Opposing militarism

Readers may be surprised to learn that one of the top-5 most read articles at The Guardian yesterday was on Thailand. “Thai conscientious objector risks jail in rare refusal of military service” is about Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal’s refusal to participate in the conscription ballot. The Guardian says this is “a rare protest as a conscientious objector.” It adds that if he is “prosecuted, it is believed he could become the first person in Thailand to be imprisoned for avoiding the draft through civil disobedience. The offence carries a maximum sentence of three years.”

Netiwit in 2017. Clipped from The Nation

Netiwit believes the system the military uses to get its “recruits” is “outdated, ineffective and unfairly affected the poorest, who were less well placed to find ways to avoid the draft.” Many conscripts end up as slave-like servants to senior officers and their families and firms.

The article points out that “research by Amnesty International found evidence that new conscripts face violence, humiliation and sexual assault…”.

Netiwit makes the important point that conscription is a “part of a wider system that undermined the country’s democracy.” He observed that military service “brainwashes people,”adding: “I think that military service is one thing that holds our country to be ruled by the military.”

The activist “first announced his objection to military service as a teenager, after the military seized power in a coup in 2014.”

Redux: Why the lese majeste law is an abomination

We want to re-publish a post from 2011 that, despite a changing cast, seems entirely relevant today. It is by Giles Ji Ungpakorn, now long in lese majeste exile, and published at Red Thai Socialist. It called for the abolition of the lese majeste law:

The lese majeste law in Thailand represents a gross attack on the freedom of speech, freedom of expression and academic freedom. It is a fundamental attack on Democracy carried out by the Military, the Palace and the elites. The practical impact is that Thailand has struggled for years to achieve a fully developed democracy, a free press and internationally accepted academic standards in our universities.

Today, Da Torpedo, Red Eagle, Surachai Darnwattanan-nusorn (Sa-Darn) and many others are in prison in Thailand for merely expressing their beliefs in a peaceful way. In recent days arrest warrants have been issued for 5 more people and the police have a list of 30 more people who face arrest. Lese majeste prisoners are denied bail. The royalist judges claim that the offense is “too serious” and “a threat to national security”. Thai dictatorships have used the excuse that their opponents were seeking to “overthrow the Monarchy” in order to kill unarmed demonstrators in 1976 and 2010. Jail terms for lese majeste are draconian. Da is in prison for 18 years and prison conditions are appalling. Chiranuch Premchaiporn, the web manager of the independent Prachatai newspaper faces 50 years in prison for not removing other peoples’ web-posts. A student faces lese majeste charges for not standing up for the King’s anthem in the cinema and the Military-backed Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva tells lies about how he is committed to reforming the law. Abhisit and the army generals also tell lies about the deliberate state-ordered killings of unarmed protesters in May 2010.

In my particular case, my own university gave my anti-coup book to the police special branch, which resulted in a lese majeste prosecution against me. Imagine the impact on my fellow academics. This climate of fear creates poor quality academic work which avoids all important controversial issues and debates. This appalling tradition of educational mediocrity starts at primary school and works its way right to the top of the educational system. Students are encouraged to learn subjects parrot-fashion and write descriptive, one-sided essays. Academics refuse to engage in any debate, do not read work by those who do not agree with them and regard any academic arguments as personal attacks.

Professor Amara Ponsapich and the Thai National Human Rights Commission have disgraced themselves by remaining silent on lese majeste. At the same time they have defended the “right” of fascist PAD members to cause a war with Cambodia. Recently Amara warned the pro-democracy Red Shirts not to cause “trouble” with their protests. No such warning was ever given to the royalist mobs. NGO senator Rosana Tositakul told Red Shirt MPs to stop whining about the 90 deaths last year and to concentrate on the problems of inflation. Amnesty International has followed in the same path by defending the use of lese majeste. Academic hold seminars about why the lese majeste law “needs to be reformed”. But it cannot be reformed. It has to be abolished.

The Thai Monarchy is said to be “universally loved by all Thais”. This may have been the case in some periods of history, but it is no longer true. Many millions have turned against the Monarchy for appearing to condone the 2006 military coup and for saying nothing about the 90 deaths last year. This openly expressed hatred of the Monarchy is despite the climate of fear created by the lese majeste law, along side a manic promotion of the Monarchy. The King is said to be a genius in all fields. All statements by the Monarch are repeated as though they are the ultimate wisdom and he is referred to as “our father”. Photographs are circulated to “prove” that the King actually tied his own shoe-laces!! Many have made comparisons with North Korea. Now they are comparing Thailand to the Middle-Eastern dictatorships. Recently the head of the army claimed that Thailand was “nothing like Egypt”. If he really believed that, then why did he bother to make the public statement in the first place?

