This
has resulted in a lack of prioritization for SEA since its
implementation is on a voluntary basis. A secondary problem
is the minimalistic public participation in environmental
planning. This is because public engagements are conducted
in a cursory manner to conform to minimum legislative
requirements typically towards the tail-end of the process
when it has the least influence. Thus, while in theory there is a
legitimate provision for public participation but in practice it
has been difficult to operationalize due to stakeholder nonarticulation
(Bureekul, 2000). The trends in SEA implementation
may indicate that Thailand is resiliently predisposed to a
top-down planning framework with inherent restrictions to
public participation in policy planning and decision making