The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), the formal name of the Thai junta, has ordered academics to cancel a seminar about the draft constitution.

On Thursday, 4 February 2016, Komsarn Pokong, one of the seminar discussants, posted on his Facebook profile that a seminar entitled ‘Can the CDC [Constitutional Drafting Committee (CDC)]’s draft constitution bring about real reform?’, which was scheduled to be held at the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) in Bangkok on Friday, has been cancelled.

His Facebook message reads, “[I would like to] announce that the seminar is cancelled because the NCPO did not allow it. Even at the beginning, an academic critique is impossible. What shall I call this draft constitution?”

The other scheduled discussants at the seminar included Banjerd Singkaneti, Dean of the School of Law at NIDA, Phichai Rattanadilok Na Phuket, Dean of the School of Social Development and Environment and Suriyasai Katasila, a key leader of the Student Network for National Reform, a political organisation affiliated with the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC).