Concern over alternative to martial law
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POLITICIANS yesterday expressed their opposition to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's plan to replace martial law with an order by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) in a bid to address security concerns.
They said that the replacement law, to be issued by Prayut in his capacity as the NCPO chief, would be even worse than martial law.
On Friday, Prayut said he was waiting for the right time to issue the order under Article 44 of the post-coup provisional charter, which gave him extensive powers as the NCPO leader.
Red-shirt leaders, who are politicians from the Pheu Thai Party, said that they expected the NCPO’s new order to bring more harm than good to the country.
Nuttawut Saikuar, who served as a Cabinet member in the previous Pheu Thai-led government, said he agreed with lifting martial law but there should be no other special order to restrict people’s rights and liberties.
“I think Article 44 will make things even worse. Martial law may look ugly but at least you know the scope of the junta’s powers. On the contrary, Article 44 is ugly and you don’t see the bounds of their power,” he said.
Jatuporn Promphan, leader of the red shirts’ United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), said that replacing martial law with a new NCPO order was like “jumping out of the pan into the fire”.
He said that under Article 44, the junta chief had unlimited powers over the administration, the legislature and the judiciary.
Jatuporn added that he did not see any benefit in replacing martial law with the new order simply to please foreign countries that were pressuring the Thai government to lift martial law.
Democrat Party politician Nipit Intarasombat said that martial law should be retained, as it had proved effective in preventing violent incidents following the coup last May.
Nipit, a legal expert, warned that invoking Article 44 would pose more problems for the government. He said that the measures issued under the clause would be less effective and more difficult to repeal than martial law.
However, Peerasak Porchit, vice president of the National Legislative Assembly, voiced support for the prime minister’s plan.
He said lifting martial law would benefit the country’s tourism industry and the economy as a whole. Regarding security concerns, Peerasak said that the likelihood of political violence had diminished.
Meanwhile, Deputy Government Spokesman Maj-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said he believed General Prayut would exercise power under the provisional charter to only maintain peace and order. He said it was normal for people to criticise the government and policy decisions.
Panitan Watanayagorn, a security expert and an adviser to Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, said the move to lift martial law was because of pressure from inside and outside the country.
