EC files first case of violating referendum law with police



BANGKOK: -- The Election Commission today officially lodged a complaint with Thung Song Hong police in Bangkok accusing a Facebook page of a local adminstration fund in Khon Kaen province of violating the Referendum Act 2016 for criticism of the draft charter and the scheduled August 7 referendum.

It is the first case after the law went into effect April 22.

Election commissioner Somchai Srisuthiyakorn carried with him copies of evidences of the violation to submit to the police to take legal action against all persons for posting on the Facebook page of the fund that.

The messages were considered violating the prohibitions stated by the law, Somchai said.

He said although the messages have been deleted from the page, but the EC had copies of all messages written by these posters to charge the page administrator.

He said the messages these people posted were rude, aggressive and had intent to persuade people to accept or reject the draft charter which was tantamount to create disorder in the country.

He reiterated that the filing of complaint was not intended to put them in jail but just to set a precedent that violators will be dealt with by laws.

This was a gross violation of Article 61 and violator is subject to 10-year imprisonment, and a maximum fine of 200,000 baht, and revocation of electoral right for five years.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/161231


-- Thai PBS 2016-04-27

The EC seems to be eager to rigorously apply the referendum bill. Surprised?

... and the circus continues.

which was tantamount to create disorder in the country.

The real question is: what is not those days???

Apart badminton...

soon it will be, report the neighbour time.

take legal action against all persons for posting on the Facebook page of the fund

Shouldn't the EC also take action against anyone who "liked" the posted messages that allegedly violate the referendum law?

The NCPO has made such charges last year under the Computer Crime Act.

Rest assure that the NCPO will be prepared to again order the EC on how to conduct itself.

Just been sitting in Asoke for an hour waiting for Prayuth to pass in his extended convoy. The cab driver opined "many Thai people are so angry but we are too scared to say anything".

Just been sitting in Asoke for an hour waiting for Prayuth to pass in his extended convoy. The cab driver opined "many Thai people are so angry but we are too scared to say anything".

The young people of Thailand are not afraid. There were small protests at Victory Monument, Thammasart Uni and Chiangmai today. Press may be too scared to report.

Everything going on right now is designed to create a reaction from the red shirts, so that they can delay the election even longer, by citing that it's just not safe to do so, damn right it's not safe, as the people will vote this circus out and they will all be out on their asses, and when the shoe's is on the other foot, that amnesty they gave themselves will be like 1 ply toilet paper, and the tit for tat circus will begin.

Everything is being put in place to do their damn est to prevent any party associated with the Shins to ever regain power, as they know full well the shit storm that will surely follow.

I honestly wonder how certain posters here would react, IF the reds win, and they begin a systematic campaign against all those who tried to destroy them, I wonder how they'd feel if they started to see senior Police and Military, and civil officials being prosecuted for their abuses of power?

Would they say, like they do now, "they're simply following the rule of law" ? Like hell they would, they'd be up in arms and crying their eyes out into their sum tam, rocking themselves and muttering away "but but but Thaksin??? How???? I don't understand!! "

Watch this space because there's every possibility that's what will happen in 2017 IF an election goes ahead.

Just been sitting in Asoke for an hour waiting for Prayuth to pass in his extended convoy. The cab driver opined "many Thai people are so angry but we are too scared to say anything".

I'm not. I literally get in between several motorcades a day on my bicycle. No idea who is in them. I work near army headquarters and they all seem to get personal motorcades every day in the morning and afternoons. They can make all the noise they want. I don't change my course. Just go through closed intersections too. The army only gets away with this shit bc the people let them.

This referendum is rapidly becoming a complete sham: no opposition allowed, no foreign observers. It was the same in 2007: although it was not illegal to vote 'no' a guy in Chiang Mai was arrested for being in possession of posters that read 'it is not illegal to vote 'no''. Each time the military foist these referenda on the Thai people, they hammer a few more nails into the coffin of Thai democracy. The only answer for all concerned is to revert to the 1999 constitution, which was democratic and agreed on by all sides at the time, and then to hold free and fair elections. The first act of the new government should then be to 'reform' the ability of the military and others to interfere in the political process.

If the democratic process had been allowed to run its course since 1999, the people may well have voted Phuea Thai out of office by now.

This referendum is rapidly becoming a complete sham: no opposition allowed, no foreign observers. It was the same in 2007: although it was not illegal to vote 'no' a guy in Chiang Mai was arrested for being in possession of posters that read 'it is not illegal to vote 'no''. Each time the military foist these referenda on the Thai people, they hammer a few more nails into the coffin of Thai democracy. The only answer for all concerned is to revert to the 1999 constitution, which was democratic and agreed on by all sides at the time, and then to hold free and fair elections. The first act of the new government should then be to 'reform' the ability of the military and others to interfere in the political process.

If the democratic process had been allowed to run its course since 1999, the people may well have voted Phuea Thai out of office by now.

Not to be rude, but I think you meant to say the 1997 constitution.

Everything going on right now is designed to create a reaction from the red shirts, so that they can delay the election even longer, by citing that it's just not safe to do so, damn right it's not safe, as the people will vote this circus out and they will all be out on their asses, and when the shoe's is on the other foot, that amnesty they gave themselves will be like 1 ply toilet paper, and the tit for tat circus will begin.

Everything is being put in place to do their damn est to prevent any party associated with the Shins to ever regain power, as they know full well the shit storm that will surely follow.

