<p>It is a commonplace of police procedurals.&nbsp; Somewhere around page 180, the hero detective, stymied by a lack of clues, the stupidity of his superiors and his personal failings (alcoholism, troublesome family relations, unreliable car) stays awake ruminating obsessively on the case.</p>

<p>This year is the 50th anniversary of the coup that led to the deaths of an estimated 500,000-3 million, one of the worst episodes of violence in the post-World War II world. Today, few have been held responsible for the killings, which remain a rarely discussed and barely understood topic in now nominally Democratic Indonesia.</p> <p>As Thailand enters its second year under its own military dictatorship – one that shows no signs of leaving - here are some lessons and warning signs from its Southern neighbor.</p>

<p>It is reported that the policy steering committee of the National Council for Peace and Order has sent a proposal on fisheries for the approval of the Cabinet (which contains a number of NCPO members).&nbsp; The idea is to pay 228.4 million baht in compensation to 4,800 fishing boats that have been operating without a licence or with illegal fishing gear.</p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-63da8263-69ed-fa0c-4d7d-c00e4d6f5586">This column in about why Thailand’s Left (and Center) must treat the coming constitution drafting as a one-shot opportunity. If it does not, we know exactly what will happen because of the last constitution drafting process. The last draft constitution contained nothing for organized labour, nothing for pluralism and Thailand’s minorities, nothing for decentralization – in effect, nothing for a better version of democracy than the 2007 constitution.</span></p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a9ccecfb-5b7e-48d4-8aa6-ef1ab4ff502b">SUMMARY</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a9ccecfb-5b7e-48d4-8aa6-ef1ab4ff502b">- Hazing in Thai universities, known as SOTUS, every year leads to scandalous actions and even fatalities. Calls to end it are met by its strong supporters, including academics and university administrations.</span></p>

<p>A number of government offices were forced to close their doors yesterday after coordinated DDoS or ‘Distributed Denial of Service’ attacks by tour guides, travel agents, hotel owners, taxi-drivers, Grand Palace ‘it’s closed today’ touts, the Patpong ladies ping-pong team and countless others.&nbsp;</p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-561969b5-4185-6808-76ac-e76b27d29f9b">When the mainly military members of the Thai National Legislative Assembly voted on 6 September 2015 135:105 against the draft of the approximately 20th charter, there were very few commentators who spoke out against this decision. The proposed charter, after all, had been criticised by both major political parties, the Democrats and Pheu Thai, as well as by civil rights groups and the alternative media.</span></p>

<p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5658/21643596309_f201366f6c.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 269px;" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color:#ff8c00;"><em>Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-ocha at the UNGA Meeting last month.</em></span></p>

<p>People not getting jobs is becoming a regular feature of the news.</p> <p>First ultra-royalist Boworn Yasinthorn failed in his bid to become a National Human Rights Commissioner, where one assumes he would champion the right to file lèse majesté charges against anyone he disagreed with.&nbsp; And now Chitpas Kridakorn, once a Bhirombhakdi but still a Boon Rawd beer heiress, has decided to withdraw her application to join the police force.&nbsp;</p>

<p>This column is not an attempt to draw parallels between General Prayut Chan-ocha and Adolf Hitler nor to compare Thailand at present with Germany post-1933; it is an attempt to understand the similarities in how the present Thai and the historical German dictatorial models began.</p>

<p>Thai universities have just started their delayed academic year, but bang on cue, the articles pour in about what happens to new students at institutes of higher education.</p> <p>In the English reports, the preferred term is normally ‘hazing’, but take a moment to look at the Thai term – ‘<em>rab nong</em>’ – which carries none of the connotations of a potentially dangerous or embarrassing rite of passage.</p>

<p><em>Editor’s Note:&nbsp; Harrison George wishes to apologize for his temporary absence from this website.&nbsp; This was due to an illness of a medical nature and not, contrary to the scurrilous innuendos on various social media, of a psychological nature.&nbsp; Mr George’s psychiatric carers have assured Prachatai that his mental state is stable (as long as he keeps taking the meds), consistently unusual, and terminal.</em></p> <p>Oh boy!&nbsp; 3 articles about education on the same page of the Bangkok Post.&nbsp; Could educational reform finally be among us?</p>