Dismemberment and Thai Politics

It's been a tough few months for some people; the cartoons below capture something of the situation. This week, the Election Commission of Thailand may consider recommending the dissolution of the Democrat Party, after one of its executive members admitted distributing free movie tickets. Also in the pipe line is the case against the governing People's Power Party, after executive member Yongyuth was found guilty of electoral fraud.

It's hard to see how anything can be achieved by pursuing the dissolution of parties on the basis of actions by individuals - the dissolution of Thai Rak Thai by the Constitutional Tribunal in 2007 being a case in point.

Of course, the constitutional article (Article 237) on this matter doesn't stipulate that a party must be dissolved if an executive member is found guilty of electoral fraud/corruption, only that the Constitution Court consider the matter.

In the mean time, with Thaksin in exile, the effort to undo the post-coup political settlement continues by anti-coup/pro Thaksin forces. The June 24th Democracy Group will this week commence a new round of protests to try and dislodge the National Counter Corruption Commission on the basis that its nine members were not royally appointed (they were appointed by the 2006 coupsters). It considers the NCCC and the entire post-coup legal and political order illegitimate, with the exception of the elected parliament.

(UPDATE 18th August) And on another front the campaign against Jaravan, the Auditor General, heats up. Citing Article 301 of the 2007 Constitution, Prachathat, the pro-Thaksin newspaper, has called for Jaravan to leave office. Article 301 stipulates that: "The selection for the State Audit Commission and the Auditor-General shall finish within one hundred and twenty days as from the date of appointment of the President of the House of Representatives and the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives after the first general election of members of the House of Representatives under this Constitution and, if the President of the Constitutional Court from the selection proceedings under this Constitution does not exist, the Selective Committee shall consist of the existing members."






Cartoon from Khao Sut 15th August. The text reprises Thaksin's assurance - after speaking to an astrologer - that after July 2nd everything would be okay.




Cartoon is from Naew Naa 17th August. A tree (People's Power Party) is cut down by a saw-wielding man (The Election Commission of Thailand).

Asia Sentinel Article on Judicialisation of Thai Politics

"The Morass of Thai Law":

"This week’s guilty verdict on tax evasion charges against Pojaman Shinawatra, the wife of the ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has been described as politically loaded. Had the Criminal Court’s decision been otherwise, it would have also been so described."

Read More

Please note that I made a mistake in the piece above, regarding Truth Today's presentation of the case against the Auditor General. Their evidence regarded her ability to afford builing on the property, not the property itself. Their basic point is that she appears to be unusually wealthy. A clarification of this issue would be good, both for the integrity of the office of the Auditor General, and for questions of accountability of all public servants and politicians.

Thailand’s Media and Law Wars: the hijacking of state media.

Thailand’s Media and Law Wars: the hijacking of state media.


When you take up Sondhi’s Manager newspaper or watch ASTV “protest TV” you know what you are getting: the politics of the People’s Alliance for Democracy. I am not sure, but my guess is that ASTV is probably a first in history: a television channel dedicated to broadcasting ongoing protests and making those protests, and its stage entertainment and addresses, its full content. These outlets are private concerns, and while they probably violate every rule of objectivity (such as it is), they are not media instruments of the state.

Some weeks ago Prime Minister Samak indicated he would expand his weekly television address to a nightly show to answer his critics. That idea was dropped, but for the last two weeks “Truth Today” has been broadcast on a nightly basis on NBT, the national broadcaster.

The program is fascinating viewing. It is unashamedly pro-government. It declares itself against PAD and the Democrat Party (describing this as the party that works with dictators); it wages a relentless attack on the Constitution Court, the National Counter Corruption Commission, the constitution and the Auditor General.

Truth Today’s basic premise (also argued for in the pro-Thaksin paper Prachathat) is that the coup was illegitimate and therefore everything that has flowed from the coup is illegitimate, including the cases against Thaksin. The constitution is a child of a dictatorship. What makes the tv program absolutely fascinating is its decidedly politicised nature. It holds no punches, being hosted by leading members of the pro-Thaksin Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship, or the DAAD: Veera Musikapong (former Democrat Party member who led a defection from the party in the 1980s and who was found guilty of lese majeste for rather innocent comments), Nattawut Saikue (former deputy spokesperson for the Thaksin government), and Jatuporn Prompan (People’s Power MP).

Truth Today is firebrand television. Veera is one of the leaders of DAAD who moved protestors to General Prem’s (President of the Privy Council) residence in mid 2007, accusing him of being behind the 2006 coup against Thaksin.

The three presenters were also involved in the formation of the pro-Thaksin PTV channel that faced opposition from the coup group in 2007. They have now graduated to state television for an hour each evening, waging a war of accusations and argument in the manner of PAD.

