Once again, the military has decided to clamp down on free expression, obstructing another demonstration by the Partnership for Energy Reform (PER). Eight members of the PER, led by Opas Tantithakura, a former lecturer at Walailak University in Nakhon Si Thammarat, were stopped in Surat Thani’s Don Sak district on Tuesday by local military personnel.
The marchers were fined and then taken into military custody for an "attitude adjustment" session for defying martial law orders banning public gatherings of more than five people.
This marked the third military action against the energy marchers in two weeks. On Aug 20, the southern military arrested the first group of marchers when they launched what was called the "Energy Walk", which began in Hat Yai and was stopped before reaching Bangkok, its destination.
The marchers were detained in a military barracks for four days of attitude adjustment before they were released under conditions that they must end their daily march by 5pm and refrain from making speeches along the route.
Then in Bangkok on Aug 24, seven activists, including Veera Somkwamkid of the Thai Patriots Network, were arrested by police for defying martial law as they marched from the Victory Monument to Chatuchak park to highlight energy reforms. Fortunately, the group was quickly released after they were fined.
The arrests of PER members and the military's forced cancellation of a human rights forum at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand on Tuesday were unnecessary and unjustified given the peaceful and non-provocative nature of the activities.
More importantly, as far as the PER is concerned, the military and police who enforced martial law and the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) appear to have little understanding about the network and its objectives.
To begin with, the PER is a coalition of people that not only is proposing energy reforms, but is seeking to educate the public about energy issues and create informed opinions. The PER launched the 950km march from Hat Yai to Bangkok on Aug 19 to raise awareness and disseminate information.
The energy walk, since its launch in mid-August, has not posed any real or perceived threat to national security or the NCPO. Nor will it pose a security threat or provoke public disorder. Instead, it seeks to highlight real concerns on the ground.
Besides the energy issue, the PER has also been involved in raising public awareness about other development issues it deems a serious threat to the environment and livelihoods of people in the southern region, including the land bridge, deep-sea port and power plant projects.
If these megaprojects destroy marine resources in the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, the South will not only lose important sources of livelihood, Thailand's important tourism industry will suffer.
Rather than subjecting these marchers or activists to arrests and attitude adjustments, martial law enforcers and the NCPO should adjust their own attitudes toward reform-minded people and treat them in a positive light. Their views, after all, are in line with NCPO's goal of sustainable development.
Otherwise they will be alienated and driven into the embrace of the NCPO’s real enemy.