More signs of ‘mission creep’ from junta
A move ostensibly to help political parties get organised is more likely to drive their members into the military’s arms
The discouraging truth, clear enough now to all, is that the “road map” touted by the ruling junta, the National Council for Peace and Order, does not offer directions towards democracy. There will be an election, almost certainly, but it’s not going to resurrect the form of politics with which Thailand had become acquainted and which it deserves.
The junta has in the three years since the 2014 coup focused on consolidating its hold on power, in the process weakening institutions such as political parties that were established to conduct democratic governance.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha last week issued an order to amend the Political Party Act, ostensibly to extend deadlines that the parties must heed as they prepare for the coming election. It is a law rubber-stamped by the National Legislative Assembly and sets out a timeline and conditions for the parties in accordance with the junta’s calculations.
With the royal transition now completed, the junta no longer has a rationale for clinging to power. But it insists that the ideological fault line remains insecure, so it either ignores or sternly addresses the political parties’ pleas to be allowed to organise for the promised election. We have had a string of confusing and contradictory messages attempting to justify the military’s continued control of the helm.
Now, Prayut has decided to extend specific deadlines rather than exercise his absolute power to end the ban on political activities so that politicians and the voting public can get ready. It is a covert way of giving his own supporters time to organise a party structure that will support him if needed in the Lower House in the future. Evidently there is fear that the junta’s 250 handpicked senators enshrined in the charter it promulgated might not be quite enough.
Prayut said his latest order was designed to facilitate the parties. It requires members of existing parties to formally submit membership verification. The process will be no different than resetting all of the parties’ memberships. The order says members should be subject to no stipulations regarding disqualification, as per the Political Party Act. This means a hefty amount of verification paperwork, a complicated and difficult procedure that will have many members casting their eyes instead to other parties to escape the requirement. What Prayut is in effect doing is encouraging politicians to flock to his camp.
Senior politicians have said the move weakens existing parties in other regards. They will not, for example, have enough time to formulate policy before the election. Since Prayut’s own political platform is unpopular, he doesn’t want rivals challenging him. Meanwhile, extending deadlines automatically delays the election, which was expected next November. It is now unlikely to occur before 2019. That raises a further complication, since Thailand is that year due to take its turn chairing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which will command much of the government’s attention throughout the year. Trading places with another member-country would be unprecedented, so Prayut will have another excuse to remain as premier in the difficult change of Asean helm.
Apart from democratic rights being kept on ice, the main problem with the junta’s perpetuation of its rule is that the generals are professionally unqualified to run the country and causing us long-term damage. We must end this rule now, and also reject Prayut’s vision of a military-backed authoritarian regime in any form.
