Thailand 4: Three Fingers vs. Martial Law

This news report quickly caught my attention this week. Huh? Thailand's new dictators, they are nuts?

The military being fully armed always, has a different mindset compared to civilians, like search and destroy, neutralize and disarm training. So when they deal with civilian movements like flashing three fingers, they become paranoid, onion-skinned, pikon. Why did they even consider arresting people who only flash 3 fingers?

A Thai friend, Jyoti, sent me this disturbing, BIG Brother/Government youtube clip by the Bangkok Post (BP) last June 01, 2014, in my facebook wall. 

"A woman was forced into a taxi by suspected plainclothes police officers after she allegedly flashed three-finger signs signalling her opposition to the military coup near Asoke BTS station this afternoon.

During the struggle, one of the people who tried to pull her out of the car was able to grab her purse. The woman's ID card was found in the purse. She was identified as Pairin Phuangsiri. Her fate is not known at this time."

(Bangkok Post video)

(3,867 likes, 9,382 shares as of 10:36am Manila time, June 05)

I thanked Jyoti for that link. One comment from the BP fb page that I like:

ခြန္ ဒီးယမ္ I'm from Burma ,your neighbor country.

Thai people, please please be very careful ..... when a group of men with guns got the taste of power, you guys are on the brink of hell.... Believe me, we had first hand experiences ...

As shown above, that video went viral somehow, so many people have seen and shared it. There was public outrage, so the Thai police was forced to admit that they indeed made that abduction -- yes abduction, but they did not use that term.

This news report from Bangkok Post is troubling.

Mystery coup arrest explained

Published: 2 Jun 2014 at 20.57

The Lumpini district police chief on Monday confirmed his undercover officers detained and forced a woman into a taxi after she staged a one-person protest against the military junta on Sukhumvit Road...

Pol Col Chaiya Kongsub said the woman was taken away because she acted aggressively to the undercover police, who took her to the police station to “calm down”.

He identified the woman as Sunanta Puangsiri, 50. She was the first of six people arrested for violating martial law regulations during Sunday's anti-coup protest rallies held at various locations in Bangkok.... All six were still held Monday at Crime Suppression Division. 

Ms Sunanta was caught by photographers and video cameras as she was subdued by at least four plain-clothes policemen, who said she resisted arrest

The video drew wide criticism from social media users, who said the officers overreacted and never told her what offence she had commiited. Some questioned the identity of the men in the video, but Pol..Col Chaiya confirmed they were his undercover officers. 

The Lumpini police chief said Ms Sunanta’s behavior appeared to be “more violent than other protesters” and the officers took her to police station.to calm her down and to prevent her from “violating NCPO orders too much”. After that, she was taken from the police station by military officers for questioning, he added. 

Military officers said they had yet to press charges against Ms Sunanta and five other protesters. 

And another spying by the new police state:

Charges of corruption, abuse of power by the civilian government, are not justified for the power grap and Martial Law by the military government. There are constitutional processes to be followed, like proper succession of leadership and the job of the military and police is to implement that constitutional process, not grab power on their on their own.

As societies modernize, political leadership should rely less on guns and tanks, more on reason and public discourse. When men with guns rule, paranoia and irrationality dominate.

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See also:
Thai politics and the Monarchy, December 04, 2008
Killings in Thailand and Military Crackdown, April 16, 2009
Rule of Law 4: On Thailand Crackdown, April 18, 2009 

Thailand Politics and the Monarchy, Part 2, January 14, 2014

Thailand Politics and the Monarchy, Part 3, February 3, 2014

Thailand Politics and the Monarchy, Part 3

A friend, Dr. Amado "Bong" Mendoza, Prof. of UP Political Science, wrote a brief but good analysis of the Thai political crisis. He gave me permission to post it here; photo from his fb wall. My comments below his article.
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Oh, Thailand

Dr. Bong Mendoza

February 01, 2014

While we had delightful face-offs in Manila's Chinatown, there are dangerous ones going on in Bangkok.

Thais cast their ballots in polling stations today hopefully to form a new government after Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra dissolved parliament in the face of vociferous opposition last year.

The cause celebre?

Yingluck's parliamentary majority rammed through an amnesty bill that, among others, would allow Yingluck's older brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to go home from exile in Dubai.

The proverbial straw that breaks a camel's behind!

Elections in democracies are supposed to settle rivalries between political factions; that is, decide which camp will lead a nation. However, these elections may not be able to accomplish that due to several complications.

