Stifled speech stunts plans for future

While all eyes were fixed on the dramatic Tham Luang cave rescue, the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) approved the 20-year national strategy in a unanimous 179-0 vote. Under the plan, with binding effects for future governments and penalties for non-compliance, Thailand will become a fair and equitable society by 2036.

Thai citizens will be turned into lifelong learners, sophisticated workers, innovators and entrepreneurs. The country will grow into a green, secure and inclusive community, with a compact, efficient and transparent bureaucracy.

It is a radiant dream. Until one realises the National Strategy Committee, which will oversee its implementation, is more or less the military regime’s twin plus a dozen or so handpicked experts.

Then, one starts to see a major gap between the dream the regime has drawn up and what it is doing.

It is a frightening gap. If we take the regime’s actions as the basis to judge the national strategy’s merit, the vision appears to be nothing but hot air.

The 124-page draft national strategy is divided into six main areas: security, competitiveness enhancement, human resource development, social equality, green growth and public sector development. All six areas, however, are underpinned by a need for Thai people to become science-minded, gain analytical skills and enjoy critical thinking.

But how can people develop critical thinking when they are barred from expressing their opinions freely?

The case in point is Prime Minister Gen Prayut’s trip to Ubon Ratchathani and Amnat Charoen today to hold mobile cabinet meetings.

Prior to the trip, police and military officers visited six academics at Ubon Ratchathani University and asked them to make sure there will be no protests against the prime minister, according to Matichon and Khao Sod English.

One of the lecturers, Teerapon Anmai, said the visit to his home last weekend was harassment. Another academic, Titipol Phakdeewanich, dean of the university’s political science faculty, said although the military officers spoke to him politely, he still considers the visit a violation of human rights.

The military, through 2nd Army Area Commander Lt Gen Tharakorn Thammawin, denied putting pressure on the university’s lecturers and students. He said some officers talked to people to prepare security measures around the campus area prior to the premier’s visit.

When asked if this means the military is not barring academics and students from expressing their political standpoints during the PM’s visit, Lt Gen Tharakorn became vague. He said he had to consider the situation on a caseby-case basis and see if anything illegal occurs which may damage the image of Ubon Ratchathani province as the mobile cabinet’s host, according to Matichon.

He said the PM was going to Ubon Ratchathani to see if there are any problems that the government can tackle. People in the host province should therefore behave in the “correct” manner.

In this light, the officer’s statement is actually not that ambiguous. To be a good host, to promote the image of the province, people in Ubon Ratchathani are expected to offer nothing but uniform cheers of appreciation. Anything less than that may be viewed as “incorrect” and deserving of adjustment.

But servitude, which is what the military regime expects not just from people in Ubon Ratchathani but throughout the country, is definitely not the basis from which a prosperous, innovative and equitable Thailand will spring according to the 20-year national strategy.

Although the draft document identified many traps hampering the country’s growth, be they low productivity, a lack of technological know-how and digital skills or an inefficient public sector, and offered a broad framework on how to overcome them, the reality is it takes honest self-appraisal and accountability for any kind of long-term strategy to succeed.

The military regime has not been open to ether of these. When faced with the latest controversy concerning a military conscript who complained in a video clip about being forced to work on a chicken farm owned by a superior officer, Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwon said there is no policy for conscripts to do personal work for their superiors, but officers can “borrow” them.

He also said an initial probe found that the chicken-raising conscript had volunteered for the duties which begs the question — why would he complain if he willingly opted for the task?

For the record, Gen Prawit is deputy chairman of the national strategy committee.