Octobrists are in power, but still committed to advancing democracy?

Many of the activists who participated in the October 1973 student uprising have managed to return to the corridors of power after the May 14 election this year, but they continue to face major challenges in achieving the democracy they dreamed of half a century ago.

Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Phumtham Wechayachai, one of the student activists of the uprising generation who are widely known in Thailand as “Octobrists”, is now playing a key role in driving the democratization agenda after nearly a decade of a military-backed regime under Prayut Chan-o-cha.

Phumtham, who always says that he will never give up the fight for democracy, has been assigned to chair a committee to study the frame of reference for the amendment of the junta-sponsored 2017 Constitution. He later picked a 35-member ad hoc panel consisting of legal experts, politicians and political…