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Re: Protests update
Our next leader will have to fix economy
Published: 17/01/2016
Writer: Editorial
Next yearтАЩs election, should it go ahead as planned, is shaping up as a good one to lose. Any incoming government will have the interesting task of navigating unchartered constitutional waters, with a senate most likely appointed by unconventional means and restrictions over who can become prime minister and how long they can serve. But while the constitutional drafting process and referendum is rightly... (read more)....
http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opin ... ix-economy.
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Re: Protests update
17 January 2016
Academics to Expand Opposition to Junta
By Pravit Rojanaphruk
Senior Staff Writer
BANGKOK тАФ Pro-democracy academics want to shift to a proactive stance in an attempt to restore some political rights amid concerns the junta may attempt to remain in power much longer.
Some 30 academics and NGO activists organized as тАЬThai Academics for Civil RightsтАЭ will meet Thursday through Saturday to review their role and come up with strategies and measures to push back against repression by the military junta against students and scholars..... (read more).....http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.ph ... 1453020197
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Re: Protests update
When Orders Become Law
Submitted by editor1 on Mon, 18/01/2016
Nidhi Eoseewong
The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) explains that summoning people for attitude adjustment and detention is carried out in accordance with the law. I say the NCPO because this explanation has been repeated by the head, deputy head, and on down to the spokesperson. In response to the increasing voices of opposition in society, the spokesperson further states that the NCPO is not selective in the use of this тАЬlaw.тАЭ No matter who you are or what side you come from, if you create confusion, if you obstruct the NCPOтАЩs roadmap, or if you are a danger to national reconciliation, then you will be summoned for attitude adjustment and detention..... (read more).....http://prachatai.org/english/node/5772
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Re: Protests update
[b] REPLACING THE KING II
January 17, 2016
In an earlier post PPT commented on how the Constitutional Court was being set up in the draft constitution in ways that transferred some of the kingтАЩs formal and тАЬinformalтАЭ political power to the court.
The idea is that the current monarch could (kind of) be trusted to do the right thing by the elite that craves economic and social power.....(read more)....https://politicalprisonersofthailand.wo ... e-king-ii/
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Re: Protests update
18 January 2016
Shinawatras Defy Junta With Publicity Drive
BANGKOK тАФ Former prime ministers Thaksin Shinawatra and his sister Yingluck are cranking up their promotional machines to reconnect with supporters in apparent defiance of the military that toppled their governments.
The publicity drive, which includes a...... (read more)...http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.ph ... 6§ion=
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Re: Protests update
Sasiwan Mokkhasen
20 January 2016
Junta Approves 20 Billion Baht for Internet Broadband, Gateway
BANGKOK тАФ The Junta approved 20 billion baht on Tuesday to improve internet broadband in the kingdom, drawing criticism from internet freedom advocates it will be used to develop its controversial тАЬsingle gatewayтАЭ project..... (read more)....http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.ph ... 6§ion=
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Re: Protests update
Chayanit Itthipongmaetee
16 January 2016
Democracy Activists Commit to Fight Over Flight
BANGKOK тАФ Members of the New Democracy Movement issued a statement this morning saying they will not flee the country and will continue тАЬfighting for freedom and democracy.тАЭ
The statement referenced fresh warrants and summons for several of the groupsтАЩ members in the wake of their campaign to call attention to the Rajabhakti Park scandal and vowed to remain in the country to call attention to the allegations of corruption in the armyтАЩs construction of the billion-baht park..... (read more)...http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.ph ... section=11
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Re: Protests update
Wed Jan 20, 2016
Draft constitution for army-run Thailand 'strong medicine'
By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Panarat Thepgumpanat
BANGKOK (Reuters) - A draft constitution for army-run Thailand to be unveiled this month will be "strong medicine", the constitution panel head said on Wednesday, adding that there was no guarantee it would pass a referendum, meaning a further extension of military rule.
The May 2014 coup ended months of political protests in Bangkok aimed at ousting a civilian government, since when the junta has curbed basic freedoms and pushed back the timetable for elections to 2017.
