Protests update

[Up2U]

Thanks Up2U, one of the most insightful articles on Thailand I have ever read. I truly did not see this division, nor do I think many others-even the critics of Thailand--are aware of it. It helps explain some things that seemed unclear to me.

I learned things I never knew also.

[Up2U]

Deal offered to mafia who mend their ways
THE NATION March 12, 2016
DEPUTY PRIME Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan has offered to conditionally let off mafia-style figures with "dark influence" in cases where evidence is weak, but warned that they will have to mend their ways.

Hundreds of police and military officers are on the lists of "dark", influential figures who are being |targeted in the government's ongoing crackdown....(read more).... http://www.nationmultimedia.com/nati...-30281379.html

[Up2U]

12 March 2016
Always 'A Little More Time' for Public Held Hostage in House Junta
By Pravit Rojanaphruk
Senior Staff Writer

Notice anything missing? Unceremoniously dumped some weeks back was that least-requested song penned by junta leader Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, “Returning Happiness to Thailand.”

After being broadcast for over a year on television and radio, the song suddenly vanished. Although no official explanation was ever given, it had clearly overstayed its welcome, especially due to the part where the junta asks “for a little more time” from the people.

That “little more time” requested day and night since days after the May 2014 coup was obviously no longer “little,” as we close in on two years under military rule, and a shrinking number of people believe the latest roadmap to restoring democracy by early 2018 will happen as suggested by the junta.

Spending years “asking for a little more time” has become.... (read more)....http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail...sid=1457763582

[Up2U]

Abhisit echoes Thaksin in junta critique
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
March 12, 2016
THE JUNTA is in “panic mode” over the economy and is failing to heal the country’s deep political rifts, former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday in unusually strident criticism of the Kingdom’s generals.

His remarks come just two days after his arch-rival, self-exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, also hit out at the junta's nearly two years in power, an indication of how Thailand's bitterly divided political camps increasingly see eye-to-eye on military rule.

Thailand's generals seized power in May 2014 saying they would end more than a decade of political instability that has dogged the nation and dragged down what was once one of Southeast Asia's most vibrant economies..... (read more).... http://www.nationmultimedia.com/poli...-30281375.html

[Up2U]

LUNCH WITH THE FT: Thaksin Shinawatra
March 10, 2016
Michael Peel
The exiled former PM talks about why he’s not trying to take back power in Thailand..... (read more)... http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/59d81...b0d268c39.html

[Up2U]

Backing for selected Senate
THE SUNDAY NATION March 13, 2016
THE call for selected senators has gained momentum with National Legislative Assembly (NLA) President Pornpetch Vichitcholchai yesterday voicing support for the idea, which has been backed by key government figures..... (read more).... http://www.nationmultimedia.com/poli...-30281431.html

[Up2U]

Thai education to get worse under new charter: youth education reformers
Submitted by editor2 on Mon, 14/03/2016
Despite a promise for an education reform as the country fares among the bottom in the region for its academic success, a youth civil society group said that Thai education will only get worse under the new draft charter.

Education for Liberation of Siam (ELS), a civil society group comprises students and youth activists campaigning for education reforms, on 9 March 2016, posted a status on its facebook page to criticise the new draft constitution.

ELS pointed out that unlike the 1997 and 2007 Constitutions in which the youths are entitled to receive 12 years of free schooling, the new draft constitution, under the first paragraph of Article 50, reduces it to only nine years of compulsory education..... (read more)... http://prachatai.org/english/node/5933

[Up2U]

THAI NEO-LIBERALS CONSTANTLY TRY TO DESTROY UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE
MARCH 13, 2016
Giles Ji Ungpakorn

The latest attack on the Taksin government’s universal health care policy has come from the junta’s health minister Beeyasakon Sakonsatyatorn. He is the latest in a string of free-market fanatics to propose reintroducing health care charges for the poor under the spurious excuse that the government cannot afford to keep it free. Naturally, Generalissimo Prayut, and the rest of the military dictatorship gang, agree with him..... (read more)... https://uglytruththailand.wordpress....l-health-care/

[Up2U]

'Crooks vs Crooks' under Thai military
March 15, 2016

As Thailand’s current coup interregnum drones on, with the country in the clutches of a rapacious and restrictive military dictatorship, tensions are rising between Prawit Wongsuwan, the 70-year-old deputy prime minister, and the Privy Council, the primary provider of advice to the monarchy, with the military arresting a top Privy Council aide earlier this month..... (read more)... http://www.asiasentinel.com/politics...get&height=167

[Up2U]

School and Discipline
Submitted by editor1 on Wed, 16/03/2016
John Draper
The fourth paragraph of Article 50 of the Draft Constitution states that the general purpose of Thai education is to create good and disciplined students who are proud of their nation, which has been criticised by the group Education for the Liberation of Siam over the definitions of ‘good’ and ‘disciplined’. In order to better understand the argument, the following column channels the spirit of Luang Wichitwathakan, Thailand’s greatest fascist-era propagandist, on the topic of school and discipline.[i]

It would be wrong to say that Thainess[ii] is an illusion, or an ideological effect. On the contrary,.... (read more)... http://prachatai.org/english/node/5943