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| Prayut Chan-o-cha (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons) |
By Prashanth Parameswaran
The ruling junta just replaced martial law with something worse.
On Wednesday, Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej approved a request from the country’s ruling junta to lift martial law, which had been put in place indefinitely shortly before the coup last May.
But martial law might have just been replaced with something worse. Article 44 of the junta-drafted interim constitution – dubbed ‘The Dictator Law’ by some – gives the Thai military similar powers to those they have during martial law while also expanding the authority of junta leader and prime minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha considerably.
Under Article 44, military officers can still detain people for seven days without formal charges, and restrictions on public gatherings and the media remain. Unlike martial law, which puts the military in charge, Article 44 would centralize authority around Prayuth himself. It would grant him absolute power to give any order deemed necessary for the benefit of reform, peace and security, and absolve him of any legal responsibility. This would effectively allow him to bypass other branches of government and effectively take absolute control.
Read the full story at The Diplomat