Just as Rome wasn't built in a day, neither can a brand new constitution be created in a day, says Yingcheep Atchanond, manager of the Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw).
A charter can and should be written anew. But to get there one needs to take small steps, he said.
That is what "Re-Solution", a self-styled civil society group, set out to do when it submitted its own charter amendment proposal backed by more than 150,000 signatures to Parliament President Chuan Leekpai on June 30.
The blueprint marks the rebirth of the ideology that underpinned a similar draft sponsored by iLaw which was rejected by parliament late last year.
Critics were unhappy the iLaw draft declared the entire charter up for grabs, including Chapters 1 and 2 which some feel must form the kernel of any new constitution.
Chapter 1 contains sections defining Thailand as a single, indivisible kingdom with a democratic regime and the King as head of state. Chapter 2 contains sections pertaining to the royal prerogatives.
Mr Yingcheep, a 36-year-old core member of Re-Solution, concedes iLaw may have been its own worst enemy due to its perceived rigidness.
As a result, Re-Solution is focusing on more practical content.
The group has outlined four key changes it wants to push through: the coup-chosen Senate must be abolished to create a unicameral parliament; the current Constitutional Court judges and other key independent agencies must be removed to make way for selection processes where MPs, rather than Senators, pick their replacements.
In other changes, the 20-year national strategy introduced by the now-defunct National Council for Peace and Order must be cancelled; and a clause added to any new charter to dismantle the legal remnants of the NCPO and prevent a future military coup.
Mr Yingcheep says the iLaw draft contained sweeping changes that ran into opposition by critics who believe only problematic parts of the charter should be fixed and are suspicious of a full rewrite.
The group's new draft may take up to five years to bear fruit. "It's like peering a long, long way into the future," he said.
This time around, Re-Solution hopes that pragmatism will prove more productive than idealism. It has started out by emphasising the need to remove the legacy of the NCPO.
One point of contention is the Senate's authority to co-elect a prime minister along with MPs.
The Upper House can easily tip the balance of votes to make or break any prime ministerial candidate.
The charter clause giving the Senate this power is seen as a key means by which the government has ensured it stays in office.
"We're focusing on this task, which is getting rid of the NCPO's powers," Mr Yingcheep said.
"We haven't really spelled out our vision for the future yet," he added.
He was confident that if the Re-Solution draft becomes law, it would set stage for further amendments down the road.
The draft leaves untouched other elements such as the one-ballot election system, another issue slated for amendment in the Democrat Party-sponsored draft.
That is the only one of the 13 bills that survived a first-reading vote in parliament, and is now tabled for scrutiny.
He said the Re-Solution draft is more clearly focused on which amendments it wants and how they should come about.
For example, iLaw proposed elections for senators, whereas the Re-solution draft insists they must be abolished altogether.
Also, the Re-Solution draft is unequivocal in wanting members of the independent agencies appointed by the NCPO to be shown the door so a new, more accountable selection can get underway.
The Constitutional Court in March ruled that a top-to-bottom charter amendment required a charter drafting assembly to carry out the job.
It said two referenda must be held -- first to ask whether people want a new charter and second to approve the finished draft.
The iLaw proposal wanted to short-circuit that process. It demanded the formation of a 200-member CDA to complete the charter drafting process within 360 days.
Other key components included a requirement that the prime minister must be an MP and senators be elected directly using the country as a single constituency.
Re-Solution has also trimmed its aspirations. "Let's be clear. We're not proposing to write a new charter at present.
"To be honest, I'm not so sure what we can expect [from the amendment process]," Mr Yingcheep said.
He said no substantive reasons were given for parliament's rejection of the iLaw proposal, and insisted lawmakers would have some explaining to do if they also turned down the Re-Solution draft.
However, the iLaw manager does not see the charter amendment battle through rose-tinted glasses.
Even if the Re-Solution draft passed parliament, the charter contains other issues must be straightened out. "This is only the beginning," Mr Yingcheep said.
Despite conceding the constitution is not completely flawed, he maintains it was conceived with the blessing of the NCPO and so its origins are unacceptable to the group.
"We've never had a charter that is indisputable," he said.
Mr Yingcheep added the court did not ban rewriting the entire constitution and in terms of technicalities, there should not be any hindrance.
He feels the elements touted for amendment, including switching back from a single-ballot election system to a two-ballot method, were side issues.
The ultimate goal was to create a new charter.
Pointing to a potential quagmire ahead, he said it struck him as odd that there should be two referenda, one before and another after a charter amendment.
The pre-amendment referendum, which asks whether the charter should be modified, should be skipped, in his view.
Parliament should be allowed to make up its mind on what should be amended and put the changes to the people who will decide in a referendum if the amended charter is worth endorsing, he said.
"Thai politics will revolve around charter amendments for a while longer. It won't be settled any time soon," he said.
"What we, the Re-Solution group, accomplished on June 30 was a small first step toward a better constitution. But we don't know at this point how far we can go from here," Mr Yingcheep said.
With the group's charter rewrite draft submitted, parliament will authenticate the 150,000-plus names which back it, many of which were gathered online, a process which can be time-consuming.
However, Mr Yingcheep said he trusted officials would not drag their feet. He expected the draft would have its first reading in the next month.
Bangkok-born Mr Yingcheep attended Suan Kularb, a prestigious all-boys high school. He studied at Thammasat University's Faculty of Law where he graduated with second-class honours.
He is also a Thai barrister-at-law who has worked with iLaw for more than 10 years.
