• OPINION

  An S44 order too many

  News, Editorial, Published on 16/04/2019

  » In what has been branded abuse of power, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has invoked the all-powerful Section 44 to delay payments by the three big mobile players and bail out digital TV operators from their financial obligations.

• OPINION

  Time to lift rights bans

  News, Editorial, Published on 17/09/2018

  » The best thing that can be said about last week's action by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) is that the all-male group understands it has created a problem. It has returned to the public a tiny bit of the civil and human rights it removed 52 months ago. On Friday, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha used his extraordinary powers under Section 44 to give some small but important freedoms to political parties. While the order restores the right to organise party affairs, it falls lamentably short of restoring basic and constitutional rights to all Thais.

• OPINION

  Power is the regime's drug

  News, Editorial, Published on 15/05/2019

  » If power is as addictive as a drug, the military regime must have been overdosed with its latest appointment of its trusted friends and family members who will run the Senate for the next five years and have a say in the selection of at least two prime ministers.

• OPINION

  Apply law of the land to all

  News, Editorial, Published on 29/11/2019

  » The poor had it before. They were accused of encroaching on protected forests or national parks. Thirteen landless forest dwellers were convicted of forest encroachment by the Appeal Court this year and sentenced to imprisonment. Now, an MP from the ruling Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP), Pareena Kraikupt is facing an accusation of committing a similar offence. Given the influence of the PPRP, all eyes are now on law enforcement officers over whether there will be "double standards" in their handling of the case.

• OPINION

  Walls close in on free press

  News, Editorial, Published on 06/04/2018

  » With news reports and commentaries swapping between praising and criticising the ruling regime, most mainstream media staff survive direct state intimidation. But two senior journalists recently ran foul of the junta.

• OPINION

  Stop silencing the people

  News, Editorial, Published on 22/07/2017

  » Army chief Chalermchai Sittisart's recent decision to dismiss a call by 176 Thai and foreign academics for a relaxation or cessation of the rules that stop people from expressing their civil rights -- for example the ban on political gatherings -- comes as no surprise.

• OPINION

  End military interrogation

  News, Editorial, Published on 27/09/2018

  » In a court ruling on Tuesday on what has been dubbed the "budu bomb" case, the legitimacy and transparency of the military's unusual role in the justice process has again been questioned.

• OPINION

  Stop press intimidation

  News, Editorial, Published on 02/01/2018

  » The Thai Journalists Association wound up the year by issuing a depressing statement. It rated 2017 as yet another year where the free press was regulated and intimidated by the military government. The TJA said the regime hinders the media by restricting freedom of expression. And it says this causes public harm by not allowing examination and by barring criticism of the junta, collectively and individually.

• OPINION

  Rising to the Zika threat

  News, Editorial, Published on 13/09/2016

  » It is actually good news that new and improved diagnostic tools have become available to detect and thus fight the Zika virus. This insidious disease, once again caused by mosquito bites, is not fatal, as are its "cousins" dengue and malaria. But the terrible consequences include a heart-breaking brain disorder passed from pregnant women to their babies, as well as the risk of other knock-on illnesses and crippling syndromes.

• OPINION

  All South must talk

  News, Editorial, Published on 31/08/2015

  » The decision to resume official contact with separatists is good news for the Deep South and the country in general. Last week, a government-authorised team led by Gen Aksara Kerdpol met a number of representatives of well-known military groups. The public ceremony took place in Kuala Lumpur, and was largely organised and arranged by the Malaysian government. The contacts are tentative, and not yet even called peace talks. There is an essential ingredient missing before the contacts can make significant progress.

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