Readers might recall that when the election was finally called Army boss General Prayuth Chan-ocha said his force would be neutral. It wouldn’t interfere and similar platitudes. Of course, all of this was nonsense. The Army was fully involved, wasn’t neutral and had done as much as it was able to fix the result for the incumbent government.
Now, as the Puea Thai Party looks good in the polls and even Democrat Party strategists are talking down the party’s chances, Prayuth just can’t help himself. He’s used the state-controlled media to sprout and election speech that is a warning to voters.
PPT doesn’t imagine that the politically biased Election Commission will have the fortitude to tell the public that the general was wrong or investigate whether he has broken the law.
As the Bangkok Post reports it, Prayuth “has called on the electorate to turn out in force for the July 3 general election and vote ‘good people’ into parliament to protect the monarchy and change the country for the better.” This clear political message, an attack on the Puea Thai Party that Prayuth reckons is riddled by republicans, was televised on Channels 5 and 7.
This blatant interference in the electoral process is no doubt prompted by the establishment panic PPT has mentioned in recent posts. The panic is that this “referendum” on the military, the 2006 coup and the 2010 Army-led, bloody crackdown on red shirts is going to show that the voting public rejects them all.
Prayuth reportedly warned voters: “If you allow the election [results] to be the same as before, you will not get anything new and you will not see any improvement from this election.” In other words, if you vote for the pro-Thaksin parties again, you are in trouble. The implication is that the Army will not stand for it.
Making it clear Prayuth frothed on about “morals or laws.” PPT could launch into a diatribe about how the Army leadership is amongst the least moral and, over several decades, has broken more laws than probably any other group in the country, but let Prayuth speak some more: “The actions and remarks of some politicians are not proper…. Why vote for them? I want to ask you to vote for good people who are determined to work for the good of the country.” He made it crystal clear by pointing to “an anti-monarchist undertone in certain campaigns, especially by groups of Thai people living overseas.” He went on to claim that “security organisations have found evidence of ‘rampant’ lese majeste in some instances.”
PPT isn’t sure what his evidence for this claim is, but then Prayuth and the Army haven’t relied on any evidence in their previous political interventions claiming anti-monarchism and lese majeste in the past. They just accuse political opponents of these “crimes” of free speech and lock them up and/or censor them.
With this intervention, Prayuth is attempting to make the election a referendum on the monarchy. The desperate and last electoral card is being played, further emphasizing that the monarchy is a political player. Prayuth opines: “The people have to do their bit to help protect the monarchy…. The military has to talk about this issue not because we are the only ones who are loyal [to the King]. We have to safeguard the institution that has made such a contribution to the country.”
Prayuth then took a swipe at those calling for the lese majeste law, Section 112 of the Criminal Code, to be revoked. In fact, most calls are for reform, but Prayuth seems not to notice. He went on to reaffirm that “lese majeste charges would be brought against anyone who violates the law by insulting the monarchy.”
Remarkably, Prayuth’s diatribe was even turned against “elements of the mainstream media, such as terrestrial television and newspapers, and non-mainstream media such as cable and satellite TV and the internet, for helping to sow divisions in society.” He claimed they take political sides and that this didn’t create order and unity. Prayuth’s thinking is seemingly in the 1950s or maybe 1976. He seems to still be angry that the military is criticized.
Then Prayuth, commanding a television presence, and as one who has helped run a coup, had hundreds arrested and ordered the shooting of demonstrators, says he is not exerting his power but “speaking as a Thai citizen.”
The establishment response to Puea Thai’s apparent appeal has seemed to be coordinated. It is as if there have been meetings held between the major figures involved and a strategy developed. Such a scenario has played out before. We can think of the planning for the coup and the “discussions” that led to the formation of the Democrat Party-led coalition in late 2008.
Prayuth has made a grave error in resorting to the political tactics of bygone eras. He is warning Thais that, unless they elect the establishment’s candidates in the election, then they can expect a more Jurassic politics. He joins a long line of military commanders who think they know better than the people. The problem is that he seems determined to make Thailand an even more repressive society. His Thailand will be a bleak place indeed.
