Connect with us

AFP

Thai army chief says no coup as election looms

Thailand’s army chief assured that there would be no coup ahead of the upcoming election, despite the military’s history of seizing power.

The opposition-led by Pheu Thai is expected to gain significant support, but the final outcome depends on the composition of the elected MPs and senate, which favors army-linked parties. The election has been marked by pro-democracy protests and concerns over the monarchy’s power.

Published

1 year ago

on

BANGKOK, THAILAND — Thailand’s army chief has pledged not to stage a coup, as political parties geared up for final campaign rallies on Friday ahead of an election that could see the military-backed government voted out.

General Narongpan Jitkaewthae made the pledge despite the army seizing power a dozen times in Thailand in the past century, most recently in 2014.

Voters are predicted to deliver a heavy defeat to the government of former army chief and coup leader Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, fuelling fears the military may actually seek to cling on to power.

But Narongpan told reporters on Thursday there would be no return to military rule, saying that the coups of the past were “very negative”.

“There shouldn’t be (a coup) any more. For me, this word should be deleted from the dictionary,” he said.

Sunday’s election is a clash between the opposition led by Pheu Thai, fronted by the 36-year-old daughter of ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, and the older conservative royalist-military establishment embodied by Prayut.

Pheu Thai is well ahead in the polls, but winning most seats in the lower house is no guarantee of taking power.

The prime minister will be chosen by the 500 elected MPs and 250-strong senate — whose members were appointed by Prayut’s junta, stacking the deck in favour of army-linked parties.

Pheu Thai is urging supporters to deliver a landslide victory to stop the military from keeping them out of power, as happened in 2019 when Prayut rode senate support to become prime minister at the head of a complex multi-party coalition.

Thousands of supporters are expected to turn out at noisy and colourful final rallies for the main parties later on Friday.

It is the final big push in the first election since pro-democracy protests nearly three years ago rocked the kingdom with unprecedented calls for reforms to the powers of ultra-wealthy King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

Pheu Thai’s main opposition rival, the Move Forward Party, appears to have harnessed much of the energy of the youth-led protest movement, which voiced deep disaffection with the old political system.

Prayut, 69, has billed himself as the man with the experience needed to steer the country through turbulent times.

But he has overseen economic stagnation and a massive spike in the use of draconian royal defamation laws.

More than 200 people have been charged with insulting the monarchy in the wake of the 2020 protests.

Rights groups accuse Prayut’s military-backed government of abusing the laws to crack down on dissent.

‘Very pessimistic’

Thailand over the last two decades has been locked in a cycle of street protests, coups and court orders dissolving political parties.

An unclear or disputed election result could lead to a fresh round of demonstrations and instability, further hampering the tourism-dependent country’s already sluggish recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Shinawatra family’s bitter tussle with the royalist-military establishment has been at the centre of Thailand’s rolling political drama.

Thaksin was removed in a 2006 coup, and his sister Yingluck Shinawatra by Prayut’s putsch in 2014, and some analysts are sceptical that the military will release its grip on power now.

“I’m a realist. So, I’m very pessimistic about the electoral result being respected by the elite,” Napisa Waitoolkiat, a political analyst at Naresuen University, told AFP.

“If we had a coup d’etat, I’m not surprised… Thailand cannot get out of this culture of coups.”

— AFP

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment
Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

AFP

Singapore hangs 14th drug convict since last year

Singapore executed Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted of drug trafficking, amid a resumption of executions in 2022. Another woman prisoner, Saridewi Djamani, faces execution.

Amnesty International urged Singapore to halt the executions, questioning the deterrent effect of the death penalty.

Published

1 year ago

on

26 July 2023

By

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore on Wednesday hanged a local man convicted of drug trafficking, officials said, two days before the scheduled execution of the first woman prisoner in the city-state in nearly 20 years.

Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted and sentenced to death in 2017 for trafficking “not less than 49.98 grams” (1.76 ounces) of heroin, was executed at Changi Prison, the Central Narcotics Bureau said in a statement.

The 57-year-old was the 14th convict sent to the gallows since the government resumed executions in March 2022 after a two-year pause during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hussain’s previous appeals against his conviction and sentence had been dismissed, and a petition for presidential clemency was also denied.

A woman drug convict, 45-year-old Saridewi Djamani, is scheduled to be hanged on Friday, according to the local rights group Transformative Justice Collective (TJC).

She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, Djamani would be the first woman executed in Singapore since 2004, when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, according to TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws — trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis or over 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the executions, saying there was no evidence the death penalty acted as a deterrent to crime.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

Singapore, however, insists that the death penalty has helped make it one of Asia’s safest countries.

Among those hanged since last year was Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, whose execution sparked a global outcry, including from the United Nations and British tycoon Richard Branson, because he was deemed to have a mental disability.

— AFP

Continue Reading

AFP

Singapore to execute first woman in nearly 20 years: rights groups

Singapore set to execute two drug convicts, including first woman in 20 years, despite rights groups’ calls to stop.

Published

1 year ago

on

25 July 2023

By

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore is set to hang two drug convicts this week, including the first woman to be sent to the gallows in nearly 20 years, rights groups said Tuesday, while urging the executions be halted.

Local rights organisation Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) said a 56-year-old man convicted of trafficking 50 grams (1.76 ounces) of heroin is scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday at the Southeast Asian city-state’s Changi Prison.

A 45-year-old woman convict who TJC identified as Saridewi Djamani is also set to be sent to the gallows on Friday. She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, she would be the first woman to be executed in Singapore since 2004 when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, said TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

TJC said the two prisoners are Singaporeans and their families have received notices setting the dates of their executions.

Prison officials have not answered emailed questions from AFP seeking confirmation.

Singapore imposes the death penalty for certain crimes, including murder and some forms of kidnapping.

It also has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws: trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis and 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

At least 13 people have been hanged so far since the government resumed executions following a two-year hiatus in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the impending executions.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty’s death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

“There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs.

“As countries around the world do away with the death penalty and embrace drug policy reform, Singapore’s authorities are doing neither,” Sangiorgio added.

Singapore insists that the death penalty is an effective crime deterrent.

— AFP

Continue Reading

Trending