Another example of “Monarchy Mania” is the idea of “Sufficiency Economics”. Once the Monarch gave his blessing to the “Sufficiency Economy”, we were all supposed to accept it and praise it without question. The Sufficiency Economy is really a reactionary political ideology that teaches people to be happy with their present circumstances and to ignore the need for income redistribution. Luckily, this aspect of brain-washing has not worked very well in Thai society, for a society which cannot openly discuss economic and political policies will remain backward and under-developed. But the mere criticism of the Sufficiency Economy is enough to attract charges of lese majeste.

What is the aim of all this attempt at enforced idiocy among the population? It is a continuous attempt to keep the vast majority of Thai people in their place. We are encouraged to believe that the King is all powerful, when in fact he is a spineless willing tool of the Military. The Thai population are encouraged to believe that we live under an “ancient system of Monarchy”, a cross between a Sakdina, Absolute and Constitutional Monarchy system. People have to crawl on the ground in front of the King. But the true beneficiaries of this are the Military, the civilian conservative bureaucrats and the Democrat Party who are now in government.

The Military often claim that they are the “defenders of the Constitutional Monarchy”, yet the Thai Military has a long history of making un-constitutional coups. These are often “legitimised” by claiming to protect the Monarchy. The 19^th September 2006 coup is a good example. The Military sought to legitimise themselves by referring to the Monarch. The lese majeste Law is thus used as a tool by the military to defend coups. The promotion of an image that the Monarchy is all powerful (an un-constitutional image), is part of this self-legitimisation by the military and other forces who are now in government. Lese majeste cases have multiplied since the Democrats were manoeuvred into government by the army in December 2008. It is now a central weapon to be used against all those who criticised the 2006 coup or those who oppose this military-installed government.

It is now an undeniable fact that this brain-washing campaign is falling apart. And it is falling apart at the very moment when the King is getting old and may soon die because he is so frail. If the King were ever loved and respected, the same cannot be said about his son. We know from Wikileaks that even the elites think the prince is a liability. The Military, the right-wing PAD protestors who closed the airports and the Democrat Party, have dragged the Monarchy into politics by claiming that the 2006 coup and violent actions by the PAD were supported or even directed by the Monarchy. It is now common to hear ordinary Thais complain that “the iguana and his wife” ordered the May 2010 killings. Royal legitimacy is all that the conservative authoritarians have and they are panicking because it is all unravelling. They have brought this on themselves.

We must not forget the plight of those jailed and killed on the pretext of defending the Monarchy. We must wage an international and national political campaign to defend democratic rights in Thailand and for the abolition of the lese majeste law. Without abolishing this law, we cannot have democracy in Thailand and without overthrowing the dictatorship we cannot abolish lese majeste.

Poking the military bear

Move Forward’s Bencha Saengchan recently proposed that parliament establish a “House standing committee … to study the possibility of transferring businesses presently controlled by the military to the people.”

Somewhat surprisingly, the committee is to be established.

Bencha told parliament “that the billions of baht the military earns from its commercial interests, which currently go into military accounts, should be reassigned to benefit the country.”

While not naming names, she said that “several military generals have accumulated personal fortunes of up to Bt800 million during their time in military service.” She said that the “public has wondered about the generals’ sources of money during their time in the military.” Of course, they don’t wonder, they know. Corruption, crime, “commissions,” “meeting fees,” and positions with allied tycoons and other businesses.

Referring to the military’s institutional businesses, “Bencha claimed that there are plenty of sources of money and assets controlled by the military, including so-called Ratchaphatsadu or state owned land. The military controls almost 1.5 million hectares of such land, which is leased out for the construction of accommodation for its personnel.” She added that “the military has control over 150 petrol stations nationwide, 74 golf courses and other businesses, including radio and television stations and energy-related enterprises, which generate billions of baht in income for the military each year.”

At the same time, she noted that there was only limited public information about these businesses and arrangements.

