THAILAND
The Bangkok Post-Mar 22
This week, junta leader and Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha appeared to present himself as a more generous man. After having forbidden parties from holding political activities for almost four years, he has invited them to gather at a June meeting which will be planned, facilitated and possibly dominated by him. The move is, however, ill-advised and lacks substance. It will not be useful for anyone but it demonstrates the regime’s desire to further exert control over post-election politics.
Gen Prayut seemed to have no detailed reason at hand when telling the media on Tuesday why he wanted the meeting with politicians from all camps. Discussing a poll date and hearing political parties’ plans to solve “the country’s problems” are part of his goals at this loosely planned gathering.
In fact, setting a date for a general election is a job to be decided by both the Election Commission and the government itself, and a determining factor is the promulgation date of the two organic laws on the elections of MPs and senators. If the two laws take effect in June, given that certain contentious points in them are not ruled invalid by the Constitutional Court, then a poll date has to be set within eight months or by February next year — the timeline promised by Gen Prayut himself.
Additionally, his intention to ask politicians at the meeting about how they will continue the work initiated by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) sounds manipulative. Gen Prayut must have forgotten that politicians will be accountable to the people who will elect them. Their policies will therefore be revealed to voters ahead of the election. It is not the NCPO’s business, as many politicians from different camps have pointed out, to inquire about their policy platforms or even to comment on them.
It is not clear how Gen Prayut plans to take input from this meeting forward or what he will do if he is unhappy with any party policy platforms.
What is needed from the NCPO leader is an end to the political ban which has been in place for almost four years. Political parties need to be allowed to hold formal meetings so that they can start formulating policies and planning election campaigns.
Lifting the ban will also enable members of the public to hold political activities without fearing legal consequences. The ban has been used by the authorities to threaten freedom of expression. The latest incident in which security officers allegedly threatened organizers of an academic forum at Silpakorn University saying that their event risked violating the ban is just one of countless examples over the past few years.
Rather than asking politicians what they will do, Gen Prayut should start thinking about telling the public about the NCPO’s exit strategy.
In fact, by the planned June meeting the regime will have been in power for more than four years. That period equals a full term of an elected government. It should be the right time for him to update the public on how the NCPO has achieved its key goals of reconciliation, reform and tackling corruption.
The regime promised achievement in those areas when it seized power in 2014. Yet, it appears the NCPO has not only failed to forge national unity but has become part of the conflict itself. Its reform efforts have not brought about tangible results, except the introduction of laws and the current charter, many of which have drawn criticism. Little has been done in its anti-graft mission. Instead, some of its leaders have been embroiled in corruption allegations themselves.
Gen Prayut needs to be reminded that his planned meeting with politicians will be counter-productive. Many have already expressed their desire to not participate in it. A more useful thing for him to do would be to put an end to the unnecessary political ban.
(first published in Bangkok Post – https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1432871/lift-ban-and-scrap-meet)