Last night (August 3) the presenters launched an assault on the opposition Democrat Party as a party that supports dictators. The presenters discussed plans to try and appoint Democrat Party leader Aphisit as prime minister after the December 2007 election, but they noted that the numbers made it impossible for the Democrats to form government. They spoke of electoral fraud, and the unclear issue of excessive ballot papers (on that matter, no one has ever explained the party list vote of December which initially gave the the Democrat Party and the People’s Power Party 14 million votes each, in the end both got around 12 million). On the same evening Veera read an announcement of PAD, and paid especial attention to PAD’s professed support for democracy with the king as head of state. Ah, “we are on the same side” he declared.

The presenters have also spoken about Article 309 and the need to abolish it (this is an Article that Samak has reserved judgement on). It declares as legal all actions of the 2006 coup group. His reticence on that question may have something to do with when Samak served as Interior Minister after the massacre at Thammasat University in October 1976. Following that event he served in a government formed by the coup group and governed under a temporary constitution that had a very similar article (Article 29 of the 1976 Constitution basically states that all that the 1976 coup group did was legal).

Indeed, so common is this kind of article that to declare coup law as illegitimate is indeed to wage a war against the body of law of Thailand. That war is long overdue, and just as the embedding of the rule of law in the cases against Thaksin have found a strange handmaiden, so to one might reflect on the oddity of a government led by Samak being the one to launch a reform of Thai law (if indeed it goes beyond a mere consitutional amendment).

By the way, this evening’s episode of Truth Today (4th of August) ended with a reading of one of the king’s addresses on the role of justice. It seems that both sides support democracy with the king as head of state. Each is attempting to present itself as loyal to the monarchy.

Thailand: Coup? New Politics? Rule of Law?

Thai politics six months from now?

Some people have given up trying to understand current events in Thailand. They figure, I suppose, that they will pick up the thread once it’s all sorted.

That thread has several possible endings.

It might be a Democrat Party led coalition government in power, aided by military machinations of some form. Thaksin Shinawatra would be in exile (if he can get away), with ex-prime minister Samak sunk by allegations of corruption relating to the time he served as Bangkok Mayor. This possibility emerges on the assumption that the various court cases against Thaksin and the government proceed, and the coalition government splinters in the face of indictments and the dissolution of pro-Thaksin political influence.

Another possibility would be a resurgent People’s Power Party (PPP) government (sans Samak?). This outcome would require more of the counter demonstrations that are breaking out across the country against the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD). This is the so-called “Udon model”, which entails breaking up PAD rallies wherever they occur in the provinces. Empowered by the mass mobilisation of its support base, the government would simultaneously amend the constitution and in doing so end the cases on corruption and party dissolution. This outcome would assume significant military support to offset anti-Thaksin forces in the military.

To get that outcome would require a judicial revolution of its own. It would mean invalidating the work of the Assets Examination Committee (which was the body that forwarded some of the corruption cases to the courts) by claiming that it had no legitimate legal status because it was established by the coup group. But for sixty years, laws that have been issued by military juntas have been judged legally binding by the Supreme Court. Such decrees and laws remain in force today. The status of ‘coup law’ was recently re-affirmed by the Constitution Court in regard to the AEC. However, in the face of mass mobilisation - and one assumes some degree of military backing to the government - the courts might revisit the question.

Alternatively, pressure may be applied to have the various cases withdrawn, thus avoiding a legal challenge that might unravel the entire system. For that to occur some deal might be done that brings about a political truce. Not many people can imagine a truce right now.


Another possibility is a coup d’etat against the government. It is hard to imagine such a coup d’etat merely restoring the situation preceding the elections in 2007. This is where PAD’s ideas of recasting politics into a “functional democracy” of occupational representation comes to the fore. By appointing most representatives to parliament in the post-coup environment, and making this permanent in accordance with PAD's New Politics , pro-Thaksin forces would be marginalised. Such a system could only emerge with immense acts of repression and endure with the same.

There is a less destabilising possibility.

The PPP government could muddle through in its own way, surviving or stumbling according to parliamentary convention. An agreement could be reached on a constitutional amendment that abolishes Article 237 (see below) dealing with party dissolution, and which currently looms over the Coalition government. In return, the cases relating to corruption would proceed. All parties would pledge to non-interference in the courts and support a fair trial.

Undoubtedly, something else will happen.


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Article on Party Dissolution in 2007 Constitution

"Section 237. Any candidate in an election, who has committed, created or supported any person to commit any act in violation of the Organic Act on Election of Members of the House of Representatives and the Taking of Office of Senators or orders and announcements of the Election Commission, causing the election not to be proceeded in an honest and fair manner, shall be deprived of his or her voting rights in accordance with the Organic Act on Election of Members of the House of Representatives and the Taking of Office of Senators.

