<div>The world is aghast at the fact that up to 8000 members of the Rohingya people of Myanmar have ended up adrift in leaky overcrowded boats having to fight for food and being forced to drink their own urine. They have been shipped from port to port while the governments of Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh argue over who is responsible for them and the government of Myanmar acts as if the problem is nothing to do with it. The real scandal is that almost 1 million people can be denied their right to citizenship in Myanmar and held in what are effectively prison camps under armed guard. </div>

<p>Trial lawyers, so I am told, are warned to be careful about what questions to ask witnesses.&nbsp; They are advised never to ask a question unless they are confident about what the answer will be.</p> <p>Not so journalists, so I don’t suppose we can berate the reporter who decided to ask Prime Minister and junta leader Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha if there was enough money for a referendum on the draft constitution.</p>

<p>May 2015 is a significant month for Thailand, but perhaps not for the right reasons. On May 19, it is exactly five years since the Thai military, at the order of the then government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, launched brutal crackdowns against the red-shirt protesters, who demanded him return power to the Thai voters and called for a fresh election. Abhisit was accused of taking power illegitimately; he was only able to form a minority government with the backing of the army. The crackdowns resulted in 99 protesters being killed and over 2,000 injured.</p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-8b09f24b-4b32-81cd-d736-5f4167ef23ab">The Crown Property Bureau (CPB) is one of Thailand’s most revered yet opaque financial institutions. In recent years, however, there have been moves, including by the CPB itself, to increase transparency and discussion of the CPB in the public sphere. Most recently, at a March seminar sponsored by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, Associate Professor Dr.</span></p>

<div>In May 2014 Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha stated that he wanted “to create an enabling environment that would facilitate the holding of elections” which “ will be free and fair, so that [it] can become a solid foundation for a complete Thai democracy”.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Unfortunately in practice the human rights situation in Thailand is moving in the opposite direction and every action by the military government seems to have the specific purpose of silencing dissent and eliminating any effective opposition. </div>

<p>The discovery of a remote camp containing the graves of what are thought to be the remains of human rights has sent shockwaves throughout the nation and beyond.&nbsp; The site contained 32 shallow graves but human rights remains have been found in only 26, indicating that it was expected that there would be more victims.</p>

<p>The draft constitution proposed by the Constitutional Drafting Committee has now been disclosed to all sorts of people, with the exception of the vast majority of the citizenry who will be expected to live under it.&nbsp;</p>

<div>In the draft constitution, there is no explicit mention of minorities or minority rights, making this constitution the only one in ASEAN to not have a provision for such rights. </div>

<p>A year or more ago, when the Asok-Sukhumwit junction was occupied by a PDRC reform-before-election mob, the site sported a banner supplied by the nearby campus of Srinakharinwirot University.&nbsp; They had obviously been told to put their superior education to use by explaining in English something of what the protests were about.</p> <p>Their sign said ‘Stop Corruptions!’</p> <p>One was tempted to scrawl underneath ‘And Start Learning Englishes!’</p>

<p>She is a paragon of a Thai citizen.&nbsp; She fasts after noon every <em>wan phra</em> and she knows the Pali responses in Buddhist ceremonies (but not always what they mean).&nbsp; Even more religiously than her religious observances, she wears yellow and purple on the appropriate occasions.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Prachatai recently carried a <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/4938">column by this author</a> suggesting, based on <a href="http://asiancorrespondent.com/131763/the-curious-case-of-thailands-malapportioned-party-list-system/">this column</a> by the <em>Bangkok Pundit</em> in association with Allen Hicken of <a href="www.thaidatapoints.com">www.thaidatapoints.com</a>, that over 30 mountain peoples in the North, as well as the approximately six million Khon Mueang, would be disenfranchised in the proposed MMP party list (not constituency) system to the extent that the vote of an</p>

<p>Oh what a relief.&nbsp;</p> <p>No longer do we have to fear the knock on the door from martial law officers at some ungodly hour of the night.&nbsp;</p> <p>Nor should we worry any more about the hooded journey under martial law to an anonymous military facility where we will be held without charge or trial.&nbsp;</p> <p>And we are now free from the terrible prospect of seven days’ detention under martial law while we have our attitudes forcibly adjusted without the possibility of consulting our family or friends or lawyers or even seeking support and solace from them.</p>