Thailand's military rulers said Tuesday they wrote a temporary constitution appointing themselves advisers to any interim government, and hinted they might replace ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra with an ex-military man.

The comments by coup leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin gave the first indication that military rulers who seized power a week ago do not plan to withdraw entirely from the political process a prospect that critics condemned as another blow to democracy.

In an apparent public relations gaffe, the ruling military council Tuesday named dozens of prominent civilians to serve as its advisors some of whom said they had not been approached to serve in the positions.

Asked why some appointees had not been contacted, ruling military spokesman Lieutenant General Palangoon Klaharn said, "It is not necessary. Some matters are urgent."

Sonthi earlier told reporters the draft constitution will be reviewed by academics and submitted to King Bhumibol Adulyadej for a royal endorsement by Sunday, at which point a new leader can be named.

The ruling military council hopes to install a new civilian prime minister "as soon as possible," but is still narrowing down its candidates for the job, Sonthi said. He did not rule out a former soldier for the job.

"When you say 'civilian prime minister,' you will see that soldiers after they retire can be called civilians," Sonthi said in a response to a question during a nationally televized press conference.

His comment was generally seen as suggesting that former army commander Surayud Chulanont, respected for his professionalism and a member of the king's inner circle of advisers, remained a leading candidate for the job.

But newspapers, citing unnamed informed sources, having suggested various possibilities virtually everyday, with the favorites including a high-court judge, Supreme Administrative Court President Ackaratorn Chularat; Supachai Panitchpadki, a former head of the World Trade Organization and a current UN official; and Pridiyathorn Devakula, chief of Thailand's central bank.

All are regarded as corruption-free and either politically neutral or on record as having opposed Thaksin's government.

Sonthi said the military council formally called the Council for Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy will stay on in an advisory role after it hands over power to a civilian government.

Under the temporary constitution the ruling council will be "transformed" into the National Security Council, to advise the government on security matters, Sonthi said.

Also on Tuesday, the Board of Directors of Mass Communication of Thailand Public Company Limited (MCOT Plc), Thailand's leading broadcast media, announced their resignation en masse to take responsibility for the Sept. 19 incident.

MCOT President Mingkwan Sangsuwan and the board of the privatized but still state-owned media organization decided to leave and the resignation will take effect Wednesday, the Thai News Agency (TNA) said.

In a statement read by MCOT board chairman Rawat Chamchalerm, all 11 members of the board of directors agreed unanimously to resign together to "show responsibility for the September 19 incident."

According to the TNA, MCOT's Modernine television (TV 9) was the only station that aired the Sept. 19 speech by then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from New York where he was attending the United Nations General Assembly.

In the statement relayed from New York, former premier Thaksin attempted to declare a state of emergency in Bangkok and tried to dismiss Army commander General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, said the TNA.

Thaksin said he was ordering the transfer of the nation's army chief to work in the prime minister's office, but the speech was abruptly interrupted during transmission, said the report.

The military Council for Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy (CDRM) led by Sonthi and other armed forces commanders later staged a bloodless coup d'etat to overthrow the caretaker government then under the control of Thaksin, the TNA said.

A state enterprise "privatized" two years ago, MCOT remained about 65 percent owned by the former Thaksin government through the Ministry of Finance and sway effectively includes TV 9, 62 radio stations and the TNA.

(China Daily Xinhua News Agency, September 27, 2006)