Meechai Ruchupan, 77, chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee, said the constitution aimed to solve long-running problems such as abuse of power by lawmakers, but might not solve decades-long political divisions..... (read more).....http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0UY13E
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Re: Protests update
US State Department deputy spokesman concerned over human rights in Thailand
The Nation January 21, 2016
US State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark C Toner Thursday expressed concerns over limitations on human rights and fundamental freedoms in Thailand following the arrest of a student activist by troops late Wednesday night.
Toner declined to comment directly on the arrest of Sirawit Serithiwat, better known as Ja (Sergeant) New, a leading student activist who has been campaigning for transparent probe into alleged irregularities in the Rajahakti Park project..... (read more)....http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakin ... 77386.html
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Re: Protests update
Military court releases youth anti-junta activists
Submitted by editor2 on Thu, 21/01/2016
The military court has rejected the request to detain anti-junta youth activists calling for an investigation into corruption allegations on a park constructed by the Royal Thai Army.
The Military Court of Bangkok on Thursday at 4 pm, 21 January 2016, declined to grant the police custody permission to detain Sirawit Serithiwat, 23, Chonticha Jaeng-rew, 22, Chanoknan Ruamsap, 22, and Korakoch Saengyenpan, 23..... (read more)....http://prachatai.org/english/node/5787
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Re: Protests update
UN calls on Thai authorities to drop all charges against student activists
Submitted by editor1 on Fri, 22/01/2016
BANGKOK (22 January 2016) тАУ The United Nations Human Rights Office for South-East Asia (OHCHR) urges the Thai military to drop all charges against 11 student activists arrested for violating a ban on political gatherings .....(read more).....http://prachatai.org/english/node/5792? ... m=facebook
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Re: Protests update
Red shirts to vote against charter draft: Nuttawut
The Nation January 22, 2016
Red-shirt leader Nuttawut Saikuar vowed Friday to campaign for the red-shirt people to vote against the charter draft on ground that it has undemocratic provisions..... (read more)....http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakin ... 77501.html
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Re: Protests update
23 January 2016
10 Things You Might Not Want to Know About the Next Constitution
By Pravit Rojanaphruk
BANGKOK тАФ Get ready for the junta-sponsored constitution-drafting festival again. Twenty-one (mostly male, all with zero public accountability) members, appointed by junta leader Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha (also unaccountable to the public), will unveil the next draft charter Friday.
Here are some things you might not want to know about the next constitution, as it is being written:..... (read more)...http://linkis.com/khaosodenglish.com/KP4bl
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Re: Protests update
тАШUndemocratic charterтАЩ to be opposed
THE NATION January 23, 2016
Red shirts won't endorse it to hasten election: Nattawut
NUTTAWUT SAIKUAR, secretary-general of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, stated yesterday that the red shirts would not endorse an undemocratic constitution in a referendum, even if it delayed an election.
Meanwhile, Constitution Draft-ing Commission (CDC) spokesman Udom Rathamarit said opponents had the right to express their sentiments.
Nuttawut claimed that the current draft was far worse than the previous unsuccessful one, saying it would not be very hard to make a decision about it.....(read more).....http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politic ... 77537.html
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Re: Protests update
Pro-democracy student activist abducted
Submitted by editor2 on Mon, 25/01/2016
Not one week after Sirawit Serithiwat, a well known pro-democracy activist, was abducted by military officers and reportedly abused under custody, another student activist has been abducted.
According to Resistant Citizen, an anti-junta facebook group, at 10:30 am, people believed to be military officers in plainclothes have abducted Chakkraponh Ponhlaoar, aka. Kankan, member of VillagersтАЩ Children, a pro-democracy student activist group based in Burapha University of the eastern province of Chonburi.....(read more)....http://prachatai.org/english/node/5796
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Re: Protests update
THE RED SHIRTS TODAY
JANUARY 24, 2016 UGLYTRUTHTHAILAND
Giles Ji Ungpakorn
A recent article at the end of last year in the web-newspaper тАЬPrachataiтАЭ discusses the state of the red shirt movement under the military dictatorship in the north-east and north of the country. It is based on interviews with local activists. All the activists have been visited repeatedly by military officers. People have been taken to military camps for тАЬattitude changingтАЭ sessions and some have been ordered to report to the military on a weekly basis. Naturally this has not been the general fate of most yellow shirt royalists or any supporters of SutepтАЩs mob.
