NCPO taking dangerous short-cuts

NCPO taking dangerous short-cuts

Death to rapists, killers and other high-profile criminals. Go home American ambassador. Lock up people who disagree with the military regime.

The rise of these extreme right-wing sentiments and bigotry is a byproduct of the May 22 coup, and it's poised to be a deadly legacy.

The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) will likely proclaim during its two-year anniversary later this week that one of its major achievements has been to restore stability to the country that was rocked by political conflicts for years.

What the junta would never mention, however, is at what price this surface calmness has been reached.

Atiya Achakulwisut is Contributing Editor, Bangkok Post.

That basic human rights and freedom have been heavily suppressed to promote a perception of peace and oligarchy made to become the order of the day are problematic in themselves. The restriction on public opinions and participation as policies come under the monopoly of a handful of people is especially worrisome when judged against the junta's promise to reform the country.

What is even more worrying, however, is the ideology driving the establishment of the new "peace and order", the right-wing conservatism and narrow-minded nationalism that the military regime has deployed to pave its way to power.

What the NCPO will never mention -- maybe it does not even realise it -- is the "peace" that we are seeing now has been built on hatred, fear and intolerance.

By showing that conflicts are best settled through force and short-cuts as in the May 22 coup and consequent uses of Section 44 to bypass due legal processes, the military regime has no doubt gained points among people who prefer authoritarianism.

Accountability and the rule of law have been the junta's shortcomings, however. To refer to them now as the junta implements its roadmap is hypocritical.

By ignoring international norms and standards, especially when it comes to human rights and freedom of expression, and pandering to nationalistic sentiment at home, the junta has fostered a rebirth of bigotry, the intense and blatant display of racial or class-based superiority, that should have no place in our increasingly diversified society.

By equating the security of the state to only security of the NCPO, the regime has turned people who simply disagree with the coup and the military's right-wing oppression into national security threats or instigators. When patriotism is defined so narrowly, as only what the military regime stands for, many people can end up being labelled unpatriotic and prosecuted as enemies of the state when all they probably did was disagree with the government.

The regime's monopolising of patriotism will only drive people further apart, filling each side with hatred toward the other, instead of reconciling them as has been its goal.

The ongoing campaign to expel United States Ambassador Glyn Davies from Thailand is the culmination of the regime's policy of narrow-mindedness.

The move started over the weekend when former House Speaker Arthit Ourairat posted on his Facebook that Thailand should declare Mr Davies persona non grata and ask the US to recall him.

The rector's message followed a press briefing last Thursday in which Mr Davies reiterated the US concern over recent arrests of many netizens over social media postings, including those of Patnaree Chankij who was charged with lese majeste in connection with private Facebook messages.

Mr Arthit's "expel-the-ambassador" campaign was echoed by deputy Democrat spokesperson Mallika Boonmeetrakool who posted a photo of Mr Davies with the words: "Get Out". Former senator and supporter of the ultraconservative People's Alliance for Democracy Chirmsak Pinthong also jumped on the bandwagon and sharply rebuked Mr Davies for pursuing a "rude and naive" form of diplomacy with Thailand.

The deputy spokesperson of the Democrat Party, Mallika "Molly" Boonmeetradkool Mahasook posted this image of US Ambassador Glyn T Davies last Saturday after Mr Davies reiterated his government's concern over recent arrests in political cases. She had nearly 5,000 "likes" in three days. (FB/Mallikaboonmeetrakoo)

One thing about far-right politics -- as displayed in the mounting calls for criminals in high-profile cases to be quickly prosecuted or the urge to banish people from the country who value different ideologies whether they are Thai students or foreign ambassadors -- is a tendency to oversimplify issues as it seeks instant emotional gratification for those who pursue and support tradition.

What the regime may have underestimated is that far-right beliefs come in a package. The other effects, the seeds of fear, intolerance and fanaticism that the tenet has sowed into people's minds, will sprout into extremities and hatred that could pit people against one another more violently than any political conflict.

Atiya Achakulwisut

Columnist for the Bangkok Post

Atiya Achakulwisut is a columnist for the Bangkok Post.

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