The draft constitution recognised more rights and freedoms than any other
previous constitution and was designed to make elected politicians and public
officials accountable. Civil liberties, although provided for in previous constitu-
tions, were, for the first time linked to the idea of ‘human dignity’. To enhance
political participation, access to the media was guaranteed through a number of
measures. These included plans to privatise state and private monopolies of radio,
television and telecommunications, provisions allowing 50 , 000 electors to submit a
piece of legislation to parliament, and asking the Senate to remove high officials if
they appeared ‘unusually wealthy’ or where they exercised their powers unconstitu-
tionally. Other social and economic rights included in the 1997 constitution were
the state’s obligations to provide twelve years of free education, health care for the
poor, pensions for the elderly without means of support and guarantees of access-
ible facilities for the handicapped.
Among other innovative provisions are measures to outlaw vote-buying, the estab-
lishment of an independent Election Commission (working with non-governmental
organisations), the implementation of a German-style party list system of voting, anti-
corruption measures prohibiting parliamentarians from receiving state concessions
or monopolies, requirements for government ministers to transfer their assets into
blind trusts, an asset and liability disclosure mechanism and the establishment of a
National Counter-Corruption Commission, a Constitutional Court and a National
Human Rights Commission. Parliament passed the Constitution on 27 September
1997 at a joint sitting of the House of Representatives and the Senate with 518 votes
for, sixteen against and seventeen abstentions. The king assented to the Constitution
on 11 October 1997.
Into the twenty-first century
The 1997 constitution was universally hailed as Thailand’s most liberal and demo-
cratic ever.
68
As Thai academic Suchitra Punyaratabandhu pointedly observed:
In recent years, amending Thai constitutions has become a somewhat
routine undertaking, with little noticeable impact on the political system.
The latest version, however, represents a radical departure from its
predecessors, both in substance and in the drafting process. The Consti-
tution was drafted by a 99 -person elected Assembly and involved partici-
pation from all sectors of society over an eight-month period. Its 339
articles reflect extensive public consultation. In this, the media – in
particular the numerous television talk shows and nationally televised
public – played a key role. A major design feature of the Constitution is
(^68) Harding and Leyland call it ‘Thailand’s most imaginative, concerted and inclusive effort to
settle its constitutional system’. See Harding and Leyland,The Constitutional System of
Thailand,p. 23.