While many red shirt activists still support Taksin, they stress..... (read more).....https://uglytruththailand.wordpress.com ... rts-today/
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Re: Protests update
Sasiwan Mokkhasen
25 January 2016
Social Media Surveillance System Planned
BANGKOK тАФ The Royal Thai Police plan to spend 12 million baht on a system to monitor messages and track users on the most popular social media platforms.
A company is being sought to provide software, hardware and training courses for such a system to be used to monitor public posts on Facebook, Twitter and Pantip, the kingdomтАЩs biggest message board, according to procurement documents, which said it is intended to suppress increasing online crime...... (read more)......http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.ph ... 06§ion
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Re: Protests update
Future unclear if charter fails
KASAMAKORN CHANWANPEN,
WASAMON AUDJARINT
THE NATION January 26, 2016
Interim constitution could stay in force, Meechai says; spurring fear over article 44.
CONCERN HAS increased with the likelihood that the post-coup interim charter will be in place longer if the new draft constitution fails to pass a national referendum.
Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC) chairman Meechai Ruchupan said yesterday that the current charter would stay in place if the new draft charter were rejected by the public..... (read more).....http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politic ... 77721.html
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Re: Protests update
26 January 2016
Junta Quashes Labor Movement Despite Role in 2014 Protests
By Pravit Rojanaphruk
BANGKOK тАФ Earlier this month, veteran labor leader Wilaiwan Sae-tia traveled to Bangkok to lend her support to auto parts factory workers from Rayong province. It was routine for the 60-year-old chairwoman of what is arguably the kingdomтАЩs most influential labor group; the kind of thing sheтАЩs done many times in four decades with the movement.
This time, however, she paid a price for advocating for the workers of.... (read more)....http://linkis.com/khaosodenglish.com/jKZOJ
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Re: Protests update
Thai junta leader says Amnesty International encourages law breakers
Submitted by editor2 on Tue, 26/01/2016
The Thai junta leader has scolded Amnesty InternationalтАЩs campaign for Thai political dissidents, saying that the organization encourages people who have violated the law.
After the abduction of Sirawit Serithiwat, a pro-democracy student activist leader, last week, Amnesty International (AI) started a campaign calling on its members to send letters to Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the junta leader and Prime Minister, and Don Pramudwinai, Minister of Foreign Affairs, to demand that the regime drop charges against Sirawit and other dissidents.
According to the Thai News Agency, yesterday, 25 January 2016, the junta leader said in response to the AI campaign that certain human rights organizations were ill-informed about the situation in Thailand and got their information from distorted media reports..... (read more).....http://prachatai.org/english/node/5801
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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
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Re: Protests update
FIRST TAKES ON THE JUNTAтАЩS DRAFT CONSTITUTION
January 30, 2016
PPT hasnтАЩt had a chance to look at the draft 270-article, 95-page constitution in any detail, but there are commentators who have (a PDF of the draft can be downloaded, in Thai). While most of the provisions have been flagged in recent weeks тАУ at last the most controversial, we thought weтАЩd combines some of that commentary here.
In the Bangkok Post, the anti-democrat agenda of the drafters and junta is made clear by.... (read more).....https://politicalprisonersofthailand.wo ... stitution/
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Re: Protests update
Reformers to demand censorship from Facebook, Line Published: 31/01/2016
Executives of the giant social media outlets Facebook and Line have been called to a meeting by the national... (read more)....
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... ebook-line.
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Re: Protests update
CONSTITUTIONAL DEJA-VU
JANUARY 31, 2016 UGLYTRUTHTHAILAND
Giles Ji Ungpakorn
The process of ThailandтАЩs тАЬConstitutional Anti-ReformsтАЭ trundles on like some ancient dinosaur. More jobs for the juntaтАЩs cronies, funded by more public money, is being wasted on yet another farcical constitutional drafting process. The last draft was an authoritarian abomination and the new тАЬMeechaiтАЭ version is little different [See http://bit.ly/1Jv5QDC and http://bit.ly/1ScVIR6 ].
