Any party that does not depend on Chinese funds cannot succeed, so that politics in Siam will be dominated and dictated by the Chinese merchants. This is indeed a very probable eventuality. One could easily find many arguments to support the idea that Siam ought not to have a parliamentary form of government. This being the case, one may ask “Then why think about democracy at all?” The answer is that one must remember that the majority of people do not think rationally but think only sentimentally. This is particularly true of the crowd. There may come a time when the Siamese people will clamour for a parliament. (Are there not signs of that even now in Bangkok?) It would be of no avail to explain, even with the best of reason, that a parliamentary government is not suited to the racial qualities of the Siamese. They will surely yell louder that they are being oppressed by a tyrannical ruling class, and there may be some trouble. (At the present moment I do not believe that there is any Siamese who would sacrifice his life for a political faith.)
Perhaps some countries have adopted democracy merely as a necessity, knowing full well that it does not suit the character of the people. That is why there are countries who play at having parliaments. It seems to me that it is quite on the cards that we shall have to play that sort of game in Siam sometime. It is with these considerations in view that I am now considering certain reforms.
It seems to me that, if it is admitted that some day we may be forced to have some form of democracy in Siam, we must prepare ourselves for it gradually. We must learn and we must educate ourselves. We must learn and experiment so as to have an idea as to how a parliamentary government would work in Siam. We must try to educate the people to be
