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Military's iron grip on 'Thai-style democracy'
Sydney Morning Herald - April 8, 2016
The bowl had a message from Thailand's former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a divisive figure who lives in exile to avoid jail on corruption charges. "Although the situation is heated, it's hoped that brothers and sisters will be soothed by the water in the bowl," it read.
After Theerawan, a 57-year-old housewife from the northern city of Chiang Mai, was taken to a military base for questioning. Military spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd warned that Thailand's military-led regime is running out of patience with those it sees as creating conflict, as south-east Asia's second-largest economy enters an uncertain transition from strict military rule to what ruling generals describe as "Thai-style democracy".
Major-General Sansern said displaying any of 8000 bowls that Thaksin presented to his supporters "is unacceptable behaviour because it is intended to incite and instigate division among the people, to separate them into different colours and sides".
The generals have quickly crushed any sign of dissent since seizing power in 2014 to end months of political instability, detaining hundreds of people for unsavoury activities that included giving a three-fingered salute, a symbol of defiance made popular by The Hunger Games, or eating a sandwich while reading George Orwell's book 1984.
But as preparations begin for an August referendum on a new constitution proposed by the regime, the generals have warned hardline critics who they say have not learned from so-called "attitude adjustment" lectures that they will be sent to week-long intensive "training sessions" at military bases in the country's southernmost provinces, where Muslim separatists have waged a bloody decade-long war.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters the measures were necessary to deter attempts to attack his regime with distorted information in the name of human rights and democracy. "It's important to warn them more," he said.
Atiya Achakulwisut, a contributing editor for the Bangkok Post, wrote in her column that it is alarming that few Thais seem upset by what she called a deepening of the military state, as a climate of fear expands.
"Unless the public starts to see the outrageous acts for what they are and stand up to them, the political ennui will enable the military regime to push the country further towards the far right... as authoritarianism deepens, efforts to resist it will inevitably become more radicalised," she wrote.
Thailand has entered an anxious time as a transition looms in the monarchy, which under the 69-year reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej became the country's most important institution. The 88-year-old king is frail and in hospital.
The stakes are also high for the referendum which will be seen as not just a vote on the proposed constitution but also a vote on military rule.
Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a prominent political commentator and an associate professor at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, warns that tensions are likely to rise ahead of the vote, marked by the regime's escalating repression.
The military has warned that anyone criticising the proposed charter risks being hauled in for "attitude adjustment" or put on trial in military courts, although there will be some television debates, and a grassroots information campaign run mostly by the army.
Professor Thitinan says the draft charter, which vests enormous power and authority in a 250-member military-controlled Senate, is designed to allow the military to share power with elected politicians, after stacking the rules overwhelmingly in its favour.
"The Thai state is going through a spectacularly chilling militarisation that is supposed to usher in reforms that the Thai people ostensibly need because they are not informed enough to come up with on their own and their elected representatives are too corrupt to do it for them," Professor Thitinan wrote in the Bangkok Post.
"Thailand's interim period after the May 2014 coup has thus become indefinite. What is indefinite may soon be structurally embedded and entrenched for the long term," he wrote. "Much of what will happen depends on whether the charter is rejected in the referendum."
Voters wanting to see Thailand become a democratic nation face an unenviable choice. They can vote yes to legitimise electoral authoritarianism and the military's longstanding version of democracy controlled by military-backed elites, or they can vote no, which would allow the generals to continue to wield enormous power and to push back further a general election that was initially promised for early 2016.
Both sides of Thailand's deep political divide have criticised the charter which if passed would make it difficult for any one party to rule without the support of minor parties in a coalition.
Thaksin's Pheu Thai Party objected on the grounds it was undemocratic and contains many provisions likely to cause more problems for the country.
Chaturon Chaisang, the education minister in Pheu Thai's toppled government, warned that if the charter passes Thai society will become rigid and conservative, not able to adjust to changes, and going against democracy. "In short, everyone would lose. Such a rigid society would only increase conflicts and in the end we all will fall into crisis again."
Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the second-largest Democrat Party, which is aligned with the conservative establishment and largely supported the coup, said, "the 250 appointed senators should not have the right to overrule the people's will", adding that the regime has failed to carry necessary economic reforms, especially in the agricultural and industrial sector.
"Despite two years of relative calm and also initiatives being taken by the current government when it came to power, there has been too little progress even on this front and now it's almost in panic mode," he said.
And Chuan Leekpai, the Democrats' chief adviser, told the military not to run away from elections. "If there are problems, fix them. But we should not move backwards because we have already come a long way," he said.
The generals insist they have the good of the nation at heart by governing with the arbitrary rule of law and closing off public expression. Soldiers now encroach into many aspects of people's daily lives, taking over jobs traditionally done by police, and vetting any gatherings of more than a handful of people.
The generals plan to set up "public service" checkpoints during the New Year holidays. Last week they banned journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk from attending a press freedom event in Finland.
They have given soldiers from the rank of sub-lieutenant and higher broad police-like powers with immunity to arrest and detain, prompting a joint statement by six human rights groups describing the move as a contravention of human rights and rule of law.
"We have observed a steady erosion of human rights protections in Thailand since the military coup of 22 May 2014 and this order signifies another, jarring, movement in the same direction," Wilder Tayler, secretary-general of the International Commission of Jurists, said.
The US also criticised the move and urged the regime to allow civilian authorities and police to carry out their duties, and for prosecutions to be returned to civilian courts.
The Bangkok Post warned in an editorial on Wednesday that the regime's disregard for citizens' opinions is creating a dangerous atmosphere. "Thin-skinned men at the top have now begun to alienate citizens, rather than inform them. The military must open its ears to public opinion. To continue escalating oppressive acts is to risk a bad ending, with rifts that never heal," the newspaper said.
Anand Panyarachun, a former appointed prime minister and, at 83, an elder statesman, told the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Thailand that a semblance of calm and stability belies tensions beneath the surface in Thailand.
He said that despite Thais previously following procedures and going through the motions of elections, little attention has been paid to developing institutions that are critical to sustaining democracy, or to dig deep enough to uncover the true underlying causes of the current divisions in Thai society.
"The challenges that we are presently facing have their roots in the fact that we have never had a true democratic transition – a genuine change in our political system," Anand said. "Change has always been superficial, old wine in a new bottle – or you could even say old wine in an old bottle, but with a new cork," he said.
Source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/militarys-iron-grip-on-thaistyle-democracy-20160408-gnzher.html.
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