WHEN its tanks rolled into Bangkok in 2014—ousting an elected government that had been paralysed by protests—Thailand’s ruling junta promised that democracy would be back in a jiffy. Three years on, there is still no sign of the promised polls. Instead, in mid-March, the generals treated diplomats and foreign journalists to a briefing on their “20-Year National Strategy”, a programme which, they insist, all future governments will be legally obliged to follow. It is only the latest indication that the men in uniform are here to stay.
The junta’s right to impose its master plan on Thailand is enshrined in its new constitution, which it rammed though in a referendum last year after banning campaigners from criticising the text. That document allows for fresh elections, which, after multiple postponements, are now expected in 2018. But it also empowers a junta-stacked senate and several unusual committees to baby-sit incoming governments—which includes giving these bodies the right to intervene should elected politicians choose to pursue their own policies instead of sticking to the generals’ preordained plan.
Spin doctors had previously stated, to...Continue reading
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