Military leaders further centralise power by suspending local elections: Thailand

[webfact]

Military Leaders Further Centralise Power By Suspending Local Elections
By Khaosod English


A Redshirt candidate makes speech during the election of Udon Thani's Provincial Administrative Organisations, 14 May 2012.

BANGKOK — Thailand’s military regime has suspended local elections and announced plans to replace elected officials with bureaucrats in a move that further centralises its power over the country's provinces.

In a televised announcement issued on Tuesday night, the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) said members of local administrations in Bangkok and other provinces will be replaced by selected officials after the terms of the current officials expire. According to the order, the changes will only affect local administrative agencies where half of their members' terms are set to expire by the end of the year.

Two hundred and fifty-five local administrative agencies will be effected by the new ruling, Election Commission (EC) officials say.

The NCPO did not say how long local elections will be suspended for. According to the junta’s roadmap, a national election will not be held until late next year and only if the "national reconciliation" process is deemed complete.
The new local officials will be appointed by the EC and two-thirds of them are required to be current or former bureaucrats with the "senior" rank of C-8. According to the order, the selection process "should also consider the behaviour, morality, honesty, and political neutrality of the selected individuals."

Although all provincial governors in Thailand are already appointed by the central government in Bangkok rather than elected locally, citizens normally elect the members of their Provincial Administrative Organisations and Subdistrict Administrative Organisations. Bangkok's district councilors are also elected.

The announcement effectively abolished the last remaining resemblance of democratic institutions in Thailand, as the NCPO already deposed the elected government on 22 May and liquidated the Senate and the 2007 Constitution shortly thereafter.

Election Commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn welcomed the new ruling, calling it a "temporary solution" for the country. He also said the NCPO is ensuring that only "able" bureaucrats are appointed to oversee the country's local administrations.

"It took a long time for these bureaucrats to reach where they are right now," Mr. Somchai said.

Nevertheless, Mr. Somchai admitted that handing administrative power to bureaucrats may come with a price: a "bureaucratic mentality," in which officials are wedded to existing rules and formats, may lead the new administrators to lose touch with the citizens in their areas. Veteran politicians, on the other hand, are sometimes better identifying with constituents and understanding their needs, Mr. Somchai said.

The NCPO’s announcement has alarmed those concerned to see the unraveling of Thailand's decentralised provincial system, which has been steadily gaining ground for two decades.

The replacement of elected politicians with full-time bureaucrats has also raised concerns that the NCPO may bring back the so-called "Bureaucratic State” of the 1980s in which a weak parliament was dominated by a heavy presence of bureaucratic and military rule.

According to sources inside the EC, the NCPO is bent on preventing the former ruling Pheu Thai Party from regaining its influence in the countryside; Pheu Thai Party and its predecessor, Thai Rak Thai Party, have garnered widespread support in the rural northern and northeastern Thailand and won every national election since 2001.

"When it's time to organise a national and provincial election, it will be very difficult for the big old party to return to power," a source said, referring to the Pheu Thai Party.

Source: http://en.khaosod.co.th/detail.php?newsid=1405599501&typecate=06&section=


-- Khaosod English 2014-07-18

[BSJ]

Assuming it's only temporary, and the needs of the common people are addressed......where's the problem?

[FreedomDude]

I would avoid becoming appointed as a local leader under these circumstances like the plague. The tide will change....may take years...but it will change.

[TimCM]

More jobs for the boys. Anyone who thinks any of this will lead to democracy probably believes in the tooth fairy

[Mango Bob]

I wonder what the Respect My Vote people think about this.

[EnzoRippo]

Thailand is not another planet. Thais are not monkeys, we are 100% similar human beings.

So, we have always to ask ourselves: "WOULD I ACCEPT THAT IN MY OWN COUNTRY?"

[i claudius]

And so it begins.

[rickirs]

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Assuming it's only temporary, and the needs of the common people are addressed......where's the problem?

Shouldn't the PEOPLE decide their own needs and not a bureaucrat that will follw the dictates of the Junta ?

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

Pinochet and Marcos must be smiling in their graves!

[noitom]

Individual freedom and rights are gone in Thailand. This is the new order.

[DeepInTheForest]

Modern society would seem to require an agile, adaptive governmental structure.

The military will find the going more difficult as it extends its reach into administrative areas where it has not had experience.

[rreddin]

Assuming it's only temporary, and the needs of the common people are addressed......where's the problem?

