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Re: Protests update
Reuters
26 January 2016
'There Will Definitely be an Election' in 2017, Prayuth Promises
BANGKOK тАФ A general election will be held in 2017 even if the draft constitution does not pass a referendum this year, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha said today.
The government had previously made a new constitution a prerequisite for a general election, but junta leader Prayuth, who serves as prime minister, said Tuesday a vote would go ahead in mid-2017, even if it had to be held under a previous constitution..... (read more)....http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.ph ... 1453805617
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Re: Protests update
Editorial Opinion
Poor suffer as regime goes back to old ways
Published: 27/01/2016
If you want to get Kanya Pankiti going, ask her about the coup-makers' self-proclaimed mission to return happiness to Thais. "Are you serious?" she asks. "What happiness?...
Kanya, 54, a grassroots land rights activist from Trang, is joining her land reform peers from different provinces to protest against the government's plan to dissolve the Land Bank, an agency with the..... (read more)....http://m.bangkokpost.com/opinion/841308 ... %2Fopinion
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Re: Protests update
GOING BACKWARDS SERVES THE POWERFUL
January 27, 2016
A series of reports at Prachatai and at the Bangkok Post are a useful reminder of what Thailand is like when the military is in charge.
Corruption, the use of special powers, thuggery, working with business people to exploit the poor in coercive ways. And, impunity. The military and the bureaucrats can do whatever they want, and get away with murder, abduction, enforced disappearance and other gang-like bad behavior because, like a male street dog licking its undercarriage, they can.
We apologize for this rather rude analogy but the actions of the military and the junta are uncivil, uncouth and brutish.
The first story at Prachatai relates to three suspects.... (read more)....https://politicalprisonersofthailand.wo ... -powerful/
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Re: Protests update
JANUARY 27, 2016
Thailand: Rights Crisis Deepens Under Dictatorship
Junta Gave Empty Promises to Return Democracy, Respect Rights
(New York) тАУ ThailandтАЩs military junta tightened its grip on power and severely repressed fundamental rights in the past year, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2016. Public pledges by the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to respect human rights and return the country to elected civilian rule went unfulfilled..... (read more).....https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/01/27/tha ... ctatorship
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Re: Protests update
The trouble with ThailandтАЩs new democracy
BY JAMES L TAYLOR, GUEST CONTRIBUTOR тАУ 28 JANUARY 2016
POSTED IN: THAILAND
To restore democracy and topple an тАШancien regimeтАЩ, anti-junta activism needs to transform into broad-based, anti-fascist movement, writes Jim Taylor.
The тАЬNew DemocracyтАЭ Movement (NDM, sometimes written in English as тАЬNeo- DemocracyтАЭ), are now at the forefront of spontaneous anti-fascist activities in Thailand.
The group was founded by a core group of 14 mostly students of working class backgrounds from Bangkok and Khon Kaen, whose families benefitted from former prime minister Thaksin ShinawatraтАЩs pro-poor policies.
NDM says it is committed to..... (read more)......http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandal ... democracy/
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Re: Protests update
International rights body downgrades Thai National Human Rights Commission
Submitted by editor2 on Thu, 28/01/2016
An international human rights agency has downgraded ThailandтАЩs National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) due to failures in addressing human rights issues.
The Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) of the International Coordinating Committee on National Human Rights Institutions (ICC), an independent international association of national human rights institutions (NHRIs) worldwide which monitors the performance of national human rights institutions, announced that it has downgraded the status of ThailandтАЩs NHRC from тАШAтАЩ to тАШBтАЩ, the UN revealed on Thursday, 28 January 2016.
The Paris Principles serve as the benchmark in accrediting human rights institutions in each country..... (read more).....http://prachatai.org/english/node/5810
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Re: Protests update
Sasiwan Mokkhasen
28 January 2016
Thailand Asks Google to Bend Censorship Rules
BANGKOK тАФ Thai officials asked Google to make an exception and remove content without a court order, according to leaked details of a meeting this past Friday with top executives from the U.S.-based search giant.
The second meeting between Google legal reps and a junta censorship committee was detailed in a document leaked by Thai net freedom advocates hours before Anonymous-aligned hacktivists shut down 20 Department of Corrections websites Thursday morning..... (read more)...http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.ph ... 6§ion=
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Re: Protests update
29 January 2016
The Good, Bad and Ugly of JuntaтАЩs тАШAnti-CorruptionтАЩ Constitution
By Pravit Rojanaphruk
Senior Staff Writer
BANGKOK тАФ Critics of the junta-sponsored draft charter say democracy will be undermined if it is approved in the national referendum slated for July while supporters insist itтАЩs designed to prevent corruption and abuse of power by politicians.
With the first draft being officially unveiled today, politicos and academics raise issues over weakening the power of voters by possibly having prime ministers they didnтАЩt choose, unelected panels with increased power to intervene in government and a new electoral system designed to ensure no political party gains an outright majority..... (read more)......http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.ph ... 1454046650
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Re: Protests update
News 91% of Facebook users not happy with government Published: 29/01/2016
Writer: Online Reporters The result of Prachamati.org's online poll to the question: "Are you happy under... (read more)....
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politic ... government.
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Re: Protests update
Two options emerge if draft is rejected
THE NATION January 30, 2016
Govt could amend interim charter or attempt a third draft, if necessary.
PRIME MINISTER Prayut Chan-o-cha appears to be keeping his cards close to his chest on what he plans to do should the draft charter be rejected in the public referendum. He obviously has a back-up plan, but he certainly is not revealing it to anybody right now..... (read more).....http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politic ... 78123.html