If the National Council for Peace and Order wants to strictly enforce martial law and ban public gatherings of more than five people, then its choice of Pol Maj-Gen Amnuay Nimmano as the man in charge of security in Bangkok, especially around Government House, is indeed the right decision.
Pol Maj-Gen Amnuay, deputy commissioner of the Police Education Bureau, was transferred back to Bangkok after being sidelined to the country by the Yingluck Shinawatra government, seen as too closely linked to Suthep Thaugsuban of the Democrat Party.
Pol Maj-Gen Amnuay is a man who calls a spade a spade. It has been said that if he were driving a car in the left lane and suddenly a car from the opposite direction crossed into his lane he would not duck - preferring to risk a collision with the incoming car.
This no-nonsense approach quickly became apparent. As the city’s new military sheriff he decided to arrest Veera Somkwamkid, leader of the Thai Patriots Network, and seven other members of the energy policy reform network, for defying martial law, which bans public political gatherings of more than five people.
The activists were marching on Sunday from the Victory Monument towards Chatuchak park and were stopped at the entrance of Pahon Yothin Soi 2, and told their march was against the law. They split up into small groups, each less than five people, and essentially continued the march. Police made the arrests anyway and charged them with breaching martial law.
Pol Maj-Gen Amnuay Nimmano (Photo by Kitti Woraranchai)
Pol Maj-Gen Amnuay said later the activists were tricky in trying to circumvent the law by splitting up into groups of three to four people. He warned that even if protesters march from two different directions on a road, but with the same objective, they would face arrest anyway.
Under martial law there is no constitution which guarantees the right to free expression and public gathering. So all public meetings of more than five people for whatever reason - political or non-political - can be deemed a violation of the law. Violaters, he said, face up to a year in prison and a fine of 20,000 baht.
His rigid interpretation of the law regarding public gatherings is disturbing and is an invitation for trouble for the NCPO.
For example, if three members of the energy policy reform group are demonstrating in Bang Na area, while another group of two to four are marching in Chatuchak area, or they demonstrate in different provinces, will all of them be arrested for defiance of martial law?
According to Pol Maj-Gen Amnuay’s interpretation, they all would face arrest even if they demonstrate publicly at different places but for the same cause.
This very senior police officer said activists or other complainants wanting help from the new government should lodge their complaints with the Damrongtham centres that have been set up in all provinces. Their complaints would then be forwarded to Government House.
Pol Maj-Gen Amnuay may have forgotten about the notorious bureaucratic redtape here. Some complaints are urgent in nature and need to be addressed without delay. How can he be so sure that the Damrongtham centres, that are are staffed by bureaucrats, will not sit on the complaints, or treat all of them in the same way without deciding which are urgent and should get priority?
Over recent years Thais have become accustomed to the right of free expression, street protests in particular, to the extent that the rights of non-protesters are trampled on or ignored.
Then, out of the blue, a lid is closed and all public gatherings are prohibited "for the sake of peace", without even a small space for people to vent their non-political grievances. This is anything but peace.
People need a space for free expression and for public gatherings. They should not all be lumped together as ill-intended or detrimental to national security.