Perhaps even more surprising, The Nation reports that Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, a banned former leader of the dissolved Future Forward Party, has been named a member of the committee. He was nominated as part of Move Forward’s quota on the committee.

Bencha later told reporters: “Generals who hold political positions have unusual wealth after they retire, and that wealth can be 10 million baht, 100 million baht or even significantly more…”.

Bencha stated that the committee was not just looking at military businesses, but:

…will look into how the generals obtain such wealth in their career from military-related operations, including land rental, military clubs, hotels, boxing stadiums, and radio and TV stations…. [and] why generals have made their way to sit on the boards of 56 state enterprises, including those in high-earning industries such as railways, petroleum, banking and tourism…

A real investigation will certainly rile the military leaders and the hundreds of generals, admirals, and air chief marshals.

The Privy Council and the bourgeoisie

The social media distaste expressed for the king’s appointment of royalist posterior polisher, coup maker, constitution smasher, and commander of murderous military units, Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha, to the Privy Council has prompted yet another effort to veneer the obvious.

The Nation has been prompted/ordered to publish something it headlines “Some facts about the Privy Council of Thailand.”

The article is pretty straight up and down, reading the official screed.  However, as it notes that “[privy] councilors cannot be partisan…”, and refers to official positions, it says nothing about the fact that every privy councilor is partisan in political terms. That’s why there are so many former military and police officers appointed. It is but a committee for the palace and the royalist ruling class.

The only statement in the account that might be considered mildly controversial is the observation that “Privy councillors are not … prohibited from sitting on the boards of influential companies.” As we said, it is but a committee for the palace and the royalist ruling class.

Privy councilors get on well with their betters in the Sino-Thai bourgeoisie, and have often made family fortunes by skimming when in official positions.  In the Privy Council, the relationship is cemented, as is the relations ship between bourgeoisie and palace.

Further updated: Srettha buys a load of ISOC buffalo manure

According to Prachatai, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has “announced that the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) will not be dissolved, arguing that its assistance is needed for development missions.”

How high?

This is a pile of buffalo manure, and there’s good academic research showing why. Read Infiltrating Society. The Thai Military’s Internal Security Affairs by Puangthong Pawakapan, published by ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute in 2021.

Then he mentioned what he really wants ISOC to do: Srettha told the press that the core mission is to protect the monarchy.

In our view, that’s all that ISOC does. As well as being a propaganda unit, all of its major work is meant to promote majesty and undermine civil work, politicians, activists, and more. It is a Cold War organization up to no good.

Update 1: We note an excellent op-ed at Thai Enquirer on this topic, referring to Srettha as a “stooge.” PPT does not see him as a stooge, but as a willing accomplice. That is, as a rich man from a family of rich people who built their wealth on royalism and in times of military dictatorship, he favors military interventionism.

Update 2: Of course, Srettha denies he’s a “stooge.” He declares:

… I am the Prime Minister from PTP, elected by the people and endorsed by the parliament. Please do not undermine the voice of the people. If I am only a puppet, I am a puppet of the people.

That’s kind of Abhisitesque in tone when talking of “democracy,” but his notion of treading lightly and now getting the military upset failed for Yingluck Shinawatra. But perhaps Srettha thinks the military is more cuddly now than it was then. He’s probably wrong. Puea Thai will need to compromise on compromises to stay in its current position.

Ultra-royalists and modern politics

Burapat Chanpratad at Prachatai has come up with a really useful short documentary on ultra-rightists/monarchists. We love the King: The far-right in the age of three-finger salutes became available a week or so ago, but PPT didn’t have an opportunity to post it back then. We felt it a really useful discussion with Thai academics. The only thing we felt missing was a discussion of the role of the military and ISOC in managing these groups.

The police swamp II

Rotten to the core

It was only in June that we posted on the fact that barely a day passes without another corruption story on the police force.

So we can’t let the huge story of dark influences, police, “corrections officers,” and murder go past without a comment.

We recall that one of things that the economic crisis of the late 1990s and the rise of Thaksin Shinawatra and Thai Rak Thai did was reduce the power of dark influences, gangsters, and godfathers. It is now clear that the years of military rule have restored the dark influences who have long connections to military and police.

The police have been especially grasping and thoroughly corrupt since the military “de-Thaksinified” the force. That said, it cannot be denied that the police have long been a well-organized corruption machine – some would say Thailand’s largest criminal enterprise.

