Emergency rule casts long shadow
SPECIAL REPORT: Five months on, whether or not the decree is really curbing violence is being hotly debated
- Published: 7/09/2010 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: News
The long shadow cast by the emergency decree has hung over Thai society for five months since its invocation on April 7, but still the debate rages whether it truly helps curb violence or is itself another problem to be negotiated.
The decree was invoked by the Abhisit Vejjajiva government to maintain peace and order as the protests in Bangkok by the anti-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) started to gain momentum.
The area covered by the decree was initially confined to Bangkok and its immediate neighbouring provinces but, as the protests in the city gained further support from the red shirts' rural bases, it was extended. Twenty-four provinces were covered by the decree at its peak before it began to be gradually wound back to just the seven, including Bangkok, now included in its net.
Most people can go about their lives unaffected by the decree, but for those who have been charged or are being held in detention for violating the emergency, the law has been an unprecedented intrusion on their right to freedom of expression and movement.
The decree gives the state sweeping authority to ban public gatherings of more than five people which could be determined as a potential cause of unrest. It also allows restrictions on news media and other forms of communications which might contain content seen as provocative, and it restricts the use of public streets or vehicles and allows for certain areas to be declared off-limits.
It is not clear how many people have been held for violating the emergency decree. But the Justice Ministry, in June, reported that about 100 suspects had been detained.
Many pro-red shirt activists were also taken into custody for holding activities which paid tribute to those who joined the protests. They were later released.
Three high school students carrying placards reading "I saw dead people at Ratchaprasong" were arrested in July in Chiang Rai, which was then still under the decree, for illegal assembly.
Human rights advocates and university lecturers warn that any further extension of the decree will do more harm than good to the country.
They say the government must revoke the decree in all provinces where it remains in effect as soon as possible. They also question whether the government continues to impose it simply as a tool to suppress its opponents.
Angkhana Neelaphaijit, chair of the Working Group on Justice and Peace, said the decree was exacerbating the discord between the authorities and the UDD supporters.
"If the decree's enforcement is really effective, the two explosions would not have happened in Bangkok," said Ms Angkhana, referring to the launch of a grenade which landed in the grounds of the NBT television station on the morning of Aug 31 and a bomb blast in front of the King Power Complex five days earlier.
Ms Angkhana said the decree had violated the basic human rights of those arrested under the security law.
The law allows security forces to arrest suspects and hold them without charge for 30 days. They will be freed only if there is not enough evidence to support the laying of charges.
Emergency rule has long been in effect in the southern provinces where an insurgency is under way. There, many of those arrested have disappeared after release from detention.
Ms Angkhana said the government needed to look into the problem of forced disappearances of emergency decree suspects.
Wilaiwan Sae-tia, leader of the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee, said the decree had limited the freedom of expression and right of assembly of social activists over the past five months.
"We can't carry out any social activities and we don't even have the chance to express our opinions or [have the right to] demand that the government solves our problems," she said.
The criminal law was sufficient to keep the present situation under control, Ms Wilaiwan said.
"Maintaining the emergency law doesn't help create a conciliatory atmosphere," she said.
Somchai Preechasilpakul, a law lecturer at Chiang Mai University, said the emergency decree was aimed more at getting rid of the government's opponents than it was at keeping the peace.
Mr Somchai said many community radio stations in Chiang Mai had been shut down because they were critical of the government. Red shirt supporters have also been reportedly arrested and have since disappeared.
"If the government really wants to see the country become more democratic and peaceful, it must accept differences of opinion," he said.
The deputy secretary-general to the prime minister, Panitan Wattanayagorn, said the government needed to evaluate the situation very carefully before lifting the emergency decree in the remaining seven provinces.
It would have to look at the impact the emergency was having on tourism and investment.
Mr Panitan said he could not say when the decree would be lifted or if the government would extend it.
The decree is issued for a period of three months at a time. It next comes up for review on Oct 10.
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