Military dictatorships are not known for having an ear for the people’s voice. That said, Thailand’s military dictatorship does appear to crave some measure of “popular” support.
Several readers were amused by the junta’s move to call in persons on the “other side,” some of them from the official red shirts and some of those untrustworthy civilian politicians from the (anti)Democrat Party, and a group of academics and activists. Not all showed up, and not all appreciated uniformed goons showing up with the “invitation.” The notion that they were “released” following the meeting was somewhat amusing or threatening, depending where one stood politically.
Some of the official red shirts talked on and on about delaying elections to get the military junta’s constitution right. Yes, we wondered about this nonsensical political position too.
Making far more sense was activist Phayao Akkahad, who was at the meeting, and who correctly observed that these politicians were “making the move [on delaying elections] to appease the military junta without considering the views of the people.”
She went further, saying that “politicians should ask themselves whether they have a mandate from the people to make such proposal.” She obviously disagreed with their bleating, declaring “I don’t agree with [the proposal] allowing the military junta who seized power to stay longer…”.
She makes good sense.
Political Prisoners in Thailand 