The latest draft is more subtle than last yearтАЩs draft, reducing the nonsense about тАЬGoodтАЭ leaders and hiding the all-powerful тАЬCommittee to determine state strategy and enforcement of reconciliationтАЭ under a different hat.
This latest тАЬMeechai DraftтАЭ creates an even more powerful non-elected Constitutional Court that has the power to sack an elected government..... (read more)...https://uglytruththailand.wordpress.com ... l-deja-vu/
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Re: Protests update
Is the Thai JuntaтАЩs support network starting to fray?
31 January 2016
Author: Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Chulalongkorn University
No country in Southeast Asia shoots itself in the foot more than Thailand. With so much going for it, the second-largest economy in the region still manages to underperform spectacularly. Its growth trajectory is in the 2тАУ3 per cent range even though it has the potential to track twice that figure. Two decades after it was considered to be a consolidating democracy, Thailand is now led by outright military-authoritarian rule. In much of the region there will be considerable good news in 2016, but in Thailand good news seems hard to find..... (read more).....http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2016/01/31 ... g-to-fray/
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Re: Protests update
Meechai's charter meant to be killed: Pheu Thai
Published: 31/01/2016
Writer: Online Reporters
Leading Pheu Thai Party member Surapong Tovichakchaikul believes the draft constitution prepared by the Meechai Ruchupan panel may have been written in such a way that it would be rejected in the referendum...... (read more)......http://m.bangkokpost.com/news/846060?re ... StIcxjIoKM
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Re: Protests update
Misogynist military boss: Prayuth says gender equality тАШwill make Thai society deteriorateтАЩ
By Coconuts Bangkok February 1, 2016
While Canada gets self-proclaimed feminist Justin Trudeau, this is who Thailand is dealing with.
In the latest off-script blunder by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, the junta chief scoffed at gender equality and said the country would deteriorate if women and men were equal..... (read more)....http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2016/02/01/m ... eteriorate
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Re: Protests update
Tongue-ThaiтАЩed тАУ A womanтАЩs (supposed) worth in a military manтАЩs world
by Saksith Saiyasombut | 1st February 2016
This is part XXXII of тАЬTongue-ThaiтАЩed!тАЭ, an ongoing series where we collect the most baffling, ridiculous, confusing, outrageous and appalling quotes from Thai politicians and other public figures. Check out all past entries here.
AS weтАЩre entering the second full year of the Thai military government and with things likely to stay the same for the foreseeable future, one thing is for certain: weтАЩre still have to endure another year of the juntaтАЩs authoritarian rule. But it also means that we will have another guaranteed year of the generals putting their foot in their mouths,.... (read more)...https://asiancorrespondent.com/2016/02/ ... he-ladies/
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Re: Protests update
Editorial Opinion
Another fine draft mess Published: 01/02/2016
Three days after the publication of the second attempt at presenting an acceptable draft constitution, there appears to be little cause for optimism. The chief drafter of Constitution 2.0, Meechai Ruchupan, doubts he can make the November2017 deadline for the first post-coup election. No political party or politician has had a kind word for his work. Newspaper headlines run along the lines of "Thumbs down for charter". The prime minister already believes voters may reject it at the... (read more).... http://m.bangkokpost.com/opinion/846532
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Re: Protests update
Call for penalties for opposing draft constitution
Submitted by editor2 on Tue, 02/02/2016
The Election Commission of Thailand has proposed penalties for people who distort facts about the draft constitution while the Royal Thai Army says it will help promote a correct understanding.....(read more).....http://prachatai.org/english/node/5821
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Re: Protests update
2 February 2016
Redshirt Leader Jatuporn Detained at Army Barracks
By Teeranai Charuvastra
BANGKOK тАФ Prominent Redshirt leader Jatuporn Prompan was taken into custody by a group of soldiers this morning, several days after his movement announced a boycott of the new constitution drafted by the military government.
Jatuporn is being detained at the First Region Army barracks on Ratchadamnoen Avenue for interrogation, said Redshirt core activist Weng Tojirakarn, adding that soldiers did not offer any explanation for the arrest..... (read more)...http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.ph ... 1454395020