Dubious reasons for extending decree
As expected, the Centre for Covid19 Situation Administration (CCSA) has decided to extend the state of emergency for another month in response to the recommendation of its sub-committee on national security.
This is the fifth such extension and was announced early this week even though the country has gone more than 60 days without any local transmissions.
National Security Council secretary general Gen Somsak Roongsita assured Thais the emergency powers would not be used to suppress protests or other forms of free expression.
He cited the continued global spread of the infection to justify the extension decision, saying the special powers were necessary to control international travel in and out of Thailand, implement track-and-trace systems, monitor suspicious people and impose a unity of command for all armed forces.
In addition, the emergency powers will be a tool to help the country transition to a “new normal” society.
Hard though he tried, the general did not sound convincing. In earlier extensions, he had cited the need to control local infections as the reason for maintaining the decree. Now that condition is no longer there, the justification has shifted to the global scene.
Many legal experts have pointed out that other laws exist at the disposal of the government to control the infection now the curve has come down and shown no signs of rising.
The general’s denial of using the emergency powers to suppress public dissent cannot be trusted.
Throughout the pandemic crisis, authorities have reassured the public that the emergency powers were meant to facilitate the virus’ containment and not to infringe on the public’s constitutional rights.
But realities on the ground paint a different picture. Activists and their families continue to be harassed. Open expressions of dissent have consistently been clamped down upon.
The two young men in Rayong who carried signs to protest against Gen Prayut Chano-cha during his visit to the province were roughly taken into custody without no reason other than they were annoying. The officers could not explain any legal basis for the arrests.
As recently as two days ago, Pol Col Kritsana Pattanacharoen, deputy spokesman of the Royal Thai Police Office, insisted that the emergency decree would be enforced against those who had participated in past protests.
The colonel said until Gen Somsak’s promise was put in writing, police would consider
political assembly as violating the emergency decree and officers would be duty-bound to enforce the law.
What he failed to say is that the authorities have not simply enforced the law but have often overstepped legal boundaries and moved into the area of state intimidation and harassment.
Student activists have reported that people believed to be state officials have trailed them and questioned about them in a way that made it clear their political activities carried unspoken risks.
Even worse, these unidentified state officials have approached the activists’ parents or close relatives. Even if they were not threatening in their approach, their actions have sent a clear signal of their ill intentions.
But the police and military would be wrong
to think they can intimidate young people into submission. After all, it is their future that is at stake and that future looks bleak from their present point of view.
Unemployment is expected to reach eight million and many of them, including new graduates, will be among them. Small businesses are staring at failure in great numbers.
The rural communities that used to provide a safety net for many during hard times are no longer in a condition to do so now.
Social injustice is systemic — the rich and powerful are able to amass more wealth and power by any means and with impunity, while the rest of us can only watch with disdain.
The case of the young heir of the Red Bull clan is just one visible example.
This is all fodder for discontent. Government incompetence during the past six years has not given people hope, merely spurred unrest, which will be expressed in more protest activities.
Already, the country is seeing a great number of poor people slide into a desperate situation. More crime can be expected and that will only add fuel to the social fire.
However one looks at it, the future does not look promising.
Nor is the situation helped when one sees the ruling politicians busily fighting one another for power rather than working for the people’s well-being.
The students’ demands for the government to stop its campaign of intimidation and for a new caretaker government to write a new and more democratic constitution is the least that could help stop the country from spiralling into the abyss.
However, with the elite classes and the military intent on holding on to power and privilege, the gulf between a meeting of minds is great indeed.
On the other hand, if the elite believe they can simply ignore people’s cries for justice until the protests fade away, they will only fan the flames of more discontent.
The old adage remains true: There can be no peace if injustice prevails.
‘‘ emergency powers to suppress public dissent is not trustworthy.