Red revival must be nipped in the bud
Re: “Govt rebukes US state department for criticising arrests”, Politics, January 23.
The first consideration should be why the military junta is in power in the first place. The fact that the military was forced, in the interests of the state of Thailand, to take control of the country, must not be overlooked.
This is still not understood by the US, which continues to take a simplistic academic view that “military coups are undemocratic”. Thailand prior to the coup of May 2014 was a failed state, politically controlled with military weapons and a partisan police force.
The current protagonist promoting another New Democracy Movement is Sirawith “Ja New” Seritiwat. He is a member of the Resistant Citizens Group, agitators of the same ilk as the red-shirt politicians Nattawut Saikuar and Jatuporn Prompan. Ja New is 23 and a student at Thammasat University, a known red-shirt hotbed. He is suspected of prolonging his studies after five years as a front for his political activities, emulating his red-shirt predecessors. He claimed when arrested that the military kicked him and struck him in the head with a rifle barrel. The following morning doctors found no signs of injury.
The military would be failing in its duty to the Kingdom were it to allow a return to the pre-coup situation, when innocent people were killed on the streets by the then-government’s supporters. The red-shirt movement, while latent, is still alive and must never be allowed to influence politics ever again. The military is well aware of this and any sign of a revival will be nipped in the bud.
The junta has to give priority to the rights of 60 million-plus people rather than a few with proven ill intent.
JC Wilcox
