Army's sedition charges against opposition, academics 'could aggravate southern conflict'

By The Nation

 

Credit: Adisorn Piengkes Facebook

 

Academics have warned the Army that charging opposition leaders with sedition will cause political turbulence in the deep South even as the opposition considers a legal response.

 

 

Srisompbo Jitpromsri, a political scientist at the Prince of Songkla University’s Pattani campus, expressed concern over the Thai Army seeking the filing of charges by Pattani police against leaders of the opposition and academics.

 

On Thursday, sedition charges were pressed against 12 people, including six key opposition party leaders and academics who have been campaigning to amend the charter. The group held a seminar in Pattani on September 28. Speaking at the event Chalita Bandhuwong, a lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology Faculty of Social Sciences at Kasetsart University, called for the amendment of Section 1 and said the current Constitution could not resolve the prolonged political violence in the deep South. Section 1 states that Thailand is one and an indivisible Kingdom.

 

Experts say current Constitution incapable of helping resolve Thailand’s southern unrest

 

More than 5,000 people have been killed in 15 years of violence in the deep South provinces bordering Malaysia.

 

Srisompop yesterday warned that the Army charge could stir hostility. “We are a democracy, so freedom of expression and difference of opinion should be acceptable,” he said. A legal battle could drag on as other parties would counter-sue the Army, he warned. To resolve the conflict in the South, participation of all parties is needed, he pointed out. “There should be a compromise among concerned parties, then it would create better conditions for solving the southern problem, he added.

 

Meanwhile Adison Piengkes, a spokesman for opposition leader Sompong Amornvivat, said the Army wanted to silence people similar to its action against a pro-democracy group that had called for early election. The Criminal Court recently acquitted the pro-democracy group. He said the Pheu Thai Party is considering filing a counter-suit against the Army top-brass.

 

“We, however, want Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha and Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan to stop using legal tools to silence the opposition,” he added.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30377088

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-10-05

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7 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

“We, however, want Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha and Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan to stop using legal tools to silence the opposition,” he added.

This is what a military government does  

Any more proof required to show the current government is not democratic.

Democracies do not arrest academics and opposition leaders for expressing opinions.  

Academics should be able to express points of view to stimulate debate and explore alternatives without fear of arrest and incarceration.

 

 

Brave people.The Thai gov't in general and the Thai armed forces in particular have been using this method to quash all opposition be it political,intellectual,social,cultural or religious  for generations.If jail doesn't answer the prospect of financial ruin can often serve the purpose just as well.

Absolute disgraceful behaviour and an indication of what's to come in the future.
Where are the boot lickers now don't expect to they will comment on this thread.

They have a different definition to what Democracy means. 

Not mentioned in this article but apparently the sedition Charges were been made by ISOC which some say is the new NCPO and we all know who's in charge of ISOC.
Some say it's maybe it's Politically motivated?

Any pretence of civilian rule disappears. 

4 hours ago, holy cow cm said:

They have a different definition to what Democracy means. 

Yeah and why do you guys waste endless bandwidth denigrating the Thai political system? Its their system, their culture, their government, their ways and who are any of us to say their system is bad. If it works for them, fine. If not they will fix it. Its not Venezuela here.

1 hour ago, Nyezhov said:

If it works for them, fine.

NO, it works 'fine' for some, not the majority

1 hour ago, Nyezhov said:

Yeah and why do you guys waste endless bandwidth denigrating the Thai political system? Its their system, their culture, their government, their ways and who are any of us to say their system is bad. If it works for them, fine. If not they will fix it. Its not Venezuela here.

Because I have a family kids and wife so allows me to voice an opinion as this is my home for as long as they allow my white <deleted> to stay here. Me and the family discuss politics all the time. And they certainly have the full right to complain about Thailand and the USA. 

8 hours ago, rooster59 said:

the Army that charging opposition leaders with sedition

Another disturbing act is the army charging civilians for a criminal act.

Only in the southern provinces does the army have the authority to have enforcement authority over civilians versus DSI or the police. This is because of Prayut's State of Emergency that he has imposed in the southern provinces since the military overthrow in 2014.

The army is effectively treating these 12 academic and political people as if they were the insurgents.

And yet Prayut expects to be trusted by the Muslim insurgent groups to negotiate a peace agreement in good faith? These charges have severely damaged peace talks within only a month of Prayut allegedly mounting efforts to renew talks.

2 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

Yeah and why do you guys waste endless bandwidth denigrating the Thai political system? Its their system, their culture, their government, their ways and who are any of us to say their system is bad. If it works for them, fine. If not they will fix it. Its not Venezuela here.

Yes..you keep on saying that...

2 hours ago, holy cow cm said:

Because I have a family kids and wife so allows me to voice an opinion as this is my home for as long as they allow my white <deleted> to stay here. Me and the family discuss politics all the time. And they certainly have the full right to complain about Thailand and the USA. 

Thats fine, you have a skin in the game. Others dont. 

A music video troll post has been removed. 

On 10/5/2019 at 7:34 AM, keith101 said:

This is what a military government does  

It's what a dictator does regardless of the apparel !