It will only be a matter of time before another batch of bandits winds its way through an election to Government House, they warn.

The cycle will repeat itself even after they are tossed out amidst calls for yet more phrases to be added to the charter, they say.

"Even if Thaksin is ousted, we could get a Thaksin junior, because there will always be loopholes in the system," Chiang Mai University Law lecturer Somchai Preechasilapakul said.

"There is no way we can craft rules to outsmart the cunning," Somchai said. "The recent calls for Constitutional amendments are [being made] just to tone down the political confrontation. They will not offer a once-and-for-all solution."

Without leaders committed to establishing a solid culture of governmental integrity amidst a robust civil society, the cycle we are witnessing now will be repeated, the academics and analysts warn.

Political historian Thamrongsak Petchleartanan traces the current crisis to the inception of the Kingdom's democracy 74 years ago, when the military seized power from the monarchy.

Elections were instituted, but the essence of democracy - freedom, civil liberties and equality - was suppressed, he noted.

Thai democracy evolved under the traditional social structure characterised by patron-client relationships, Thamrongsak explained.

"We lack the basis of a real democratic tradition, a strong civic-minded culture to maintain checks and balances.

"Our military governments in the past had a major distaste for criticism, and the last thing they wanted was an informed citizenry. They controlled the media and liked people to call them 'masters'."

It is unrealistic for Thais to feel they have a real democracy when the attitudes of most of their leaders have remained unchanged, he said.

"The May 1992 uprising pretty much threw the military out of politics, but it just substituted businessmen.

"There was not much evolution in our democracy because the media remained under state control via businesses, rather than the military," he said.

Media control is the reason why Thai uprisings generally start with the urban middle class, Thamrongsak added.

People in the cities generally have greater access to sources of information not controlled by the government than those who live in rural areas, he explained.

Chulalongkorn University political-science professor Surat Horachaikul agreed.

"While in the UK everyone can read The Guardian or the New Left Review, we in Thailand must listen to the same news anchormen relaying government statements from the moment we wake up until we return to bed at night."

Beneath the frustration of yet another autocrat clinging to power, Surat suggests there could be a silver lining.

The damage Thaksin has inflicted may have been a necessary step in the evolution towards a healthier democracy, he said.

"[Thaksin] gave Thais a big political lesson. Now, in our classrooms, my fellow lecturers and I spend at least half an hour talking to our students about morality [in government]."

Analyst Tienchai Wongchaisuwan agreed that without a strong social commitment to ensure that morality was enshrined in the political system, further Constitutional reforms would be meaningless.

The "rule of law" is more than words on paper, he said.

"In the West this concept comes with a moral dimension, but in Thailand we just take half of it. And when there is a clash between 'law' and 'morality' let me tell you that the latter must prevail," Tienchai said.

Revered monk Phra Pisal Visalo faults religious leaders for failing to ensure ethics are ingrained in democracy.

"We Buddhist monks have ourselves to blame, because most of us have left out the socially engaged dimension of our teachings," he said.

"Buddhism has been detached from people's lives. Morality is not on people's minds when they choose political leaders, nor when they allow politicians to go unpunished for so many immoral practices," he explained.

"It's our responsibility to bring morality back into people's awareness [and ensure] that they must exercise good moral judgement in whom they elect, then demand good conduct

from them while they are in office."

Thammasat University law professor Parinya Thaewanarumitkul agrees that even with a new round of political reform it will be impossible to close loopholes in constitutional and organic laws that allow politicians to escape the checks and balances.

The question, he says, is how the electorate can keep politicians accountable.

"We have to implant morality in political leaders. Otherwise we as voters are equally responsible for their immoral actions and the harm done to society."

Nantiya Tangwisutijit

The Nation