We won’t go into the details of the current case, except to note that there were 25 relatively senior police officers and several other senior officials at a “party” organized by Praween Chankhlai, a former kamnan or subdistrict head in Nakhon Pathom, known as Kamnan Nok. Of course, kamnans and their “association” have been courted and promoted by the military-backed regime from 2014 to 2023.

Praween ordered a policeman executed in front of his colleagues:

At around 9 p.m. after the suspect [Praween] had quarreled with the deceased policeman [Pol. Maj. Siwakorn Saibua] he had ordered his subordinate, Mr. Thananchai Manmak, or Nong Thapha, 45, to use a 9mm semi-automatic pistol to kill the policeman right there and then.

Thananchai fired several shots at Pol. Maj. Siwakorn killing him on the spot with one shot accidently hitting Pol. Lt. Col. Wasin. He was himself shot dead in Kanchanaburi yesterday in an exchange of gunfire with police who were trying to arrest him.

Turns out the gun used in the murder was a police weapon. CCTV evidence was destroyed and a Corrections Department official took the CCTV’s hard drive and disposed of it in a canal.

As is common in such cases, not only has the so-called kamnan denied everything, but the man he ordered to kill was himself killed by police in another province.

This is a startling set of events but the traits displayed are common.

With the destruction of evidence and the shooter, we would not be surprised to see the case go on for a considerable time and the boss to get off. Again, that’s a pattern.

Thaksin’s grubby deal

We are a couple of weeks late posting this leader from The Economist, but still consider it useful commentary. We reproduce it in full:

Thaksin Shinawatra shows his true colours

A grubby political compromise with the army has enraged Thai voters

Aug 24th 2023

On the face of it, the deal struck this week between Thailand’s military establishment and its second-biggest party, Pheu Thai, represents progress. The new coalition will end nine years of military-dominated government in South-East Asia’s oldest democracy. Under the influence of Pheu Thai’s de facto leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, a populist tycoon and former prime minister who returned this week from a long exile, the new government should be less incompetent than its army-run predecessor. Democratically, too, Pheu Thai seems an improvement, having come a close second in the general election in May.

Credit: Kahosod

But that would be to gloss what has really happened. The deal is not a win for Thai democracy so much as for the monarcho-military elite’s latest effort to stifle it. The elite is out to foil the election’s actual winner, a reformist party called Move Forward which is popular because it promises to break their grip on power. In helping to sabotage Move Forward, by doing a deal with the army establishment that his party had promised to shun, Mr Thaksin has revealed that he is no friend of Thai democracy but rather an instrument of the status quo.

The details are damning. In return for betraying Move Forward—once its comrade in the fight to restore democracy—Pheu Thai could at least have minimised the establishment’s hand in its new coalition. It appears instead to have used up its leverage on securing Mr Thaksin’s return. He has been arrested and jailed on long-standing corruption charges, but is expected to receive a royal pardon shortly. His party will go into government with some of the establishment’s most unapologetic stooges—cheerleaders for the coups that ended Mr Thaksin’s government in 2006 and his sister’s in 2014. Meanwhile, even as Mr Thaksin awaits release from jail, Thailand’s rightful next leader, Move Forward’s Pita Limjaroenrat, could face imprisonment on trumped-up charges.

In the short term, Mr Thaksin’s dealmaking should bring stability to an economy that has fared miserably under military rule. As recently as 2005 to 2009, Thailand’s economy, the second-biggest in South-East Asia, enjoyed the highest foreign direct investment of any of its regional peers, reflecting Thailand’s status as a manufacturing hub, particularly of electronics and vehicle parts. But over the past five years investment inflows have lagged behind those of neighbours such as Indonesia and Vietnam. Under the premiership of Pheu Thai’s Srettha Thavisin, another mogul with a populist touch, the new government should improve on that dire record. It will also have a strong incentive to maintain its disparate 11-party coalition—though not one that Thaksinists should find reassuring. If the government founders, new elections will be held in which Move Forward could do even better than in May.

That reflects the depth of Thais’ unhappiness with the establishment politics that Mr Thaksin is helping perpetuate. Launched by liberal activists only three years ago, Move Forward did surprisingly well across the country, including in Pheu Thai’s rural strongholds. If it had Thailand’s best interests at heart, the Thaksin party would take on some of Move Forward’s liberal reforms, including trustbusting and scrapping the country’s absurd lèse-majesté laws. But that is not likely for a government cobbled together to stave off change.

