Military In Politics: Thailand | Insight | Full Episode

the 1932 revolution ended 150 years of absolute monarchy in thailand but since then the kingdom has had 13 successful military coups and 11 attempted coups they thought that they are able to manage the country better than politicians so that's why they step in but their intervention in the nation's politics has generated a lot of resentment and resistance from thai citizens who want the military to stay out of politics for good which regime can give us dictatorship no they don't let us any even a question to ask them we need checks and balances and what gives us separation of powers principle is democracy will the military's permanent presence in politics bring about greater stability progress and developments to thailand or will it lead to a continued turmoil and further deepen authoritarian rule in the country [Music] so [Music] may 2014 a tense atmosphere gripped the battle-weary city of bangkok following months of political turmoil which split the nation down the middle on one side were the red shirts these were mainly rural workers from outside bangkok who supported the government of yingluck shinawatra the sister of thailand's controversial figure [Music] on the other side of the political divide were the yellow shirts these were mostly royalis nationalists and the urban middle class who opposed mr tuksin and leaders who were aligned to him sporadic violence on the streets of bangkok between the two opposing camps left at least 25 dead and hundreds of others injured and then on the 22nd of may 2014 the armed forces led by the commander of the royal thai army general prayut chanocha seized control of the country bangkok was placed under lockdown politicians activists and academics were rounded up mostly red shirt supporters the old constitution was suspended and a state of martial law was declared as the military moved to consolidate its position and restore order in the country thirty-three-year-old panchakunathan is a phd student at stanford university he was among those who witnessed the chain of events that took place in the capital he could never have imagined that another military coup had taken place in the country yet again just eight years after an earlier coup toppled the leadership of billionaire politician thaksin shinawatra the military really succeeded in imposing a climate of fear and and and the fear was much more intense than in 2006. um they they arrested all the top politicians um they blindfolded them they sent them to to be detained in army camps around the country they sent troops to university campuses they took off all the television channels and they summoned people in announcements broadcast on on national television and the list was very extensive including activists academics not just politicians overnight the cabinet from the previous government became powerless as the army assumed control of the country political gatherings were banned in one fell swoop democracy simply faded away you know the military put guns to people's heads um they abducted activists they detained politicians they robbed people of that some of their most fundamental rights the right to vote the right to freedom of expression but thailand is a deeply divided society while there are many of those who oppose the army takeover there are also many others who welcomed the coup 58 year old business consultant chai what panchayat is one of them he feels that the military takeover was necessary to rid the country of corruption and he accuses billionaire former prime minister thaksin shinawatra of abusing his power for his own personal gains jimmy foreign is a member of the military-ranked palang prachara party in 2014 the then senator had petitioned the constitutional court to remove prime minister inglak shinawatra from office over her role in the controversial rice subsidy program he felt that ms yingluck had mismanaged the program which won her huge support from the rural voters but had cost the country billions of dollars in lost revenue [Music] neighborhoods [Music] instead of handing over power to a civilian government through an open democratic election it unveiled a new constitution two years later on the 29th of march 2016. the new constitution had in effect strengthened and prolonged military control of the government among others it got to appoint 250 members of the senate the new charter also has a provision which would allow parliament to pick a non-elected individual as prime minister thereby giving the military enormous influence over future governments on the 7th of august 2016 the constitution was approved by 61 of voters in a nationwide referendum i thought it was the most undemocratic constitution draft we had in more than half a century the constitution draft passed in a referendum but the military arrested the people who campaigned against the draft they controlled the mainstream media and used every channel they had to to spread propaganda about the constitution draft and they threatened people that unless they passed the constitution draft in the referendum the junta would stay on forever indefinitely so they basically tied people's hands they established such constitution in order to keep control but sadly speaking it was not a fair and free referendum as to be accepted especially around the world the government however maintains that the new constitution was drafted to ensure that the country would not descend into chaos ever against them in 2019 five years after the 2014 coup and following numerous delays it finally called for a general election general prayer entered the race as a civilian candidate backed by the military-aligned palang prachara party at last the nation breathed a collective sigh of relief although the 2019 general election was seen to be heavily tilted to benefit the party linked to the military parties representing the democratic forces were hoping that a semblance of