There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.

[Thailand]

Basically no surprise as the grip tightens!

This is no short term planning.

[Krataiboy]

And so it begins.

It began a while ago, but not many people seemed to notice. None are so blind as they who do not wish to see.

[SiggiCM]

one day this junta will get their time in prison

[Cuchulainn]

I wonder what the Respect My Vote people think about this.

Who cares about that red, communist, republican rabble?

[heybruce]

Assuming it's only temporary, and the needs of the common people are addressed......where's the problem?

Did you not read this part:

"The announcement effectively abolished the last remaining resemblance of democratic institutions in Thailand..."

or this part:

"The replacement of elected politicians with full-time bureaucrats has also raised concerns that the NCPO may bring back the so-called "Bureaucratic State” of the 1980s in which a weak parliament was dominated by a heavy presence of bureaucratic and military rule."

However your own question raises the biggest concern, when you wrote "Assuming it's only temporary..." Changes implemented by a military government are as temporary or as permanent as the military allows them to be. As stated in the article:

"According to the junta’s roadmap, a national election will not be held until late next year and only if the "national reconciliation" process is deemed complete."

In other words, elections happen when the military says they can happen. Of course enthusiasts of the coup, many who are already calling for the junta to stay in power for many years, will insist this is a good thing.

[jaidam]

Assuming it's only temporary, and the needs of the common people are addressed......where's the problem?

Did you not read this part:

"The announcement effectively abolished the last remaining resemblance of democratic institutions in Thailand..."

or this part:

"The replacement of elected politicians with full-time bureaucrats has also raised concerns that the NCPO may bring back the so-called "Bureaucratic State” of the 1980s in which a weak parliament was dominated by a heavy presence of bureaucratic and military rule."

However your own question raises the biggest concern, when you wrote "Assuming it's only temporary..." Changes implemented by a military government are as temporary or as permanent as the military allows them to be. As stated in the article:

"According to the junta’s roadmap, a national election will not be held until late next year and only if the "national reconciliation" process is deemed complete."

In other words, elections happen when the military says they can happen. Of course enthusiasts of the coup, many who are already calling for the junta to stay in power for many years, will insist this is a good thing.

Your outrage is noted. This would be a perfect opportunity for you to criticize and condemn the prime actions that led to the coup that caused you such distress. I am of course talking about the PTP's attempt to ram through their leaders amnesty and remuneration bill at 4am amid a blanket of obfuscation and denials(which would have released 25,000 elitist scumbags from their legal strife). Easily avoidable innit.

No PTP action that would have led to anarchy = no coup = happy Brucey. A rather simple equation I'm sure you'll agree.

[GarryP]

Local elections were about as democratic as national elections, with vote buying, influence peddling, village headmen ordering, etc. It sort of seems okay to me until such a time as the electorate is free to vote how it wishes. However, it needs to be balanced by the selection of officials being based purely on merit and not being lackeys of the NPCO. Otherwise, it is no different to the regime it is replacing.

[heybruce]

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Did you not read this part:

"The announcement effectively abolished the last remaining resemblance of democratic institutions in Thailand..."

or this part:

"The replacement of elected politicians with full-time bureaucrats has also raised concerns that the NCPO may bring back the so-called "Bureaucratic State” of the 1980s in which a weak parliament was dominated by a heavy presence of bureaucratic and military rule."

However your own question raises the biggest concern, when you wrote "Assuming it's only temporary..." Changes implemented by a military government are as temporary or as permanent as the military allows them to be. As stated in the article:

"According to the junta’s roadmap, a national election will not be held until late next year and only if the "national reconciliation" process is deemed complete."

In other words, elections happen when the military says they can happen. Of course enthusiasts of the coup, many who are already calling for the junta to stay in power for many years, will insist this is a good thing.

Your outrage is noted. This would be a perfect opportunity for you to criticize and condemn the prime actions that led to the coup that caused you such distress. I am of course talking about the PTP's attempt to ram through their leaders amnesty and remuneration bill at 4am amid a blanket of obfuscation and denials(which would have released 25,000 elitist scumbags from their legal strife). Easily avoidable innit.

No PTP action that would have led to anarchy = no coup = happy Brucey. A rather simple equation I'm sure you'll agree.

You have confirmed post #17:

Where's the Forum Happy Clappy crew?

They'll be here, reminding us that everything the junta does is good because everything Thaksin did was bad.

