Junta’s reforms weaken the poor, empower the rich: Isan civil society groups

12 civil society organisations based in Thailand’s Northeast have condemned the junta’s suppression of freedom of expression, stating that national reform is only a pretence to enable the junta to maintain power for investors and the elite.

The statement, issued on Friday, described the current reforms by the junta as reforms that “reduce the people’s power, and increase the power of the capitalists and the elite.”

It says the junta’s national reform programme is a trap to exploit the people and called for the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) to stop passing bills as they are not the people’s representatives.

They also told the junta to lift the interim charter and martial law, then organise local and national elections within three months and, in the meantime, impose the 1997 Constitution, which was dubbed the “People’s Constitution.”

Earlier in November, the group issued a similar statement called “No Reform under the Boot of the Military” to denounce the legitimacy of the junta’s cabinet led by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, the appointed National Legislative Assembly (NLA), the National Reform Council (NRC), and other public agencies initiated by the coup makers, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).

After the statement ‘No Reform Under the Boot of the Military’ was publicized, at least eight signatories of the draft were forced to report to the military at local military bases on 7 November. This included one activist who was captured by fully armed soldiers. Some were also forced to post statements on Facebook that they were treated well under detention.

In the latest public statement entitled “Reforms and Constitution by the People”, the group comprehensively denounced the legitimacy of the coup d’état and junta’s national reform agenda.

“Currently when the country is under the trap of national reform, the government, investors, and businessmen are using the situation to reduce the power of the majority while granting more power to investors and the elite,” said the statement.

National reform and the process of constitution drafting under the imposition of martial law, which silences people from expressing ideas different from those of the junta, are unacceptable to the people; we believe that genuine reform must open space for people’s freedom to express opinions in a democratic environment,” added the group statement.

The group also charged that in the 2014 Interim Charter, there is no guarantee that people’s voices will be included in the national reform process and that other pro-junta civil society organisations should not just support the junta, but should strengthen themselves to keep the junta and the elite in check.  

The group issued the following suggestions to the junta:

  • - The interim charter and martial law should be revoked. The junta shall organise local and national elections within three months. In the meantime, the 1997 Constitution should be imposed.
  • - The apparatus of the coup d’état should be dismantled and members of the caretaker government, who are from neither a political or civil servant background, should be elected from the people.
  • - The caretaker government should be responsible only for organising the election and all legislative procedures should be halted.
  • - After the parliamentary election, the national reform mechanism should be started and the constitutional drafting process shall be complete in three years.
  • - After the new constitution is enacted, a general election shall be held under the framework of the new constitution to guarantee people’s participation in the national reform process and the new constitution itself, which is not the reform and constitution implemented under martial law.  
 
 

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