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Re: Protests update
US will take part in Cobra Gold next year
9 May 2015
WRITER: WASSANA NANUAM
Hawaii: The US will participate in next yearтАЩs Cobra Gold military exercise with Thailand, a United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) official has confirmed.
The official, who asked not to be named, told the Bangkok Post that the US will not scale down its part in next yearтАЩs Cobra Gold, which is one of the worldтАЩs largest multinational military events...... (read more).....
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... -next-year
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Re: Protests update
Judiciary sees charter open to political meddling
Critics see risk of political meddling
11 May 2015
| WRITER: POST REPORTERS
The Office of the Judiciary is urging charter drafters to review seven points in the draft, especially an element involving the composition of the Office of the Judicial Commission (OJC) as it would open the way for political meddling.
The office's secretary-general Phattarasak Vannasaeng said the office has raised concerns on the seven issues in a list of recommendations submitted to the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC)...... (read more)......
http://bangkokpost.com/news/politics/55 ... l-meddling
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Re: Protests update
Former Anti-Govt Protest Leaders to Run as Democrats in Next Election: Chumpol
BANGKOK тАФ Leaders of the ultra-conservative movement that sought to topple the former government will run for office after the new constitution is enacted, one of the movement's core leaders said in an interview.
The anti-government movement, named the People's Committee for Absolute Democracy With the King as Head of State (PCAD), was led by nine former MPs who resigned from the Democrat party to join the street protests in November 2013.
Chumpol Julasai, a former Democrat politician and co-founder of the group, told Daily News in an interview on 10 May that almost all of the former politicians will re-join the Democrat Party ticket for the next election, the first since the May 2014 coup..... (read more).....
http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.ph ... section=11
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Re: Protests update
Minorities and minority rights in Thailand
By
John Draper and David Streckfuss
тАУ 11 May 2015
This article is being published as a matter of urgency to serve as a basic introduction to the subject of minority rights and mapping of ethnolinguistic groups. The need is even more pressing, given the critical juncture in ThailandтАЩs history where the interim military government seems intent on imposing a highly repressive, authoritarian, and nationalistic model on Thai citizens. This column also seeks to re-host the Ethnolinguistic Map Project of Mahidol University (MU), ThailandтАЩs best data source on minorities.
Thongchai WinichakulтАЩs Siam Mapped: A History of the Geobody of a Nation is on the essential reading list of any Thai studies student. Published in 1988, it explains the increasing relevance of maps and concomitant delineation of borders to the Siamese polity from the pre-modern period to the 20th century......(read more)......
http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandal ... -thailand/
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Re: Protests update
CDC tries to soothe worried bureaucrats
12 May 2015
WRITER: ONLINE REPORTERS
The spokesman for the Constitution Drafting Committee on Tuesday played down concerns from village and subdistrict administrators that sections of the draft constitution aimed at reforming local government would end their careers, saying their status will not change.
Village heads, subdistrict chiefs and deputy district bosses from across the country on Monday petitioned Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, National Reform Council chairman Thienchay Kiranandana and CDC chairman Borwornsak Uwanno to cut three sections in the draft -- 82(3), 284(5) and 285 -- which reallocate authority among local administrative organisations from the village to provincial level...... (read more)....
http://bangkokpost.com/news/politics/55 ... ureaucrats
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Re: Protests update
Prayut rejects calls to extend term
Some in NLA urge 2 years to bed in change
13 May 2015
NEWSPAPER SECTION: NEWS | WRITER: PATSARA JIKKHAM & MONGKOL BANGPRAPA
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha insists he will stick to the road map for a return to democracy even as some legislators propose the country wait another two years for reforms to be put in place.
Some National Legislative Assembly (NLA) members have suggested the public be asked in a referendum whether they are happy to wait another two years before the reforms take effect, which would effectively extend Gen Prayut's term in office.
Gen Prayut, however, said he would stick by the timeline set out in the roadmap, which calls for an election in February next year..... (read more)....
http://bangkokpost.com/news/politics/55 ... xtend-term
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Re: Protests update
ThailandтАЩs poor urge junta to hold charter referendum
Submitted by editor2 on Tue, 12/05/2015
A civil society organisation for ThailandтАЩs poor has urged people to call on the Thai junta through local administrators to hold a referendum on the draft constitution.
The Assembly of the Poor, an organisation which is the voice of ThailandтАЩs poor communities, on Tuesday submitted a statement to the Thai junta to demand that the regime hold a public referendum on the draft of the countryтАЩs highest law, the constitution.
According to the group, the majority of people should be given the right to say if they accept or reject the current version of the draft constitution, which is now under the consideration of the cabinet...... (read more)......
http://prachatai.org/english/node/5050
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Re: Protests update
5 years after crackdown, red shirts biding their time
Wounds remain fresh for kin of killed protesters
13 May 2015
WRITER: AFP
Five years after a bloody military crackdown on anti-government red-shirt demonstrators, relatives of those killed say unrepentant army rulers have failed in their promise to heal the country's deep divisions.
Nongnai remembers the precise moment her younger brother died. The 38-year-old teacher was at work when the call came saying her sibling Attachai Anchalee had been struck by a soldier's bullet just above the heart...... (read more).....
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... their-time
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Re: Protests update
Ball in Junta's Court After Charter Drafters Endorse Referendum
13 May 2015
BANGKOK тАФ The Constitutional Drafting Committee (CDC) will formally ask the ruling military junta to organize a referendum on the new constitution, a spokesperson said.
The CDC, a body appointed by the junta to replace the charter dissolved after the May 2014 coup, reached a consensus on the question of a referendum after a two-hour meeting today, said Gen. Lertrat Rattanavanich.
The committee will now submit its opinion to the junta and the Cabinet, both of which are led by coup leader Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, who will have the final say.,.... (read more)...
http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.ph ... 6§ion=
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Re: Protests update
Wounds still fresh five years after 2010 bloody red-shirt crackdown
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE May 14, 2015
FIVE years after the April-May 2010 crackdown on the red shirts, relatives of those killed say unrepentant Army rulers have failed in their vow to heal the deep divide.
Nongnai remembers the precise moment her brother died. The 38-year-old teacher was at work when the call came saying her sibling Attachai Anchalee had been struck by a soldier's bullet just above the heart.
She listened as a friend described the medics' desperate efforts to stem the bleeding and keep her brother's heart going with chest compressions. "I was on the phone for 10 minutes ... until he said my brother passed away," she said.
Attachai, a 28-year-old law graduate, was one of at least 90 people killed during the crackdown. He was among thousands of so-called red shirts loyal to ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra who took over key intersections in central Bangkok early that year, demanding fresh elections to replace the pro-military appointed government..... (read more).....
http://linkis.com/nationmultimedia.com/mb7yy