<p>Sorry, but are we living under a military dictatorship or not?</p> <p>This morning’s paper has a lead that says the military are about to throw Deputy Defence Minister, former Army Commander-in-Chief and chairman of the Rajabhakti Park Foundation General Udomdej Sitabutr to the anti-corruption wolves (or at least those of them who are less selective in their outrage).&nbsp;</p>

<div><em>Note: Prachatai journalist Mutita Chuachang on Tuesday, 1 December 2015, was awarded the 2015 AFP Kate Webb prize for Asian journalists for her “powerful and persistent” reporting of cases under the lèse majesté law. Mutita, 33, received a certificate and 3,000 euros in a ceremony held at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT). Mutita joined Prachatai when the news agency was founded almost 11 years ago. </em></div>

<p><em>Note: Abu Hafez Al-Hakim is a vocal member of MARA Patani, a peace dialogue panel comprising several Muslim Malay groups which struggle for the right to self determination of people in Thailand's restive Deep South, so-called Patani. This article reflects his personal view, not the official view of MARA Patani. Watch Abu Hafez interview with Prachatai <a href="http://prachatai.org/english/node/5358">here</a>.&nbsp;</em></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><em><img alt="" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/263/19892270940_fc10e3f53a_c.jpg" style="height: 334px; width: 500px;" /></em></p>

<p dir="ltr"><em><span id="docs-internal-guid-0952d7e3-58a6-8995-7670-4a414fce838f">Note: Attachak Sattayanurak is one of the six university lecturers charged </span>with violating National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Order No. 3/2015, which bans political gatherings of five or more persons,&nbsp;after holding a press conference and releasing a statement entitled <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/5635">“The University is Not a Military Base”</a> in Chiang Mai on 31 October 2015.</em></p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-fd4a15c0-426a-d4c5-ff07-5b0819f5f938">The </span>Bangkok Post’s front page lead story from 24 November, 2015, <a href="http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/774077">highlighted a speech</a> given the previous day by General Prem Tinsulanonda, Thailand’s elder statesman, President of the Privy Council, and most influential non-royal Thai.</p>

<p>On November 16, HRH Princess Sirindhorn visited the 2015 CRMA Exhibition at the spiritual heart of the Thai military - Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy. For those who have never been to the academy, it was founded in <a href="tel:1887" target="_blank" value="+661887">1887</a> in Nakhon Nayok in the Fifth Reign and is a living testimony to HRH King Chulalongkorn the Great (Rama V), with various busts and statues of him dotted around the base.</p>

<p>The Thai Health Promotion Foundation has fallen foul of the anti-corruption vigilantes, who claim that the Foundation has been supporting all sorts of activities that are beyond its mandate, wilfully and wantonly squandering the taxpayers’ hard-earned money.</p> <p>Well, no.</p>

<p>Thai PBS recently carried <a href="http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/thailand-stands-at-82nd-place-in-global-creative-ranking">a news story</a> reporting on the <a href="http://martinprosperity.org/content/the-global-creativity-index-2015/">Global Creativity Index</a>, which seems to have been around since <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=4&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0CCwQFjADahUKEwjjk_7o1frIAhWhLqYKHddLAS4&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.citylab.com%2Fwork%2F2011%2F10%2Fglobal-creativity-index%2F229%2F&amp;usg=AFQjCNGo1WXgiUZ85WK6xDfZaH</p> </a></p>

<p>Acharn Thitinan ‘the Quotemeister’ Pongsudhirak produces a Bangkok Post op-ed with an exemplary regularity that makes a Friday read of the page most worthwhile (though maybe not as entertaining as on a Saturday).&nbsp; His recent offering on Thai trade policy and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), however, was a sad disappointment.</p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-25fdae3d-c60f-0d9f-db21-48c1554537b9">Paternalism is highly identified with the Thai system of rule, to the extent that the Sukothai-era King Ramkhamhaeng, a playable character in the massively popular game </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_5">Civilization 5</a>, possesses the unique ability of "Father Governs Children", which increases the level of loyalty to the ruler. The concept of paternalism in Buddhism dates back to the Indian Emperor Ashoka the Great (r. c238-c.262 BCE).</p>

<div>Note: “Rungsila” is the pen name of Siraphop, a construction contractor who is around fifty years old. Prior to the 22 May 2014 coup, he was well-known online as a writer of political poems and articles. Shortly after the coup, his name was among those summoned to report to the Army Club but he declined to report himself. On 25 June 2014, he was arrested by soldiers in Kalasin province and then detained for 7 days under the provisions of martial law then in force. </div>

<p>Authoritarianism as a form of government has been analyzed in some depth by the political scientist Juan Linz, and the relevant <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarianism">Wikipedia page</a> provides four qualities of such governments according to Linz:</p> <p>(1) "limited, not responsible, political pluralism"; that is, constraints on political institutions and groups (such as legislatures, political parties and interest groups),</p>