipulated by the Constitutional Court.
The party, according to observers, would rather concentrate on jump-starting the sleepy economy than getting tangled up in changing the charter, which is a tedious and less politically rewarding affair.
However, its former pro-democracy ally, the main opposition Move Forward Party, has refused to let the amendment issue slip and its efforts to fix what it sees as a dictatorship legacy fall by the wayside. The charter was written and promulgated during the Prayut Chan-o-cha administration.
Unable to resist calls for an expedited charter rewrite, the Phumtham panel hit the ground running in the second half of last year by designing the charter amendment referendum.
It split members into groups, one of which went about gauging opinions from various professional, social and political sources on how the referendum should be conducted.
At the same time, how many referendums should be put to voters remains up in the air. One estimation is that three should be held to pave the way for charter revision.
When endorsed by the cabinet, the first referendum plan will be forwarded to the Election Commission (EC) for implementation in 90 to 120 days after that, Mr Phumtham said.
If the first referendum proves successful, the government will seek to amend Section 256 of the constitution to allow the formation of a new assembly, the composition of which will be decided in a joint sitting of the House of Representatives and the Senate, according to Mr Phumtham. Then there is the inevitable question as to how much the referenda will set the taxpayers back.
Senator Somchai Sawaengkarn, citing a study by a senatorial committee which compiled information from the EC and other agencies, said the three referenda will have a staggering price tag of 10.5 billion baht, or three times the expense of holding a general election.
There is also the election of the charter rewriting assembly, which is expected to cost five billion baht, as well as the salaries of its members totalling around 200 million baht per year.
But the critical point pertains to what the referendum question should be.
Mr Phumtham lost no time shedding light on this query. In fact, the referendum design committee chairman declared that only one question in the first of three referenda will be put to voters.
The question the Phumtham committee has in mind has to do with whether or not people agree with the proposal to amend the constitution, except for Chapters 1 and 2, which govern general provisions and the King's prerogatives, respectively.
However, the proposed question immediately drew flak from critics, the most vocal of whom is Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, a former election commissioner, who insisted tiptoeing around certain chapters would mean a limited charter amendment, which would not necessitate a referendum in the first place.
Revising specific content of the constitution may be implemented by parliament without voters having to be consulted at all, as was the case with rewriting the clauses in the charter to revert the election system from the one-ballet method in the 2019 general election to two ballots in the previous poll in May last year.
Mr Somchai told a political talk show that the Phumtham committee's question fails to specify the condition that the charter rewrite will be performed by an elected assembly. The absence of such a stipulation could give the government a free hand in extending assembly membership to people with political affiliations, which could create a biased charter.
Senator Somchai, meanwhile, warned the government that in formulating the referendum question, it must also look beyond Chapter 2 and steer well clear of sections where content related to the King's prerogatives also exist. The government has not mentioned anything about such content being off-limits for change.
Observers said the senator's warning could give royalist yellow shirts a reason to justify criticising the government for not being "thorough" enough and letting essential details slip through its fingers.
Its own worst enemy
The Move Forward Party (MFP) may have bounced back as an opposition force to some degree, but it is still reeling from internal controversies.
The party has announced that the opposition is seriously thinking about initiating either a no-confidence debate or a general debate against the government around the end of March or early April.
Admired for its tenacity in looking into allegations against and exposing policy blunders by the previous and current administrations, the MFP has been accused by opponents of using the debate plan to draw public attention away from a series of sexual abuse and misconduct scandals involving its members and MPs.
Supporters insisted the MFP has found its feet again as they are strongly convinced the New Year has ushered in a new and brighter chapter for the party.
This week, Parit Wacharasindhu, a Move Forward Party list-MP and party spokesman, said the time to grill cabinet ministers, who took office in late August last year, was fast approaching.
Parit: 'Less than forthright'
Srettha Thavisin's administration had a taste of things to come shortly after the New Year break when the opposition went after the government over its budget expenditure plan in parliament.
Some academics gave the MFP the thumbs-up for its debate performance, having been won over by the party's ability to crunch numbers and give a thorough review of funds to be allocated to ministries with the aid of technological tools for analysis, which pointed to flaws in how the budget was prepared and to be distributed.
Budget scrutiny by the opposition, which also includes the Democrat Party, may provide a sneak preview of something much more substantive and damning to the government, according to a source.
The source said the MFP has a lot of weighing up to do in deciding to initiate a no-confidence or general debate.
However, a general debate has little teeth since no censure vote is cast, whereas a no-confidence session has a chance of sinking the government.
According to Mr Parit, the MFP is zeroing in on where it will try and hurt the administration the most -- the highly controversial digital wallet scheme and flagship election promise of the ruling Pheu Thai Party, as well as the 1-trillion-baht Land Bridge megaproject, which some experts believe is not attracting prospective investors overseas.
They say the project's viability is left wanting by the short distance supposedly saved for cargo ships currently going around the Strait of Malacca.
The wallet scheme has been criticised for having been modified so much that it has veered from its original goal of causing a so-called economic "tsunami" essential for jolting the economy back into life.
The source said the MFP will never be short of material to launch a no-confidence attack on the government over the digital wallet handout and Land Bridge project.
The source thought Mr Parit was less than forthright when asked if the MFP was sliding away from the issue of jailed former premier Thaksin Shinawatra's extended stay in hospital and not being in prison where he is supposed to be serving a sentence. Thaksin is believed to command significant influence over the ruling Pheu Thai Party.
Mr Parit said the MFP regards every censure issue it picks as equally important for maintaining accountability. The party places a particular focus on the digital wallet scheme on account of it requiring a huge 500-billion-baht loan to finance, which, therefore, entails a large economic impact. But just as the MFP was looking to make strides in this vein, it was hit yet by a fresh scandal, this time involving a serious assault on a party specialist by fellow members during a New Year and Children's Day celebration in Nonthaburi.
Mr Parit said the party was not taking the issue lightly and reiterated the MFP's zero tolerance for all forms of violence.
It was reported the specialist wants to contest a local election in an area dominated by a party MP whose aides carried out the assault. The specialist was left in a serious condition after the attack, and he subsequently filed a police complaint against his attackers.