[Thailand]

I guess with all of the local elections being abolished and unelected persons taking up positions,added to the restrictions as to who may stand for government should there be elections any time in the future then the chances are those that are allowed to stand for elections will only be those that were the unelected chosen.

Thus the "government" that finally gets elected may simply only consist of those previously chosen by the junta as nobody else would qualify to stand?

If you know what I mean!

[mrmicbkktxl]

Thought all Suthep friends and Yingluk haters wanted exactly that.Why you guys crying now?Those are the reforms Suthep was talking about.Hope you guys all happy now.I better have 100 corrupt Yingluks than one Suthep or junta ruled country.Welcome to new democratic Thailand.This was all long planned by army and Suthep.

[Emster23]

"Thailand’s military regime has suspended local elections and announced plans to replace elected officials with bureaucrats in a move that further centralises its power over the country's provinces." Wow. I bet none of us saw that coming!

[joecoolfrog]

It seems clear that the ' road map ' will lead to Junta aproved Electorial candidates. I despised the Thaksin puppet regimes but this is not the way forward.

[northernjohn]

More jobs for the boys. Anyone who thinks any of this will lead to democracy probably believes in the tooth fairy

Question for you and your followers.

What has Democracy done for the people?

In a nation of 66 million people when half don't vote and out of the ones that do vote over half don't want the ones who win how can you call that a Democracy?

What good does it do the people?

People committing suicide because of it's policies. Students loosing the ability to learn due to cheap ill thought out poor performing pads with no real learning programs on them. Floods where the government stores supplies. Does nothing to help the people unless they live in Bangkok. The rest of Thailand didn't count. In fact it was there releasing water from behind a dam that caused it all. The army on their own moved in and helped.

The Government turned down American help that could have supplied and delivered all the fresh water that was needed.

The Army stepped in and took away the rights to vote. Then proceeded to do things for the benefit of Thailand. They laid out a plan where the people could once again vote in about a year and a half. First they are getting rid of the trash that was stealing the country blind. (those are the ones who are opposed to the army) then they are going to pass laws that make it impossible to go back to a dictatorship such as the one they just got out from under with a known criminal on the run afraid to step foot in the country yet buying all the crooked politicians to do what he says to do. In short a insane dictatorship. Name me one other country where the Prime Minister does not attend a cabinet meeting and instead has her brother a convicted criminal living in a self imposed exile call in and give instructions. That is not Democracy.

No the army is not a democracy but it is a government making it possible to have a Democracy.

[northernjohn]

I wonder what the Respect My Vote people think about this.

Probably not happy no one to sell it to.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

@nj

lets hope bill doesnt give hilary any advice

[jope]

Local elections were about as democratic as national elections, with vote buying, influence peddling, village headmen ordering, etc. It sort of seems okay to me until such a time as the electorate is free to vote how it wishes. However, it needs to be balanced by the selection of officials being based purely on merit and not being lackeys of the NPCO. Otherwise, it is no different to the regime it is replacing.

From the ANFREL press statement 05.11.2011:

"...Thailand's citizens have voted and, no matter their political views, been able to express their political opinion in a peaceful and orderly way based on the rule of law."

"Generally, despite some flaws, the election period to this point was orderly and provided the people a means through which to have their voices heard."

Their election report is rather interesting and addresses some of the issues that come up on this forum again and again. In short: there is room for improvement (where isn't?), but the elections were fair and square. I find this statement more convincing than any random post on TVF "assessing" that elections in Thailand are (more precise: were) not democratic.

[northernjohn]

Thailand is not another planet. Thais are not monkeys, we are 100% similar human beings.

So, we have always to ask ourselves: "WOULD I ACCEPT THAT IN MY OWN COUNTRY?"

Or would I prefer my own country to be run by a convicted criminal on the run from the law living in a self imposed exile out side the country buying the politicians to vote his way and paying for an army of red shirted thugs to invade barricade of down town Bangkok invade a hospital and bomb transportation centers. Then when they are finally subdued the government is kind enough to pay their way home and clean up the mess pigs like them make.

Ask your self which would you prefer.

I choose the one where the Army runs the country the streets are safer the corruption is being uncovered dealt with and plans laid out for a real election.

[northernjohn]

Basically no surprise as the grip tightens!

This is no short term planning.

True it is about a year and a half plan.

You didn't really think they could accomplish any thing by opening up all the impediments to corruption did you?

Strange way of thinking.