The Future Forward party’s ambitious attempt to put an end to coups in Thailand, through the setting up of a House committee to study ways and means to prevent them, was thwarted when 242 MPs voted to reject the proposal against 215 in favour, with two abstentions.

Future Forward secretary-general Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, who initiated the motion, delivered a closing statement, saying that the last two coups were the cause of political crises today and that, in Thailand, coups, instead of democratic means, have always been used to resolve political conflicts, resulting in political polarization.

A coup would not have taken place in Thailand had middle-ranking military officers, at the operational level, and civil servants resisted the attempt and rejected the legal experts who, after the coup, drafted a law to grant amnesty those responsible, said Piyabutr.

He went on to say that MPs should, in unison, oppose coups, businessmen should stop providing financial support to the coup makers and the media should stop describing the generals, who staged a coup as “Big” so and so.

“If Thai people are mindful of democracy and are resistant to coups, a coup cannot succeed,” said the Future Forward secretary-general.

He pleaded with MPs on all sides to vote in support of the party’s motion, saying “This is not the agenda of the Future Forward party.  Nor it is the agenda of the Opposition or the Government.  It is the agenda of the nation, with which the House must cooperate.  Let us vote (in support of the motion) to write a new chapter of history,” he concluded.