Chalida Tajaroensuk
People’s Empowerment, Thailand

For eighty-eight years since the revolution in 1932, democracy in Thailand has gone nowhere. It has been disrupted by 13 coups d'états, resulted in 20 constitutions. Power has been swapped among the hand of the military leaders. The last coup on 22 May 2014 was staged by General Prayuth Chan-ocha, the head of the NCPO. He has been governing the country for five years, during which political rights of Thai citizens have been controlled and restricted. The economic and social discrepancies are widening. Corruption has been rampant.

The B.E. 2560 Constitution contains many undemocratic elements. Prime Minister does not have to be (an MP) elected by election. The senators appointed by the NCPO voted for General Prayuth to be Prime Minister. All the following governments must follow the 20-Year National Strategy. Some academics called this constitution as “guided democracy” by the military.¹

The election on 24 March 2019 was an election under authoritarianism.² Politics was conducted in the form of the political party of the military. The coalition parties are supportive of General Prayuth and small parties are benefitted by interpretation of the election law by the Election Committee appointed by the NCPO.

The enforcement of the lèse majesté law, or known as Article 112, still continues in 2019. Cases of this law against 25 individuals were conducted.³ Academics see this law as a political weapon to suppress those who have different opinions from the state. Although there is no new case after 2018, there are other security laws instead.

Due to the spread of Covid-19, the government declared the state of emergency in March, and closed the country. Even though Thailand has been successful in controlling the disease, the government still has not revoked the declaration of the emergency. The country’s economy has been seriously affected. The government had to give 1.9 trillion baht (60,000 million dollar), but people are not much benefitted by this loan.

In the previous election, Future Forward Party gained the third largest votes of 6,330,617 from youths and progressive people⁴. On 23 February 2020, the party was disbanded by the Constitutional Court⁵. Demonstrations in many universities started and high school students began to join these rallies, too. Many educational institutions in the country was closed and the online learning was used. Thus the hash tags like “Mob from Home” - “Covid is over, shall you join us to chase the government” emerged and became the number one trend in social media. Many people came out to release their frustration accumulateddurding the governance of the Prayuth’s government.⁶

On February 2020 the biggest rally since the military coup in 2014 was staged at the Democracy Monument in the name of Free Youth. They demanded three points: 1. Prime Minister should resign 2. Harassment against people should be stopped and 3. New constitution should be legislated⁷. In a rally organised on 3 August, Arnon Nampa, a human right lawyer, delivered his speech, mentioning the gradually increasing power of the palace. Arnon was arrested on 7 August, followed by the demand to release him. On 10 August a demonstration was organised in Thammasat University, Rangsit Campus. Arnon demanded reformation of the royal institute under the constitution. On 19-20 September the first overnight rally was organized in Sanam Luang, and a letter addressed to King Wachiralongkorn was submitted to the Commander of the Bangkok Metropolitan Police.

On 24 September the Parliament passed a bill to mend the constitution by appointing the Committee for Constitution Amendment, which means that the amendment was postponed by one month. Natthaphorn Torprayoon, a former adviser to the Ombudsman, filed a petition against the demonstrators for subversion of the administrative system. The Constitution Court accepted the petition on 16 September.

Another big demonstration was staged on 14 October. The protestors surrounded the Government House and the government announced the severe state of emergency in Bangkok. The royal motorcade of Her Majesty the Queen was disrupted.⁸ On 16 October, the government used water cannons to disperse the protestors and more than 100 people were arrested.⁹ On 26 October, the protestors marched to the German Embassy to ask Berlin to look into the matter of His Majesty the King living in Germany.

On 8 November another big rally was organized. The protestors marched from the Democracy Monument to Sanam Luang, trying to send a letter from the people to His Majesty King Wachiralongkorn at the office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary. However, they could not arrive at the office, water cannons were used again to prevent them from continuing their march. Krit Yiammethakorn, the secretary general of the Network of People to defend the royal institution, demanded that the military should stage a coup.¹⁰

The protestors have no obvious leaders. Anyone can organize a demonstration by mobilising people within 30 minutes. They use the wymbol of three-fingers-salute taken from the movie “Hunger Game” against the government. This could be the very first demonstration that crossed the line between the online and the offline. University students’ demands are clear and there is no need for negotiation.The demonstrators assured that the demand for the reform of the royal institution is the utmost compromise.

The protestors know that the demands are very high. They also see the protest is for the change of the structure and the change should happen in their generation. Now both sides come to a deadlock and no one knows how to move forward. The concerns expressed by the world community have prevented the government and the palace from using violence against the protestors. The choices are limited: another coup, use of violence to suppress the people, or agreement to reduce the power of the government and the King according to the demands for the progress of the country.