The opposition's strategic objective: the ouster of the "Thaksin regime"

Opposition tactics: blocking of major Bangkok intersections; occupation and paralysis of government ministry buildings; calls for Yingluck's resignation; calls for take-over by a reform council before elections are held; election boycott; blocking of candidate registration--all resulting in failure of elections and failure to constitute parliament and a government.

This latest crisis is part of the continuing struggle roughly between pro-Thaksin and anti-Thaksin forces. Said contest started in 2006 when then prime minister Thaksin was ousted by a royally-endorsed coup. A few decidedly inept military men (including one, General Samak, who cannot decide what his job was: general, prime minister, or television cooking show host?) were at the helm until a civilian politician from the Democrat Party took over.

Thaksin fled the country in 2008 to avoid cases filed against him in court.

However, he retains strong support and loyal Red-shirts clashed with pro-government Yellow-shirts in 2010.

In 2011, the rival political factions arrived at a modus vivendi upon the election of the Pheu Thai government led by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Eventually, the peace was roiled by the railroaded amnesty bill.

Thus in Thailand, we have minorities who try to impose their wills. We have majorities abusing their numbers. King Bhumibol, who had influentially shaped the course of Thai politics for several decades, is old and sickly. The military top brass can mount another coup. Question is how long can the generals man the household before the civilians assume power once more.

The eventual death of Bhumibol will be a game changer. His heir apparent is a wastrel. The Crown Princess is respected but she has to hurdle the gender bias before she could be named head of state and monarch of Thailand.

Bhumibol is also a very tough act to follow. The 1932 Revolution may have ended absolute monarchy in Thailand. In the early years of his reign, during the government of a military dictator, Bhumibol may have had little power and was no more than a ceremonial figure. However, military rivals for leadership begun to seek his blessings.

The English academic Duncan McCargo have noted the active political involvement of Bhumibol through a "network monarchy" working through the Privy Council. The network's political cachet was supposedly threatened by the rise of Thaksin. The network's capacity to exercise power is based partly on Bhumibol's popularity and strict control of his image.

Bhumibol's power is largely based on mystique. He is reputed to do things. We will never know how these are done since he works behind the scenes.

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The Thaksin camp has its set of sins and corruption, so does the anti-Thaksin camps, from the monarchy to the traditional Bangkok-based political elites. The problem of the anti-Thaksin camps is they can NOT win any election. Since 2006 ouster of Thaksin, all four elections including the last 2011 elections were won by the Thaksin camp. That is why the opposition including the Democratic Party, campaigned for mob rule, bring down the Yingluck Shinawatra government without elections, and their unelected "People's Council" will rule for two years without election. 

Mob rule, no respect for the rule of law, the Thai constitution. The problem with mob rule policy is that assuming they succeed in bringing down the Yingluck government without election, the next months, if the Thaksin camp can also mobilize millions of supporters, there will be another round of paralyzing rallies and change of government. Mob rule is ugly and not advisable.

On the monarchy. Its "holiness" should be damaged by now among many rural residents who are mostly pro-Thaksin. The monarchy and Thaksin are both populists, giving away various subsidies and freebies to buy political support, bloating the Thai public debt. But it seems that Thaksin was the better populist than the monarchy, his family and business cronies.

Not that I am pro-Thaksin and his corruption and populism. I am for the rule of law, in Thailand and elsewhere. If a government is corrupt, then bring it down and change it via constitutional processes like elections or impeachment or similar schemes. Mob rule is rule of men and the opposite of rule of law.

The snap election was held yesterday. Here is one news story, it is ugly. Preventing other people to vote, and still call themselves as democrats, people's representatives? They are mini-dictators who are not in power yet, and they want to be in power sooo bad.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/79951/thai-protesters-block-voting-in-chaotic-election

BANGKOK - Opposition protesters prevented voting at thousands of polling stations in Thailand on Sunday, triggering angry scenes in the capital over an election that plunged the strife-racked kingdom into political limbo.

Despite weeks of mass street demonstrations aimed at forcing her from office, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was widely expected to extend her billionaire family's decade-long winning streak at the ballot box.

But the disruption to voting means that the results are not expected for weeks at least, and there will not be enough MPs to convene parliament and appoint a government until new elections are held in the problem areas….

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See also: 
Thailand politics and the anti-globalists, November 20, 2008 
Thai politics and the Monarchy, December 04, 2008 
Killings in Thailand and Military Crackdown, April 16, 2009 
Rule of Law 4: On Thailand Crackdown, April 18, 2009 

Thailand Politics and the Monarchy, Part 2, January 14, 2014