An Analysis of Political Issues and Democracy in Thailand

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of the current political landscape in Thailand, focusing on the challenges to democracy and the impact on its citizens. It highlights key issues such as corruption, human rights abuses, and the influence of the military government. The essay discusses the results of a recent opinion survey conducted by Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, revealing that a significant portion of the Thai population considers corruption and political issues as the biggest problems in the country. It examines the 2019 elections, the role of the military-backed government, and the challenges faced by the opposition. The essay also explores human rights violations, including restrictions on freedom of expression, media censorship, and the mistreatment of pro-democracy activists. Furthermore, it addresses the issues of military detention, politically motivated violence, and the government's failure to protect human rights defenders. The essay concludes by emphasizing the negative impact of the political situation on democracy and the need for fair elections and the restoration of human rights in Thailand.

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Thai Government and Politics
2/29/2020
Student’s Name

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In every country, politics plays an important role as the related activities affect the
common public, their living, and their businesses in a direct manner. Democracy is also an
important part of national politics, which represents a form of government where people exercise
the authority of government. The essay presented hereby is developed a similar topic where the
discussion will be made on the current issues that exist in politics and the democracy of
Thailand. The issue is significant to discuss here as it is generating significant adverse results to
the population and overall economy of the country.
Staring the discussion over this topic, this is to inform you that recently an opinion survey
has been conducted by Suan Dusit Rajabhat University where most of the Thai people
considered corruption and politics as lead issues of the country that makes the economy weak.
The subjective survey has been made in 2054 people in order to know what they like or dislike
most about Thailand (bangkokpost.com, 2019). The significance of the topic can be understood
by the fact that when these people have been asked about the worst thing in Thailand, nearly
52% have provided their response as politics and nearly 26% of people believed that lack of
freedom and democracy is the worst thing about Thailand (Jangrew, 2019). For the past 7 or 8
years, people of Thailand facing issues in the use of democracy. In March 2019, elections have
been done in the country where General Prayut Chan-o-cha has reelected prime minister with the
support of military-party parliamentarians as well as appointed members of the senate. During
the latest election, political parties and candidates were barred from the contest. One-third of the
votes have been demanded in order to establish a new government. This was the reason that even
after getting more seats than the party created by the military, the opposition party lost the game
and Prayuth, Junta's leader has been elected as prime minister (Sifton, 2019).

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However, the situation seems to be even more critical in real with the high control of
Palang Pracharat, the opposition as believed and stated by Patinya Ambuel, a writer and a Thai-
American politics analyst. He further added that the Thai government is expected to very
unstable due to uncompromising and strong opposition. The other issues would also be there
with the current government that is related to taking decisions. Constitution of the Thailand
assures powers to military but also contains some clauses which demands support of lower house
majority for passing the resolution and deciding the matters specially related to nation’s budget.
Due to these provisions, the current government would require support of parliamentarians who
are not bound to follow the dikats of army.
Here the Thaksin effect is also necessary to discuss. Military backed government is likely
to faced most strong opposition from Pheu Thai, another political party of the nation under
influence of Thaksin Shinawatra. This person has become first democratically-elected prime
minister and completed his tenure on this position without any kind of intervention. He
challenged the military’s authority and adopted a people friendly political approach. Followers of
him now are likely to be in opposition of current government due to differences in approach.
Now the US government is moving to provide military assistance back to Prayut.
Policymakers in Brussels and Washington now being ready to ignore the issue of fabricated
democracy of Thailand and are planning to restore the economic and military assistance as they
are worried regarding Chinese influence in the region. The main issue in the whole scenario is
that now the appointed (non-elected) senate members are expected to serve until 2024. This is
the reason that citizens cannot change their constitution by this time as it demands consent of a
minimum of 84 members that are not possible in the current scenario as all the senates are in
support of Prayut.

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While discussing political and democracy issues, opinions of the democrat party leader,
Abhisit Vejja also need to check. He has stated that similar to any other country, Thailand also
cannot avoid the fact that citizens have the ultimate right to determine the future of the country
under a system of democracy. People of Thailand have lost their faith in the concept of
democracy. Some challenges related to democracy have been identified that are required to be
resolved. One such challenge is corruption in the country. Another political issue that put a
question mark on Thai democracy is related to human right abuses that are continued since the
said selection. Violently attacks are being in common in the country, which shows that no
democracy is left there. Washington claims that the same would support democracy in Thailand
but this claim seems to be false as the same also restoring military assistance. Under the
administration of reelected prime minister, there are serious human rights violations. The human
right of free expression has been taken back from citizens where media outlets are being
punished and closed on sharing information related to military rules. In 2018, many of the pro-
democracy activists have been charged with illegal assembly charges and sedition where they
were peacefully demanding to end restrictions from fundamental freedoms. Since 2014, nearly
92 people have faced sedition. Computer-Related Crime Act is another issue that gives power to
authorities to prosecute any citizen that post negative of government officers and their agencies.
For instance, 29 citizens have been arrested when they have shared Watana’s post on their social
media.
There are serious issues where it is expected that media and voters will not have any
chance to be involved in the genuine democratic process. Prayuth still wields power unhindered
by judicial, administrative, and legislative accountability or oversight that also includes human
right violation. Free expression seems has remain being just a dream for Thai citizens where

