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<p>The Defence Minister has threatened to send a journalist from the Bangkok Post to an attitude adjustment session.</p>
<p>The Thai junta has proposed to turn attitude adjustment sessions into a special course for politicians while the junta leader said that politicians who do not understand the regime should not be politicians.</p> <p>Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the junta leader and Prime Minister, on Monday, 28 March 2016, told the media at Government House that the so-called attitude adjustment sessions, coercive discussions forced upon political dissidents by the military, will become more standardised.</p>
<p>Gen Prawit Wongsuwan, Defence Minister and deputy junta leader, defended the junta’s proposal to reserve seats for military chiefs in the Senate, saying that the plan will prevent coups d’état in the future. &nbsp;</p>
<p dir="ltr"><em><strong>Update</strong>: The Criminal Court on Thursday granted 100,000 baht bail to Watana after he was charged by the military with the 2007 Computer Crime Act for criticising Gen Prawit Wongsuwan on facebook. In response to the lawsuit, Watana posted a status on his facebook profile after he was granted bail “why can’t I criticise you.” &nbsp;</em></p>
<p>Military officers have taken a Pheu Thai Party politician to an army base after he criticised Gen Prawit Wongsuwan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and deputy junta leader.</p> <p>According to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.matichon.co.th/news/55548">Matichon Online</a>, at 10 am on Wednesday, 2 March 2016, 10 military officers visited the house of Watana Muangsook, former Minister of Social Development and Human Security of the Pheu Thai Party, and took him to the 11th Military Circle on Rama V Rd., Bangkok.</p>
<p>The deputy head of the junta said that online critics of new charter could be charged under the Computer Crime Act while the Interior Minister said it is necessary to ban political parties from campaigning about the new charter.&nbsp;</p> <p>According to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.matichon.co.th/news/40597">Matichon Online</a>, Gen Prawit Wongsuwan, Minister of Interior and Deputy Prime Minister, on Tuesday, 16 February 2016, told the media that political parties are still banned from holding party meetings about the new draft constitution.</p>
By Prasit Wongtibun |
<p>As the latest corruption scandal shows, the Thai junta hasn’t rid the country of dodgy politicians; it’s simply taken their place.</p> <p>Anti-corruption has been a poster child of anti-democratic groups in Thailand since 2005.</p> <p>The People’s Alliance for Democracy (2005-2008), the Council for National Security (2006-2007), the People’s Democratic Reform Council (2013-2014), and the National Council of Peace and Order (2014–present) have all used it to drive their agenda.</p>
<p>The Thai military have summoned a Pheu Thai Party member for a talk after he criticised the military’s Royal Park corruption scandal.</p>
<p>Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry is attempting to convince other countries that those breaching the Thai lèse majesté law have committed a criminal offence not a political one. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Don Pramudwinai, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, told the media on Wednesday that the Ministry is now trying to communicate with other countries where suspects under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law, are residing, in order to extradite them back to Thailand.</p>
<p>The Thai military ordered relatives of red shirts who were killed during the April-May 2010 military crackdown on the red shirt protest to cancel a Buddhist ceremony to mourn the victims, claiming that the event could carry political connotations.</p> <p>On Thursday afternoon, military officers stormed into Wat Kerdkan Udom in Khlong Luang District of Pathum Thani Province, north of Bangkok, and forced relatives of the anti-establishment red shirts who were killed during the April-May 2010 political violence to cancel a Buddhist ceremony to mourn the deaths.</p>
<p>The Thai junta leader said the government will try to cooperate with other countries to extradite lèse majesté suspects back to Thailand to prevent them from undermining the regime from overseas. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Thai junta is trying hard to press other countries to extradite political exiles for allegedly defaming the revered Thai monarchy, saying that they should think twice about their long term relations with Thailand, after claiming that the exiles caused the biggest single day loss on the Thai stock market.</p>