http://asiancorrespondent.com/bangko...-over-the-army
Does the Thai PM have control over the army?
Nov. 22 2010 - 07:00 am
The problem with headlines is one cannot put all the necessary information into the headline so BP wants to start by noting that no civilian-led government in Thailand has had complete control over the army. Even during the the height of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's government in 2005, BP does not think he had control over the military. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has even less control over the military. In fact, some would even say the military has some form of control over him since they helped him become PM. So clearly the answer to the question in the headline is "no", but the reason to raise the question now is the presence and power that the military in Thailand has over a civilian-led, elected government is much greater in this administration than in recent decades.* See Chang Noi for some similiar comments in 2009. Since 2009, things have hardly improved and the military has even greater control. When the state of emergency was declared in April 2010, the government set up the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) to monitor the situation.
CRES can decide when people can protest and when it will not be allowed, issues summons for students and politicians at will, ban any website, freeze your money, close newspapers etc. Initially, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban headed CRES, but early on Suthep started to lose powers, but stayed on until he resigned as Deputy PM in October 2010 and was replaced by Defence Minsiter Prawit. However, it is Army Chief Prayuth himself who has the authority to issue regulations. On November 19, 2010, Prayuth issued a new regulation pursuant to the State of Emergency legislation. You can see the full Thai language version here, but Rikker has a translation. Key excerpts: Item 1: Individuals are forbidden to have in their possession, or possess with intent to sell or otherwise distribute, products, clothing, consumer goods, or any other objects that contain printing, writing, drawing, photography, or any other method that conveys a meaning which provokes, incites, agitates, or causes disunity in the general populace, or acts or supports acts which cause a state of emergency.
Item 2: Authorities are authorized to order the seizure or confiscation of products, clothing, consumer goods, or any other objects as outlined in Item 1, and are authorized to act as necessary to maintain the security of the state or the safety of the public.
Item 3: These orders are to be made by authorities of commissioned officer level or equivalent.
Item 4: Any person violating this order is subject to up to 2 years imprisonment or a fine of up to 40,000 baht, or both.
The Bangkok Post has the background to the new law: However, CRES spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd conceded it may be difficult to determine what items should be banned, so it would be up to the police to judge what rally items would cause disunity.
Col Sansern said feet-shaped plastic clappers should be fine, but not a pair of sandals with the faces of government politicians printed on them.
To enforce the ban, police would first give a violator a verbal warning. If he or she did not stop, legal action would then be taken, Col Sansern said.
An army source said Gen Prayuth was upset when he came across T-shirts and sandals carrying photos mocking important figures.
BP: Good to know that feet-shaped plastic clappers are ok. Col. Sansern says a warning will be given first, but from past experience this is not the case. The law has arisen because the Army Chief was upset about people being mocked. How far will the law go? On the same day that the law was issued, AP reported: China has sentenced a woman to a year in a labor camp for "disrupting social order" by retweeting a satirical message urging Chinese protesters to smash the Japan pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, an international rights group said.
Cheng Jianping, 46, re-posted a message from the social networking site Twitter last month hinting that Chinese protesters should smash the Japan pavilion at the Shanghai Expo and adding on the message "Angry youth, charge!" according to Amnesty International, which condemned the sentence in a statement late Thursday.
Amnesty and Cheng's fiance said her retweet was meant as satire, mocking anti-Japanese protesters who had grown in number since tensions between the countries increased after a dispute erupted in September over islands claimed by both Japan and China.
...
"So I posted that message on Twitter, satirically saying that if they really want to do something big, they should just get on a plane and attack the Japan pavilion at the expo. Of course, that is not possible."
BP: Would a similiar satrical message on a t-shirt in Thailand also result in a jail sentence? One interesting thing to note about the new regulation is that it does allow law arrests of sellers of flip-flops with the image of people on them. Actually, this hasn't stopped the authorities in the past in arresting such flip-flop sellers, but now there is clear legal authority to arrest such sellers. In fact, we got an instance of such an arrest on Friday per Prachatai: Police arrested a flip-flop vendor at the red shirt rally at Ratchaprasong intersection, and confiscated about 100 pairs of flip-flops bearing the PM’s face.
ASTV-Manager reports that at 9 pm on 19 Nov, police arrested Kornkamon Pornhit who was selling flip-flops printed with the face of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at the red-shirt rally at Ratchaprasong intersection, and confiscated about 100 pairs.
Pol Maj Gen Ronnasilp Pusara, Metropolitan Police commander, said that the police made the arrest to check whether the flip-flops were considered items prohibited by the announcement of the Centre for the Resolution of Emergency Situation (CRES) or not. However, he said that the vendor might probably be fined only for obstructing the footpath.
BP: It is almost as if a watered-down version of lese majeste law has been extended to the entire political class subject to enforcement of the police. You arrest first, and then check later? You can already seen how unclear this new law is... Even the Prime Minister is way of the new law as the Bangkok Post reports: "I understand the CRES issued the order because it was concerned about acts which could offend the monarchy," said Mr Abhisit, insisting he only learned about the order yesterday morning.
"In this regard, to step up security measures alone should be enough. Issuing that order will only widen social rifts as it affects individuals' rights. I want them to revise the order," he said.
BP: Don't we already have lese majeste law for acts that offend the monarchy? Seriously, Abhisit couldn't you have come up with a better excuse? Also, Abhisit is the person under the Emergency Decree who has the power to declare a state of emergency and then has the power to authorize people to have powers under the State of Emergency. All these powers derive from the Prime Minister, but he seems powerless to act against the military. Will the military listen and revise the order? If so, what will replace it? Will then stop arresting people who sell flip-flops even without any clear legal authority? The military have become a power unto themselves and need to be reined in... Will Abhisit assume direct responsibility for the issuing of regulations? If you give too much power to the military, what else can you expect?
*Have quite narrowly defined this as civilian-led, elected government to exclude civilian-led coup governments. Am just trying to think when was the last time the military had so much power. Not under Thaksin, Chuan, Banharn, or Chavalit. Prem doesn't count as he was not a civilian, but there was no pretense that Thailand was anything other than a semi-democracy back then. Perhaps, Chatichai?
When an army general makes up laws, and implements them, upon whims then it is very very clear.