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media outlets have been threatened with closure and punishment on the events where they
provides any information critical to the military rule. Many of news channels and their programs
have been shut down in the due course. Only this is not a case and in addition to this, Thai
authorities have disrupted public discussions as well as academic seminars related to democracy
and human rights in Thailand. The situation has become as worst as in 2018, around 130 pro-
democracy activist have experienced illegal assembly charges in Bangkok as well as in other
provinces. In some of the cases, they have also faced sedition. Further Thailand has no law
which can criminalizes torture as demanded under UN convention against Torture. Authorities
have failed to conduct appropriate credible and serious inquiries into the matter of torture
allegations.
The situation of migrant workers, refugees, and asylum seekers are also very poor in the
Thailand. The nation is not a party of “1951 Refugee Convention” and “1967 protocol”. Since
ever the national authorities are treating asylum seekers as illegal migrants subject to deportation
and arrest. A national screening mechanism was proposed to be developed for asylum seekers
but the system has not been implemented. Government has launched a nationwide crackdown on
illegal migrants under that the government has arrested nearly 200 asylum seekers and refugees
from Pakistan, Cambodia and Veitnaam. This clearly how worst the situation might been for
these people.
Another political issue of the country is military detention where authorities (military
authorities) have the option to detain citizens for a range of reasons that too without any charges
for seven days. The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) denied sharing information
related to people who have been detained as well also rejected the allegation that the same has
mistreated detainees.

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The situation of the country is being worse as the level of politically motivated violence
is being risen day by day and no government official is ready to take accountability for the same.
It is known to everyone that in 2010, many political confrontations with the UDD have happened
where soldiers were responsible but no one has been charged with killing. Nevertheless, UDD
supporters and leaders were held liable for criminal charges. In 1932, the country became a
constitutional monarchy and from that, time only it has been one of the most troubled
democracies of South Asia as military juntas toppled the elected government (Sofuoglu, 2019).
Abuse and violence in southern border provinces have become another issue where unethical
politics have been involved. Since January 2004, several laws-of-war violations have been done
by Barisan Revolusi Nasional that involve the loss of huge money and lives. No member of
security forces has held responsible for unlawful killing and torture by the government. The true
picture is that wherein most of the cases, authorities have provided economic support to victims
and their families so that they won't speak up anything against the officials. This is the sad
political picture of Thailand where the government is not being bothered about a breach of
human rights.
Thailand has a long history of corruption and this is also one of the current political
issues in the country. Incidents related to bribery and the use of insider information are regularly
being observed. There are many reasons for political corruption such as the tradition of gifts and
non-accountability of work. In the whole political structure, corruption can be seen. As per the
belief of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jade Donavanik, who has been an advisor of the Constitution Drafting
Committee, corruption is going to be there in the coming time also. He provided reasoning for it.
According to him, current members of the administration might spend huge money to win the

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election and now are likely to be engaged in corruption to recoup some of the parts of the spent
money (thaipbsworld.com, 2019).
Even after 5 years of military rule, the Thai government failed to restore human rights.
The first term of this government, disregard human rights. How seriously the Prayuth
government takes the issue of human rights can be understood by the fact that the 40-page policy
statement of the same did not consider the topic of human rights. It has also been failed to
address the “national human right agenda”.
While discussing the current political issues and issues having an impact on democracy,
human rights defenders also need to discuss. The government pledges to protect human rights
defenders in 2018 but the same was remain unfulfilled. Thailand has been listed in 38 states
where citizens faced intimidation on human rights. The human right has been in debate for a long
time and in such a situation Thailand, the government has proved that it is not a major issue by
being failed to provide protection to defenders of the subjective rights (hrw.org, 2019). These
issues are significant as major allies of the country as well as United Nations continued to
express concern about the same. The united nation, as well as the European Union, is likely to
maintain the relationship only on the condition where Thailand would restore democracy through
fair and free elections (Roth, 2019).
To conclude this essay this is to state that the political situation in Thailand is getting
worse and impacting the democracy adversely. The true meaning of democracy has lost and
citizens are not getting their human rights. Rights related to freedom of expression, gender
equality as well as the right against torture have been breaches in the past and the situation

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continues. The re-elected prime minister and members of the senate are likely to ignore these
issues and being involved in corruption that would further affect the economy negatively.

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References
bangkokpost.com. (2019). Politics, corruption are biggest problems: Poll.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1664720/people-see-politics-corruption-
as-thailands-worst-suan-dusit-poll?
utm_source=bangkopost.com&utm_medium=article_news&utm_campaign=most_recent
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hrw.org. (2019). Thailand: New Government Disregards Rights. Retrieved From:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/24/thailand-new-government-disregards-rights
Jangrew, C. (2019). The Trouble with Thailand. Retrieved From:
https://thediplomat.com/2019/09/the-trouble-with-thailand/
Roth, K. (2019). Thailand Events of 2018. Retrieved From:
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/thailand#7d900c
Sifton, J. (2019). Thailand’s faux democracy shouldn’t be treated like a real one. Retrieved
From: https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/08/thailands-faux-democracy-shouldnt-be-
treated-real-one
Sofuoglu, M., (2019). Thai elections: a struggle between democracy and the military. Retrieved
From: https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/thai-elections-a-struggle-between-democracy-
and-the-military-25272

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thaipbsworld.com. (2019). Challenges awaiting Prayut’s government. Retrieved From:
https://www.thaipbsworld.com/challenges-awaiting-prayuts-government/