No apology, just lies

A couple of days or so ago we posted on the the military dictatorship’s goons tracking Yingluck Shinawatra on her holidays. We then updated on that, saying that The Dictator had reportedly “told Yingluck not to complain much since it is anyway a normal measure that she has to be followed.”

We stated that this was a sorry situation. It is tragic when the abnormal is normalized and the repressive made usual.

The Bangkok Post has published two stories on this (here and here), both claiming that The Dictator had “apologized.” As far as we can tell, this is untrue.

What General Prayuth Chan-ocha has done is lied.

He made the lamentable and lame claim that “the officers who were following the former prime minister had been assigned to ensure her safety.” At the same time, he advised her “not to whine” about being followed and incessantly photographed because “if something bad happened she would blame the government for not looking after her.” He “apologized” for the goons taking “so many pictures.” He did not apologize for being a bully and a thug.

So Prayuth is making this up. He’s lying. Worse, he is treating the Thai public as morons by expecting that they will believe his manufactured claims.