The prime minister has insisted that Thailand is now on the right path and "new rules" in the form of a new constitution that suits the country are necessary for sustainable development and successful reform.
"We have to come up with new policies and rewrite our constitution so it's most suitable for Thailand and effectively resolve our problems," he said on his weekly Returning Happiness to the People programme on Friday evening.
In recent months, critics have said the draft charter in its current form was undemocratic and would set the country back by decades. They are urging a public referendum.
Some of the charter writers have even admitted it might not survive if the people are allowed to decide. The prime minister has remained mum on the issue but one of his spokesmen has suggested that a public vote could be risky and divisive.
The Constitutional Drafting Committee on Friday presented its 315-section, 50,000-word document to the National Reform Council. The latter will begin a week-long review of the charter on Monday and may propose further changes.
Gen Prayut, meanwhile, urged Thais to do their part in helping the country move forward and eliminate "two bad habits".
The first is passing judgement without enough information or detail and then speaking without thinking. The other, which he said was common among politicians, is failing to uphold the national interest above one's own.
"If the country is to move forward, we have to reform these two groups of people first," he said.
"Thai society is obsessed with verbal conflict, slinging rhetoric and slander rather than facts or giving people the benefit of the doubt," he said.
The general also took a swipe at politicians and their populist policies. "Please stop using phrases that will gain you popularity but damage the country," he said. "Don’t come up with phrases like 'the poor shall rise', 'prices of agricultural produce will be guaranteed', or 'you will be rebated for your first-car purchase'. All of these policies only hurt our country. You cannot expect car buyers to pay monthly installments when you have not done anything to ensure their monthly income.
"These people (politicians) will seek to exploit the poor and control the media. I cannot do that. I only think about what's best for the majority."
Economy in good hands
After Gen Prayut finished, Deputy Prime Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula talked about the economy, which he believes will expand by 3% in 2015. He was joined by Industry Minister Chakramon Phasukvanich and Agriculture Minister Petipong Pungbun Na Ayudhya who presented data showing signs of recovery in their respective sectors.
The economy rebounded in the last three quarters of 2014 thanks to public spending, private investment and tourism, said MR Pridiyathorn.
Public investment took over as the main driver in the first quarter of this year, growing 5%, while private investment continued to expand at 4%. Tourism also brought in 15% more revenue.
But he warned that exports would contract by 4% during the quarter but the shortfall would be offset by the three other drivers.
Official first-quarter GDP figures will not be released until later in May but MR Pridiyathorn said: "Overall, we believe growth exceeded 3%."
"Thai exports did not expand because of the global slowdown. This was nobody's fault," he said. "In the first two months [of 2015], China's purchases of our goods dropped by 11%. Europe, Japan and even Asean had been buying less goods from us. Purchases by the US increased."
Thai shipments should pick up in the latter half of gthe year while other drivers such as private and public investment would continue to expand, he said.
"Tourism is also expected to continue growing, propelled by European and American tourists who will be visiting Thailand after martial law was lifted," he added.
"Owing to these factors, it is believable that the economy should expand at a faster pace in the second and third quarters."