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Junta implies country never ready for democracy
Ugly Truth Thailand – August 19, 2017
A media outlet has been punished for calling the government a dictatorship and one of the few decent journalists faces prosecution for writing the truth.
Generalissimo Prayut added his putrid hot air comment to the discussion by saying that Thailand's democracy had not developed properly "because Thai people had no morals". Perhaps he was just talking about himself and his gang of anti-democratic criminals?
It has been revealed by the military that the student Pai Daodin is now in jail because he was "stubborn" and refused to attend an "attitude changing session" in a military camp for the so-called "crime" of opposing the military coup. Of course the real criminals are those who staged the coup and now rule the country by dictatorship, denying all rights to Thai citizens. We need more stubborn citizens like Pai to rid us of this vile junta!
At the same time the junta has been trying to force prominent people to sign a "Civil Society Agreement" to abide by the junta's twenty year plan for Guided Democracy. This is supposed to be part of the junta's "reconciliation" strategy. It is more like reconciliation under duress.
No doubt part of this reconciliation strategy was to jail Red Shirt leader Jatuporn for a year for saying at a protest that former Prime Minister Abhisit had blood on his hands. Abhisit was Prime Minister in 2010 when his military appointed government ordered "live fire zones" to be set up in Bangkok in order to repress the peaceful Red Shirt protest which was calling for democratic elections. Ninety civilians were shot down during this military action. An official report revealed that the military had used 117,923 bullets against Red Shirts, 2120 of which were sniper bullets. The only military or police casualties were due to "friendly fire" from security forces. Abhisit's deputy, Sutep, commented that the Red Shirts just "ran into the bullets".
There is documentary evidence that the names of both Abhisit and Sutep appear on the government orders to use force to disperse the protests. Of course these orders would not have been possible with the agreement or even the prompting of the military.
So, yes, Abhisit and his government, and General Prayut, who was the top military man at the time, all have blood on their hands. They are murderers. Yet it is "illegal" to say this in public and the murderers remain free while democracy activists are in jail.
Pai Daodin, a student democracy activist from the north-east, has now been jailed for two and a half years while the royalists who used violence to disrupt elections enjoy freedom. The standards of justice in Thai courts is non-existent.
In general, the effect of being ruled by the present military junta is to destroy basic rights and stifle dissent at all levels of society. A recent seminar at Thammasart University, on the effect of 3 years of military rule on the people of the north-east, revealed that soldiers and local business mafia routinely collaborate to threaten villagers who are campaigning for land rights. Soldiers set up military camps in villagers and treat locals as enemies of the state.
Prominent pro-democracy journalist Pravit Rojanapruk has been accused of "sedition" for trying to speak the truth and TV journalists who interviewed passers by at Bangkok's Victory Monument about the new proposed election legislation, were approached by military thugs demanding to photograph their ID cards. "We are in charge of this area", they said, "and you need our permission."
Even if elections are held next year, they will not be free and fair and any elected government will still have to conform to the diktats of the military.
Source: https://uglytruththailand.wordpress.com/2017/08/19/junta-implies-country-never-ready-for-democracy/.
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