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Re: Protests update
Democrats opposed to Senate vote on PM
THE SUNDAY NATION April 3, 2016
THE DEMOCRAT PARTY is against asking referendum voters whether to allow selected senators to join elected MPs in choosing a new prime minister after the next general election, party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday.
Abhisit said that such a move would tantamount to tampering with democratic principles and the government would have problems running the country.... (read more).... http://www.nationmultimedia.com/poli...-30283146.html
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Re: Protests update
Thailand: More restrictions on horizon as repressive “virtual” martial law prevails
Submitted by editor2 on Sun, 03/04/2016
Amnesty International
On the first anniversary of the lifting of martial law in Thailand, and as officials announced they will hold political re-education courses in army camps for government critics, Amnesty International calls on Thai authorities to lift the “virtual” martial law powers it has granted to the military in decrees that restrict human rights to the further detriment of the rule of law in the country.
The organization also urges authorities to end their increasingly pernicious repression of peaceful dissent that has been facilitated by the military’s expanded powers.... (read more)... http://prachatai.org/english/node/6003
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Re: Protests update
Uproar over education
Chularat Saengpassa
The Nation April 4, 2016
HUNDREDS OF THOUSAND children would potentially lose their chance for senior secondary or vocational education if the current charter draft sails through the public referendum.
The draft seeks to arrange the 12-year period of free education to start at kindergarten, instead of at Prathom 1 of primary education as at present. The move in effect threatens to heighten a risk of Mathayom 3 graduates losing their opportunity to further their studies.... (read more).... http://www.nationmultimedia.com/nati...-30283200.html
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Re: Protests update
This is getting close to crossing the line of just a typical Thai coup, to one of those black marks in the history books that everyone wishes they could pretend didn't happen.
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Re: Protests update
Thai military's grand design in politics
Nirmal Ghosh
Indochina Bureau Chief
April 4, 2016
Thailand is abuzz over an impending August referendum on a new Constitution proposed by the military-led regime. Whatever its outcome, the military's grand design is clear: Weaken political parties in order to have easily disposable coalition governments.
BANGKOK • The shadow of the army in Myanmar is a long one, but, over the past five years, it has shrunk. Next door in Thailand, though, the shadow of the Royal Thai Army is lengthening.
Public attention is veering to a referendum on a new proposed Constitution, tentatively set for Aug 7....(read more)..... http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/...gn-in-politics
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Re: Protests update
The (exceptional) long struggle for justice in the (exceptional) military courts
Submitted by editor1 on Mon, 04/04/2016
Thailand’s military courts have handled more than 1,400 cases involving more than 1,600 civilian defendants. The most pressing problem has been the overuse of pre-trial detention against those accused of lèse majesté or criminal possession of war weapons, which simply turned them into “forgotten prisoners.” If they decide to fight the charges, these civilians would face almost indefinite detention – both because of the seriousness of the charges against them and the Court’s own slow procedures.
Just before 2015 came to an end, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) published a report on the number of civilian cases that had been handled by military courts since the May 2014 coup. This report was based on data provided by the Office of the Judge Advocate General (JAG), which took almost two months to respond to the TLHR’s request for information....(read more)... http://prachatai.org/english/node/6002
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Re: Protests update
04 April 2016
Thaksin Tells Junta to Mind the Drought, Not His New Year Gifts
BANGKOK — Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Sunday the military government should focus on dealing with the country's problems after soldiers seized thousands of red plastic bowls he and his sister sent supporters as a New Year gift.
The junta led by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who toppled Yingluck's government in a 2014 coup, has reacted skittishly as Thaksin has become more vocal in his opposition to the military government this year.... (read more).. http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail...399§ion=11
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Re: Protests update
JUNTA’S LIES ABOUT UNEMPLOYMENT LEVELS
APRIL 3, 2016 UGLYTRUTHTHAILAND
Giles Ji Ungpakorn
The Thai economy is being hit by the global recession and the impact of the political crisis and military rule. Thailand’s main export areas: the United States, the European Union and Japan, are either in crisis or experiencing sluggish growth. The Chinese economy is now experiencing a significant downturn. Thai seafood products are being boycotted because of the scandal of slave labour which the junta has no real will to solve. Trade agreements are being delayed because of a lack of democracy and tourism from the West is down because of a number of unsolved crimes against tourists and because of the general political climate.....(read more).... https://uglytruththailand.wordpress....oyment-levels/
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Re: Protests update
CHUAN, CHARTER AND CORRUPTION
April 4, 2016
Social media posters are asking why the Democrat Party’s Chuan Leekpai is not being sent to re-education for his entirely negative comments on the junta’s draft charter.
The Bangkok Post explains why he misses out on re-education. Chuan spoke “at a seminar on the draft charter organised by the Constitutional Court…”.It was also attended by other anti-democrat big shots including junta charter minion Meechai Ruchupan.... (read more)... https://politicalprisonersofthailand...nd-corruption/
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Re: Protests update
Op-ed: The true danger to ‘democracy’ in Thailand
by Asian Correspondent Staff | 4th April 2016
By Jasmine Chia and Thaya Uthayophas
WHAT does it mean, to be democratic? The Constitutional Drafting Committee (CDC) made public Thailand’s draft constitution last week, increasingly entrenching the military junta’s control. Critics of the junta have called for democracy – something now defined in Thailand as the absence of military rule. But this posits a false binary. There is so much more at stake when we wield the term “democracy” – it should be an ideal that does not just save us from oppressors, but empowers us as engaged citizens. This idea has been slipping away from Thais over the last decade, and it’s high time we revive it before we forget our full power.
The draft constitution seems to take a leaf out of Machiavelli’s Discourses on Livy. By clothing authoritarianism in the language of lawfulness, the people hopefully.... (read more)... https://asiancorrespondent.com/2016/...y-in-thailand/