Thai army keeps a tight rein as life returns to normal

The plain-clothes police and soldiers were polite but firm as they led the middle-aged woman away. Her offence? Wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "Respect my vote".

One month after the Thai army seized power in a coup d'etat, citing potentially severe conflict after more than six months of deepening political gridlock, it has the country sewn up tight.

The flash mob protests and heavy troop deployments seen in the first fortnight after the coup have vanished. Protests since then have been occasional and low-key - and arrests swift. With the nationwide curfew imposed on May 22 lifted this month, life has returned to normal and tourism is showing signs of recovering after a sharp fall.

More than 500 people including academics and journalists have been summoned to report to the army's National Council for Peace and Order. It is not known how many have been detained and released.

The Constitution remains suspended and martial law allows detention without charge for up to seven days.

The army stressed that detention conditions are comfortable though the detainees are isolated. "We want to adjust their thinking," an army spokesman, Colonel Werachon Sukondhapatipak, has said.

There have so far been no systematic violations of human rights such as torture or extrajudicial killings, according to Mr Sam Zarifi, Bangkok- based Asia-Pacific regional director of the International Commission of Jurists.

"The military is trying very hard to stay within the bounds of martial law itself," he said.

However, he added: "Restrictions on freedom of expression have included warnings to journalists and the media, and threats to prosecute people for peaceful speech. This is the most serious concern."

The military junta has extended control on a wide front, from Bangkok's notorious traffic to the boardrooms of big state corporations. It is weeding out people in key positions it considers dissenters.

It has pledged a social order campaign which includes cracking down on illegal loggers and other criminal mafia. And it has held street parties and given out free tickets to a just-released patriotic historical epic film, in a drive to "bring back happiness". It has also assured the international investor community that Thailand remains in business.

Pending investment projects stalled by six months of political gridlock are being cleared.

A panel is reviewing 2.4 trillion baht (S$92.3 billion) worth of big infrastructure projects. Some, such as a dual track railway, will go ahead.

An interim Constitution is being drafted and will lead to an appointed interim government by August, junta supremo Prayuth Chan-ocha has said.

General Prayuth is widely expected to be installed as prime minister. An election is about 18 months away, according to the general's timeline for a return to democracy. But whether this timeline is a certainty remains an open question.

"This road map is only a sign that they want to appease the international community, that's all," said Professor of South-east Asian history Thongchai Winichakul from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in the US.

Analysts do not see the possibility of any challenge to Gen Prayuth's control, at least for now. But months down the line, it would be "hard for him to keep things under the lid", Prof Thongchai cautioned.

Meanwhile, the nation remains deeply divided. While many Thais are happy the army has restored order before a violent conflict erupts, there is also ample evidence of resentment among millions of Thais in the north and north-east who supported the ousted government.

While opposition inside the country has been stifled, a pro-democracy organisation in exile is set to be announced tomorrow. The idea of a government in exile has been shelved, said Mr Jakrapob Penkair, a former Cabinet minister and "red shirt" leader who went into exile in 2009. The new group would be called the Organisation of Free Thais for Human Rights and Democracy (FD-TH), he said on the phone from an undisclosed location.

But analysts believe that former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose political network is being dismantled by the army, is in no position to play any cards.

Mr Jakrapob said Thaksin "will stay away from the organisation because he has personal concerns about the safety of his family in Thailand".

At the temple in Bangkok where the woman was taken away yesterday after a prayer meeting to commemorate six people killed by unknown army troops in political violence in May 2010, Mr Thanawut Wichaidit, a former spokesman for the red-shirt movement, told The Straits Times: "Everybody is quiet, just watching.

"We, red shirts, want politics in Thailand to be peaceful and orderly, but in order to be peaceful, there must be justice, the country has to be democratic for everyone."

This article was first published on June 23, 2014.
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