…The list goes on. The opacity of the Crown Property Bureau, worth an estimated $30 billion, eventually will have to be addressed. And the question of royal succession also needs clarification as Thailand’s constitutional monarchy navigates the uncertain path ahead.

These are delicate issues, given Thailand’s raw and rabid polarization between those with vested interests in the old order and those intent on putting an end to what they claim are neo-feudalistic privileges and entitlements. Unless good-faith efforts at compromise are shown by all sides, Thailand will not retake its rightful place among the world’s up-and-coming democracies.

– Extracted from Thitinan Pongsudhirak, “Thailand in yellow and red”, Project Syndicate, 18 March 2011.