The last public appearance of anti-coup student Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, widely known as Pai Dao Din, was in 2017 when he was sentenced for lese majeste, added to his sentence for protesting against the then-draft constitution.
The Khon Kaen University law student was convicted on a lese majeste charge that landed him behind bars for two and a half years. His fellow pro-democracy advocates have not worked with him since, and any political activities and campaigns they have mounted came under close watch by the military.
InquiryLines, published bi-weekly on Mondays is a Bangkok Post column to present in-depth details of a range of issues from politics and social interest to eye-catching everyday lives.
The group insists that while the authorities may have stopped Jatupat from political engagement, they could not do the same with the student-run Dao Din movement he is affiliated to. Dao Din is moving ahead with their activities with or without Jatupat although the members have adopted a "more cautious move," said the group's key member Krit Saengsurin.
The group remains firmly opposed to the coup, but it will spend more time helping residents beset by a myriad of grievances, from environmental pollution to welfare rights deprivation, to fight for their causes.
Army chief Chalermchai Sitthisad, secretary-general of the National Council for Peace and Order, is reportedly an keeping eye on Dao Din and other pro-democracy groups after about 500 people gathered at the Democracy Monument on Ratchadamnoen Avenue on Feb 10 to call on Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to keep his promise to hold a general election, which has now been deferred from November this year to February next year at the latest.
The NCPO, which staged a coup against the Pheu Thai Party-led administration to end the tense political standoff in 2014, has imposed a ban on political gatherings to avoid the prospect of public unrest from protracted political disputes.
However, several postponements of the election date have left pro-democracy groups disenchanted and provided political ammunition for attacks on the NCPO.
Dao Din was among the first groups which voiced opposition to the regime's undemocratic rise to power. Six months after the coup, Gen Prayut was confronted by a protest by five Dao Din members during his speech at the Khon Kaen provincial hall. It was the first protest Gen Prayut faced since assuming the premiership.
The protesters flashed a three-fingered salute in a gesture of defiance against the regime. They copied it from the Hollywood film, The Hunger Games, and the gesture symbolises liberty, equality and fraternity they were campaigning for. Jatupat was among the protesters in black T-shirts printed with the message, "No to the coup d'etat."
In 2015, Jatupat led another anti-coup protest which led to his and other protesters' detention on charges of defying the NCPO's order and causing sedition prohibited under Section 116 of the Criminal Code. They were later released on bail. It was in the following year that Jatupat saw his political activism grind to a halt. He and his friends were arrested in Chaiyaphum while they were disseminating pamphlets raising doubts over the merit of the draft charter which was passed in a referendum on Aug 7, 2016.
Krit Saengsurin, a core leader of the Dao Din grassroots advocacy group, is pushing on with its work despite the imprisonment of co-leader Jatupat 'Pai' Boonpattararaksa. (Photo by Patipat Janthong)
The authorities accused them of breaking the referendum law, which was enacted to prevent attempts to distort the charter content and cause public misunderstanding. The arrests were made ahead of the Aug 7, 2016 referendum.
In December that year, Jatupat faced another charge. The military accused Jatupat of committing a lese majeste offence and breaking the Computer Crimes Act for sharing a controversial news article by the British Broadcasting Corporation on his Facebook page.
The Khon Kaen Provincial Court sentenced him to five years in jail, but the term was halved due to his confession. Jatupat is now close to serving out the prison term. "I felt bad, discouraged and sometimes angry when I saw my friends end up in jail," Mr Krit said, added he believed the Jatupat prosecution was meant to weaken Dao Din as a movement.
Mr Krit said the legal action will never break Dao Din's strength although he acknowledged the need for the movement to adjust its campaign activities to better suit the current political condition.
According to a military source, Gen Chalermchai has been advised to consider political sensitivity when dealing with activists who are mostly students. Mr Krit conceded some of Dao Din's activities may need to be toned down in exchange for making members feel secure in driving their pro-democracy campaign.
The campaign will focus on forging a closer relationship with villagers who need legal advice on their problems, he said. This will allow him and friends to share their expertise with people as most Dao Din members are law students in universities.
Mr Krit himself is a fourth year law student of Khon Kaen University. Dao Din had originally set out to assist the grassroot people with legal problems and protect their rights. "Our main job was originally not politics," Mr Krit said. "It's the community service we always work for."
In 2013, Dao Din members helped villagers in Loei protest against a controversial goal mine after the mining operation threatened residents' health and the environment. The group had worked to a point where it received a warning from soldiers to avoid conflict.
Mr Krit insisted that despite the many obstacles, his group will press on with its campaign for the rights of people.
It is working on a plan to help empower residents by giving them guidance on how they can improve security in their farming jobs. Once the villagers can stand on their own feet, the group's fight for justice will be easier, he said.
Mr Krit said Dao Din's work on people's rights will never go out of fashion though many students who joined the group usually come and go. The group has 10-20 active members.
They are bound by the group's ideology. Some members cannot run the group's activities on a regular basis as they have to study, Mr Krit said, admitting that today's students tend to think of university as a ticket to high-paying careers.
Support from students is vital for the group which must stay true to its activist ideology. "This is a true identity of Dao Din, which goes hand in hand with its political stance made clear by Jatupat," he said.