democracy could return to the country through the election won the most number of seats in the lower house with 136 seats while the military-aligned palanggracharat party won 116 seats and in a surprising turn of events the newly formed party the future forward party which was popular among the youth came in third with 81 seats with no party commanding a majority in the lower house a mad race began to build alliances and coalitions so i think for me and for most people having some elections was better than not having any we know that the elections were not completely fair many of the politicians who allied with with the anti-military parties um were uh threatened with legal charges into complying with the military into you know changing sides when the time finally came to elect a new prime minister a military-aligned coalition of nineteen parties backed mr pryor while the anti-junta front put up leader of the future forward party panathon jungle general prayut trumped his rival nominee tanaton by 500 votes to 244 reclaimed the prime minister's position thailand is now ruled by a military civilian hybrid government led by chanucha but he's now facing a fresh challenge from a young student-led movement to oppose the military's continuing grip of the country the reality is an opposition to military dictatorships in thailand goes back more than 40 years and it often ended in a bloodbath will history repeat itself [Music] thailand is no stranger to military coups it was part of the revolutionary force which toppled the rule of king or rama vii in a bloodless coup in 1932. the coup ended seven centuries of absolute monarchy and paved the way for the establishment of constitutional monarchy but it also marked the beginning of an intense military civilian rivalry for the control of the government in 1933 the military stepped in again to overthrow thailand's first prime minister praya manopakon it was followed by other coups that occurred in quick succession in 1947 the military removed the government of rear admiral pawan tamrong nawazawa another military coup was staged in 1951 during the reign of king bhumibol the co-plotters then appointed field marshal pibun songkran as the new prime minister but mass protest took place six years later in 1957 following a rigged parliamentary election which kept pibunsonkram in power a coup was then staged by field marshal saritanarak in 1971 field marshal tanom kitikachon staged a coup of his own government and dissolved parliament on the pretext of stopping communist infiltrations in 1977 another military coup took place i feel like that cool was a very quick shortcut for impatient people who feel unhappy that they are not being addressed properly for their share of of power or benefits therefore people relies on convenient tools and if they don't do that they will feel like they were forever being left out i think they get used to this understanding that the coup is a very quick fix if you use a cool you can gain back the power redress the issue and you see them then they fight against one another and they swap sites the fight for power however continued into the 90s on february 23 1991 general suchinder krapayun overthrew the elected but corrupt government of chattai tunhawan elections were then held on march 22nd 1992 but a government coalition which controlled 55 of the lower house appointed general succinda as prime minister even though he didn't stand in the election he had reneged on his earlier promise not to assume the premiership that decision led to massive protests on the streets of bangkok [Music] dr priyan te wana rumikun was among those who participated in the anti-government demonstrations the 53 year old was at the time the secretary general of the student federation of thailand he was also one of the protest leaders who helped organize the demonstrations calling for a return to democracy from the military hunter general also after general election and somehow by the constitution they drafted let to be prime minister after election it's the same the same circumstance and you know the the chairman of the drafting committee is the same person it's misha yusuf and they are the same they use the same the same method you know they just same even the same person to stay in power after general election and at that time in 1992 they want to to stop the people that asking and fight for democracy the pattern of the coup in thailand is that the military make the coup and promise to return to the normal but every time they return to the normal constitution has been rewritten to let the military maintain the power in this guide form at its peak two hundred thousand people filled the open field in front of the grand palace overflowing onto the streets as tensions arose and tempers flared clashes then broke out between the protesters and the riot police and then the shooting began i was there as the first bullet was shot over my head as i was on the track that loaded the loudspeaker and 44 people shot dead and more than until now more than 200 were missing until now we never believed at the time that they will shoot their own people they said that they want the cool data for the people for the country but why why they should the people where they shot the people according to official figures the military crackdown known as black may left 52 people dead but many analysts believe that the death count was much higher lieutenant general pong sakon rotomhu was an army colonel during the army crackdown of the protesters until today he feels that the decision to shoot at the protesters was totally wrong foreign [Music] the chaos went on for two days and only ended following a royal intervention on may the 20th the king demanded that both sides put an end to their confrontation and find a peaceful resolution to the conflict the king's words resonated throughout the kingdom the king spoke only two minutes and a half minutes something but the message