I honestly wonder how certain posters here would react, IF the reds win, and they begin a systematic campaign against all those who tried to destroy them, I wonder how they'd feel if they started to see senior Police and Military, and civil officials being prosecuted for their abuses of power?

Would they say, like they do now, "they're simply following the rule of law" ? Like hell they would, they'd be up in arms and crying their eyes out into their sum tam, rocking themselves and muttering away "but but but Thaksin??? How???? I don't understand!! "

Watch this space because there's every possibility that's what will happen in 2017 IF an election goes ahead.

I think you need to look at this a bit closer.

You don't know what the military are thinking any more than I do. We can make assumptions but even then we can't be sure they'd be thinking logically as part experience shows they often don't.

Would it make sense to provoke the reds into protest? There were threats of protests from the reds after the coup and if Yingluck was taken to court. Also a threat to turn the northern provinces into an independent state with her in charge. Nothing came of it. Logically it would be better to keep it this way, under tight control because the reds aren't confident they could win. As soon as that control breaks then you've got to regain it which is more difficult and unpredictable. Of course this is logical reasoning and a quick look back over the last few years shows how little there is of that.

All of the references I've collected on this are on my laptop in the UK and I'm here in Thailand with my tablet so in some cases I'm working from memory.

Robert Amsterdam who has backed Thaksin and the redshirts issued a document after the redshirt protests in July 2010 . There's no way he can be accused of his against Thaksin or the reds. That claimed "the Thai Royal Army and its government may be responsible for human rights abuses and possible crimes against humanity in connection with the bloody suppression of protests in Bangkok in April and May, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 90 people." The document outlines Thailands obligations under International Law to allow independent and impartial bodies to investigate and prosecute all responsible parties. There had been an inquiry but he claimed it was biased and based on his comments it's possible it was.

The responsibility for an impartial investigation fell to the PTP government after they were elected and they promised justice for those killed. They then decided to place full responsibility for the deaths on Abhisit and Suthep whilst claiming the army bore no responsibility as they were just following orders. This was odd as the events surrounding the deaths that were investigated showed no reason for the killings based on the rules of engagement the army was working under and Robert Amsterdam's own expert witness claimed the army were operating outside those rules. There might be some claim the second version of the rules were not clear enough but certainly no reason to decide on the army's possible guilty outside of an impartial investigation.

That stopped any chance of proper justice. Then there was the blanket amnesty which would have included Thaksin but also Abhisit and Suthep even though they didn't want it. So Thaksin was so desperate to get his amnesty that he was prepared to stop any investigation into the deaths in 2010 of his redshirt supporters and others.

Actually I should correct that. Thaksin was not in the country, not in the election so not elected. So I should say it was the PTP government that was so desperate for Thaksin to get an amnesty that they gave up on justice. Apparently although Thaksin wasn't elected many of those who voted for Yingluck's party knew that Thaksin would be in charge.

This is when the cracks in support started, not because of policies they were elected to carry out which were rightly challenged in parliament but because after trying to put the blame solely on Abhisit and Suthep they then try to get them off the charges. And we accuse the current PM of not being all that smart.

The current administration probably do want to avoid any party associated with Thaksin gaining power again and in my view that would be a good thing but they've shown themselves to be just as inept as PTP. The protests in 2013 started at a time when the redshirts stopped their solid support due to the amnesty plans. This showed vision and an understanding of the situation. It's unfortunate that the peaceful protests turned violent which ended in the coup. There were opportunities to stop it getting that far. The army should have seized the chance to isolate Thaksin when his popularity was low but they made a complete new of it and now I think the chance gone for either side to gain much.

As for the current amnesty I think your right in as much as it can probably be easily thrown out. That's one of the reasons the military will want to keep it's power.

This referendum is rapidly becoming a complete sham: no opposition allowed, no foreign observers. It was the same in 2007: although it was not illegal to vote 'no' a guy in Chiang Mai was arrested for being in possession of posters that read 'it is not illegal to vote 'no''. Each time the military foist these referenda on the Thai people, they hammer a few more nails into the coffin of Thai democracy. The only answer for all concerned is to revert to the 1999 constitution, which was democratic and agreed on by all sides at the time, and then to hold free and fair elections. The first act of the new government should then be to 'reform' the ability of the military and others to interfere in the political process.

If the democratic process had been allowed to run its course since 1999, the people may well have voted Phuea Thai out of office by now.

My knowledge doesn't go back that far but I do think that it would be better if Thaksin's governments were able to continue long enough to see if they actually work, which I doubt. Things were looking good for the last one until the amnesty plan got in the way. Personally I think far from the army helping the Democrats they are just making it harder for them to win an election.

I think it will be very difficult for a government to reform the ability of the military to interfere.

I think the way it could happen is if voters showed more interest in how professional and honest their politicians are rather than just how much them they if a certain part gets in. The military will be changed by the lower ranks. When the top brass stop getting the support from those below them in much the same way as I mentioned with politicians and voters.

Wanting to keep power and achieving that goal are not the same thing.

The military will fall.

But just not in the foreseeable future.

Bloodshed and violence on the other hand is increasingly likely as draconian laws attract push back.

International pressures will then enhance the wheels turning to continue.

Right now is the calm before the storm.

Edited April 28, 201610 yr by Plutojames88