Thailand’s best longer-term hope is that the reformist forces Move Forward has unleashed become too powerful to deny. In a way, Mr Thaksin has made this likelier. His grubby compromise has enraged pro-democracy activists, leading to rowdy protests outside Pheu Thai’s headquarters. Move Forward’s leaders must now do their part, by striving to ensure the opposition remains peaceful and united. They have already performed wonders, inspiring Thais with the promise of a better future. If they can hold together, despite the establishment’s provocations, they will probably be able to honour that promise in the end.

No 112 conviction for Taem

Prachatai reports that the Ubon Ratchathani Provincial Court has dismissed a lese majeste charge against Taem (pseudonym) for damaging portraits of King Vajiralongkorn displayed in front of Trakan Phuet Phon distirict high school.

Taem has recurring medical issues related to injuries received when assaulted when serving as a military conscript.

He was arrested on 6 November 2021 for damaging a portrait of the king. He was indicted on 3 August 2022. Taem denied the Article 112 charge but admitted to destroying the portraits.

Under police questioning, Taem admitted to destroying three royal portraits but claimed he did not intend to insult the king. He stated that he was acting on “a voice” he heard from “high above” but not knowing that they were the king’s portraits.

The police knew Taem had been receiving treatment for mental illness.

At first, the investigating police did not charge Taem under Article 112, but their superiors at the Region 3 Provincial Police Bureau demanded prosecution, declaring that destroying the king’s portraits was highly inappropriate and amounts to offending the monarchy.

Taem had to sign an arrest record before he was able to consult with a lawyer. He was released on 8 November. After his indictment, Taem was again released, this time on 90,000 baht bail and was ordered to appear before the court for a hearing on 19 September 2022.

The court dismissed the 112 charges saying “nothing suggested malicious intent towards the King.” The court did convict Taem on a charge of destruction of state property.

The court also decided that “when he heard a voice in his head instructing him, he could still maintain self-control and refuse the voice.”

The court imposed a “fine of 6,000 baht and three months in prison suspended for five years on the condition that he receives treatment at Phra Si Maha Phot Hospital for his mental illness. Taem was also ordered to pay 20,440 baht for the damage…”.

Taem’s mother said he “did not take his medications on the day he damaged the portraits and later told her that voices from heaven made him do it.”

Taem himself “testified the he saw a black image of the King, along with letters instructing him to destroy the portrait.”

Taem is not the first person with mental illness indicted. There have been at least 10 people with histories of mental illness indicted on Article 112 charges since the 2014 coup and at least six  have received prison sentences.

Waiting II

According to one longtime observer:

Millions of Thais were gripped with suspense, misery, or delight seeing a Shakespearean display of political knives and an agonized “Et tu Brute?” echoing in the hostile Senate when it voted twice to crush popular Pita Limjaroenrat’s chances to become prime minister.

The grim, militarized, junta-appointed 249-member Senate was not a welcoming place for Pita, 44, who won a nationwide House election in May, promising to reform the U.S.-trained military and stop them repeatedly seizing power through coups.

Pita also wanted to “reform” the constitutional monarchy, slash the military’s opaque budget and lucrative commercial enterprises, downsize the swollen number of generals, end conscription, and disband the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC)….

The response, however, has – so far – been tepid. It seems almost a wait-and-see position. That may make some sense, as there is a heck of a lot going on, in public and behind closed doors.

The article quotes academic Paul Chambers:

I think he [Pita] and his party will be happy to be in the opposition if Pita fails to become prime minister…. The Move Forward Party need only wait until May 2024 when the Senate will lose its constitutional powers to help select the prime minister…. After May 2024, the House decides alone. Thus, next May, the MFP-led opposition could easily obtain a no-confidence vote in the House against a minority government and replace it in office.

Being “happy” about going to opposition stretches things a bit too far, but the point about waiting adds to our previous post. We doubt the bosses are going to allow Move Forward such an option.

In all of this, the one who can wait no longer is Thaksin Shinawatra. He seems as prepared as the mad royalists to sink the hopes of the electorate. But, then, there is residual anti-Thaksinism. It would be sad and ironic if the orange people end up in an anti-Thaksin alliance with royalists. Far-fetched? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

We are prepared to wait and see,