was clear if we have conflict and choreo with violence like this nobody wins we should talk together and find a way that we can get out from this violence and bring talent back to normality and good again the may 1992 incident was similar to the events of october 1973 when students rallied against thai military dictator panom kitty katon at least 70 people were killed when the army opened fire at the pro-democracy protesters on the 24th of may 1992 sochinder resigned as prime minister of thailand for the next 15 years thailand enjoyed a relative calm and that allowed for democratic practices to take root but that changed following the rise of a billionaire politician who was flying too high for his own good putting himself on a collision course with his bitter enemies after the violence of may 1992 thailand entered a period of unprecedented democratization 15 years since the 1991 military takeover the country didn't experience any more military coups that however changed following the rise to power of telecommunications tycoon thaksin shinawatra his thai rakthai or thai's love ties party won 248 out of 500 seats in the 2001 general election on a platform of economic growth and anti-corruption the party also championed populist policies like universal health care debt relief for farmers and lavish government spending much to the delight of the country's rural poor these policies resonated well with people like 63 year old mayuri the farm owner lives near the city of ayutia about 80 kilometers north of bangkok for people like mayuri thaksin's rise to power was a breath of fresh air for the first time in her life she felt that she could enjoy direct and tangible benefits from the tuxen-led government he came on that kind of personal platform and policy platform that were very populous at that time basically the whole political voter base he divided into portion and he catered for each portion with very specific tangible policy that people can touch and can feel that something can be expected to succeed with measurement [Music] thuxin's popularity skyrocketed over time his party again won the february 2005 general election by a landslide securing a whopping 377 of the 500 seats in the house of representatives but many observers feel that meteoric rise to power and fame also helped trigger his downfall taxi become very exuberant in his confidence and because of that possibly that stepping on tools are happening and people who are the establishment may be a bit worrying about him he became off guard and not as careful in treading softly in various issues that he is facing therefore toxins start become a little bit too may i say too vocal too careless untie not so tight in his ways of doing things and which is unheard of in the political tradition and that opened the door for some unhappiness while toxins rule supporter base grew larger trouble soon began in 2006 when tuxen's family decided to sell its controlling stake in thailand's biggest media and telecommunications conglomerate shinko to an investment company temasek holdings the sale netted his family and friends 1.9 billion dollars to his party supporters the move to sell shin corp was just a normal commercial transaction it was also meant to put to rest charges of conflict of interest against thaksin the move had angered many urban thais who complained that the tuksin family had avoided paying taxes to pass control of an important national asset to singaporean investors voters then started to accuse tucson and those linked to him of corruption and abuse of power among them is dr suti triwi the 43 year old says that thailand may not be free of corruption but he felt that it was further institutionalized during thaksin's era for me i'm not good [Music] clear but to supporters of toxin it all boils down to jealousy and loss of benefits and that had prompted some parties to hit back at the former premier what followed was months of political instability thousands of yellow shirt protesters took to the streets demanding the end of tuksin's rule then on the evening of september the 19th taksin was ousted the coup was led by then thai commander-in-chief of the army general foreign he became too confident like i said he's stepping on too many toes the balance of the equation wasn't there if you do not keep imbalance equilibrium of sharing of power sharing or benefit sharing or glory if you don't do that you are upsetting the equation and the only way to readdress that is to bring the new equilibrium in and the easy way is punctuated by a coup a year after grabbing power the army ceded power to a civilian government through an open election but the power struggle continued unabated between those who supported mr taksin and those who wanted mr thaksin's influence out of thai politics for good thaksin himself fled the country on august 11 2008 the same day he was due in court to face corruption charges he has been in self-imposed exile since then but one by one political parties and those who were aligned to thaksin shinowat were removed from office even though they were popularly elected by the people in open elections among them were former prime ministers sama sundarawed and taksin's brother-in-law song chai wong sawat even thaksin's sister inglak was not spared on may 22nd 2014 the military seized control of the country led by army general prayut chanocha prime minister engluk shinawatra was removed from power the military coup was staged amidst months of violent demonstrations against her controversial political amnesty bill critics argued that the bill could allow for the return of former prime minister paksin shinawatra from exile but to her supporters the collapse of her government was a tragedy waiting to happen foreign with the military back in power the nation is now seeing the emergence of a hybrid authoritarian democratic form of government with the military linked playing a central role can the people accept the new