<div> <div> <div>‘The winners write history,’ said many Thai netizens last week in criticisms of a Thai history textbook which praises the military government for establishing “true democracy” in Thailand.</div> <div> </div> <div>“Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha as Prime Minister has carried out a policy of reforming the country, reforming politics to be truly a democracy, eliminating corruption and using moral principles to lead the country to be truly a democracy.”</div> <div> </div> <div>This is a direct quote from page 195 of “History of the Thai Nation,” a history textbook published by the Mini </div></div></div>

<p dir="ltr">Following the controversial<a href="http://prachatai.org/english/node/4315">&nbsp;12 nationalistic Thai values</a>&nbsp;introduced in the aftermath of the 2014 coup d’état and the construction of a theme park with grandiose monuments of ancient kings, the Thai junta has now published its latest version of Thai history, which many historians view as an attempt to legitimize military rule via a narrow nationalistic history.</p> <p></p>

<div>Two months after the coup d’état in May, the Thai junta vowed to reform the Thai education system, which is one of the worst in the region. But instead of paying attention to structural problems, the junta’s policy for the Ministry of Education aims to focus on indefinable ‘merit’ and more nationalistic history classes. </div>