If any such act of person under paragraph one appears to have convincing evidence that the leader or an executive member of his or her political party has acknowledged or ignored that action or has known of the act but failed to prevent or rectify it in order to ensure an honest and fair election, that political party is assumed to have sought to gain power in state administration by means other than what is provided in Section 68 of the Constitution, and in case the Constitutional Court consequently orders its dissolution, the voting rights of its leader and executive board members shall be revoked for a period of 5 years as from the date of issuance of the party dissolution order."

Taken from an unofficial translation of the constitution.

Thai Military Ranks: Cut and Paste

Perhaps its time to brush up on Thai military ranks?


AIRFORCE

จอมพลอากาศ Marshal of the Royal Thai Air Force
พลอากาศเอก Air Chief Marshal(พล.อ.อ. ACM)
พลอากาศโท Air Marshal (พล.อ.ท. AM)
พลอากาศตรี Air Vice Marshal (พล.อ.ต. AVM)
นาวาอากาศเอก Group Captain (น.อ.Gp.Capt.)
นาวาอากาศโท Wing Commander (น.ท. Wg.Cdr.)
นาวาอากาศตรี Squadron Leader (น.ต. Sqn.Ldr.)
เรืออากาศเอก Flight Lieutenant (ร.อ. Flt.Lt.)
เรืออากาศโท Flying Officer (ร.ท. Flg.Off.)
เรืออากาศตรี Pilot Officer (ร.ต. Plt.Off.)
พันจ่าอากาศเอก Flight Sergeant First Class (พ.อ.อ.FS 1)
พันจ่าอากาศโ Flight Sergeant Second Class (พ.อ.ท. FS 2)
พันจ่าอากาศตรี Flight Sergeant Third Class (พ.อ.ต. FS 3)
จ่าอากาศเอก Sergeant (จ.อ. Sgt.)
จ่าอากาศโท Corporal (จ.ท. Cpl.)
จ่าอากาศตรี Leading Aircraftman (จ.ต. LAC)
พลทหาร Airman (พลฯ Amn.)

ARMY

จอมพล Field Marshal
พลเอก General พล.อ. Gen.
พลโท Lieutenant General พล.ท. Lt.Gen.
พลตรี Major General พล.ต. Maj.Gen.
พันเอก Colonel พ.อ. Col.
พันโท Lieutenant Colonel พ.ท. Lt.Col.
พันตรี Major พ.ต. Maj.
ร้อยเอก Captain ร.อ. Capt.
ร้อยโท Lieutenant ร.ท. Lt.
ร้อยตรี Sub Lieutenant ร.ต. SubLt.
จ่าสิบเอก Sergeant Major 1st Class จ.ส.อ. SM 1
จ่าสิบโท Sergeant Major 2nd Class จ.ส.ท. SM 2
จ่าสิบตรี Sergeant Major 3rd Class จ.ส.ต. SM 3
สิบเอก Sergeant ส.อ. Sgt.
สิบโท Corporal ส.ท. Cpl.
สิบตรี Private 1st Class ส.ต. Pfc.
พลทหาร Private พลฯ Pvt.

NAVY
จอมพลเรือ Admiral of the Fleet
พลเรือเอก Admiral พล.ร.อ.Adm.
พลเรือโท Vice Admiral พล.ร.ท. VAdm.
พลเรือตรี Rear Admiral พล.ร.ต. RAdm.
นาวาเอก Captain น.อ. (ชื่อ) ร.น.Capt.
นาวาโท Commander น.ท. (ชื่อ) ร.น. Cdr.
นาวาตรี Lieutenant Commander น.ต. (ชื่อ) ร.น. LCdr.
เรือเอก Lieutenant ร.อ. (ชื่อ) ร.น.Lt.
เรือโท Lieutenant Junior Grade ร.ท. (ชื่อ) ร.น. Lt.JG.
เรือตรี Sub Lieutenant ร.ต. (ชื่อ) ร.น. SubLt.
พันจ่าเอก Chief Petty Officer 1st Class พ.จ.อ. CPO 1
พันจ่าโท Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class พ.จ.ท. CPO 2
พันจ่าตรี Chief Petty Officer 3rd Class พ.จ.ต. CPO 3
จ่าเอก Petty Officer 1st Class จ.อ. PO 1
จ่าโท Petty Officer 2nd Class จ.ท. PO 2
จ่าตรี Petty Officer 3rd Class จ.ต. PO 3
พลทหาร Seaman พลฯ

Military Insignia