political framework will the military continue to be an untouchable and indispensable feature of thai politics [Music] [Music] more than six years have passed since the military staged a coup on may 22nd but until today general prayut chanucha remains firmly in charge of the country although the puerta party won the largest number of seats in the 2019 election it's mr prayut who emerged as the country's prime minister thanks to the 250 appointed senators and other smaller parties which threw their support behind him for the top job in the first time after the election he did not have the huge number it was just barely enough you know he managed to be able to bring in mps from other parties if you're not inside the government you may have the state power against you therefore either you join or you're going to be investigated hence a lot of people join in by coercion eventually you have much more majority than in the beginning which is what happened still the election gave the military the legitimacy it needed to govern the country even if that meant subscribing to a democratic system which assumes a strong authoritarian character or what's known as a hybrid democracy it's a semi-democratic system which allows for a strong participation of the military in the state managed democratic process under the leadership of prime minister foreign the reality is just before he contested the election two years ago as a civilian prime minister chanucha officially declared that the era of a military government had ended but he still retains a strong backing from pro-military parties and a military-appointed upper house of parliament which acts as a tool to ensure a continued presence of the military in the government and that has led critics to conclude that the move was intended to strengthen military dominance in politics at the expense of real democracy they won right they won a lot but they could not win the majority but they stay in power through the abuse of democracy constitution so you getting into the situation but can stay in power through the manipulation of the constitution and the support of the establishment and that phenomenon has led to increasing public disquiet especially among the young a new movement then emerged to challenge the authority and legitimacy of the present government they're calling for the ouster of prime minister pryout they're also demanding changes to the 2017 military-drafted constitution and a reform of the monarchy among those who've been very vocal in making these bold demands is 22 year old sirikan a liberal arts student at tamasa university she was 16 when the army seized power back in 2014 today the third year university student is getting even more frustrated with the state that the country is in right now since the middle of last year young leaders have rallied thousands of people to their cause their voices filled public squares and symbols of power calling for the dissolution of parliament and they appear fearless in the face of both the police and the army as they continue to chant anti-establishment slogans jutatip for one feels that the 2017 constitution goes against the very grain of democracy and was designed with the sole objective of keeping the military in power foreign another thing would be that the economic situation are not good the thai economy is at the very low end and we have already made use of a lot of our money that we don't have therefore any government that cannot look after the well-being economically of the people usually don't last politically you can see the the gathering of unhappiness of the oppositions you know so there's a lot of a lot of people who are already simmering in the background of unhappiness with foreign [Music] smart military you are not trained in every front therefore how can you be able to understand deeply everything and the the issues at your table is overwhelming it's too much for any one single man who are not prepared to lead the country to be the prime minister therefore we expect him to fail and he failed yet in spite of his failure to lead the country out of its present economic predicament his position remains as secure as ever in the absence of rival power centers there's no institution powerful enough to dislodge the military from power especially when it has the backing of the monarchy foreign i don't think these students uprising that you have seen today the young people trying to do uh will be able to bring them down but they can open the door if they have enough number and they have the the their technicity and the risk resiliency to go on maybe if it was really combusted at the right time maybe other factions who conveniently want to throw this military out anyway may come in military takeovers have presented a huge challenge to the region calling into question their commitment to democratic norms that commitment has come under close scrutiny in countries like myanmar ten years of the democratic experiment has now come crashing to a halt after the military toppled a popularly elected government of democracy icon aung san tsuchi in thailand direct military rule has now been replaced by hybrid democracy which assumes a strong authoritarian character with the military and ex-military figures playing a central role in politics will this mark the beginning of democratic backsliding in the region will outright authoritarianism and quasi democracy be the new norm in asia [Music] you

Channel: CNA Insider

Views: 252,202

Keywords: CNA, CNA Insider, Channel NewsAsia, Asian perspective, People stories, Insight, Asia news, documentary, Asia, Thailand, Bangkok, Southeast Asia, politics, government, coup, military coup, military rule, military government, junta, Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prayut, authoritarian, Red Shirts, Yellow Shirts, Thaksin Shinawatra, protests

Id: G-NNaTg6bbE

Length: 48min 8sec (2888 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 24 2021