“I’LL never win, no matter how reasonable I am,” go the words of “Dictator Girl”, a song by a Thai pop band called Tattoo Colour. Their music video depicts a hapless man following the 44 rules of a tyrannical woman in a not-so-subtle allusion to life under Thailand’s military junta. “Even if I know, I’ll say I don’t. I don’t have any opinions,” the cringing crooners add.
While the song may inspire laughter, Section 44 of the country’s interim constitution, which has been in effect since July 2014, does not. It gives the junta and Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former general who serves as Thailand’s prime minister, power to stop and suppress “any act which undermines public peace and order or national security, the monarchy, national economics or administration of state affairs”. Having been one of South-East Asia’s freest countries two decades ago, Thailand is now among the region’s most repressive.
Since its introduction, Section 44 has been invoked...Continue reading
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