Constitution Day

As a concession following a non-violent, military-supported coup, King Prajadhipok granted Thailand its first permanent constitution on this date in 1932, an event now commemorated by a national holiday. The kingdom has since been ruled under more than a dozen other constitutions or temporary charters. With elections not scheduled until next autumn, interim prime minister Surayud Chulanont, a retired general, should remember King Prajadhipok’s words: “I am willing to surrender the powers I formerly exercised to the people as a whole, but I am not willing to turn them over to any individual or any group to use in an autocratic manner without heeding the voice of the people.”