Like some of you, I used to think that Thaksin was the trouble. (We seem to be a rapidly dwindling bunch, and I want to jump off the ship before they give him a Nobel Prize.) That was a shallow analysis. The real villain, I have found out, lies in those obsolete, unrealistic, impractical, and unsympathetic clauses in the much loved, yet least cared for, 1997 constitution. If it was used as a "model" for Thailand's new charter as many suggest, we must be prepared for national riots, followed by the break-up of Asean and eventually World War III.

The "People's Charter" transformed a highly capable businessman-turned-politician-turned-number-one-free-market-defender into something he didn't deserve. Why those condemning the September 19 coup also decried the loss of this constitution still mystifies me. Bringing back the 1997 charter will take all of us back to square one, because the likes of Thaksin The Great Man will again be deemed corrupt, cunning and abusive. And sooner or later the sale of, say, total rights to manage tourism in Thailand to Germany will trigger another protest by "jealous" members of Thailand's middle-class and all hell will break loose again.

If you love Thaksin, you can't love that dinosaur constitution. It's as simple as that. You can't have the best of both worlds because you will end up stuck in between and suffering endlessly. Loving both is like a staunch Christian saying he doesn't mind the Pope secretly fathering a child. Let's make a choice.

Democracy has been transformed and I'm offering a smooth and easy way to keep up with this Brave New World.

It requires doing away with some ridiculous chapters in the 1997 constitution and introducing new ones to make sure people who genuinely and selflessly want to serve the country are not victimised and persecuted. These recommended changes would allow Thaksin to come back legitimately and gracefully, and give him and his like-minded successors immunity against harassment and conspiracy:

Revoke the rules on wealth declaration. This is a must. Rich politicians don't cheat and they don't lie about their assets; they just can't remember all of them. These rules demonised share swaps among the Shinawatras, their servants and legitimately founded offshore companies and Thaksin's honest failure to report them. These rules planted seeds of doubt in many people's minds that were unfair to the former first family.

Trash the prohibition on political office holders doing businesses with the state. "Conflict of interest" is the most over-hyped "danger" to democracy, yet the 1997 charter was so hell-bent on tackling it without taking "reality" into account. We must instead promote the involvement of the powers-that-be in mega deals with the government. Without constitutional nonsense on conflicts of interest, half of the justification for the September coup would have been gone.

De-fang the National Counter Corruption Commission, the Election Commission, the Constitution Court and the Anti-Money Laundering Office. By this I mean they should be empowered only to take action against opposition politicians and critics of the government, including journalists. These "independent bodies" never moved seriously against those in power over the past five years anyway, so making it a formality will ensure that nobody could use an alleged "destruction of checks and balances" to discredit future leaders.

Remove media freedom rhetoric. Make it clear-cut that all TV stations are available to the highest bidders no matter who they are. Promote the open or covert takeover of newspapers by politicians or their nominees. Enshrine the government's right to sue "unpatriotic" critics, journalists or press outlets to bankruptcy if they, for example, alleged that there were cracks at the Suvarnabhumi Airport. 

Constitutionalise tax exemptions for government leaders, their relatives and peers. We wouldn't want an eternal debate on why they taxed me blind just because I "exercised" the share options given by my company, while the dizzying transfers of shares ending in the Shin Corp sale-off were virtually tax-free throughout, would we? So again, let's make it a formality.

There you go. Some miscellaneous provisions might also be required, but you got the idea. Now we have a very decent and realistic constitution. No more worries about corruption. No more anxiety over opportunistic generals. And if you still feel somewhat uncertain, we can always add this to the new charter: thou shall live with any consequence of a democratic election.

Or, it wouldn't hurt to put icing on the cake with a patriotic overtone: Thou shall go down proudly with any leader thou elected.

Tulsathit Taptim