<p>You see, we need martial law so that we can enjoy the calm and order that has been achieved since the coup. &nbsp;(Well, as long as we ignore the south, but then everybody always ignores the south.)&nbsp; If we didn’t have martial law, who knows what mayhem and anarchy would result.</p> <p>And when the odd bit of mayhem and anarchy does occur, then we need martial law to put an end to the very thing that martial law was supposed to prevent.</p>

<p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7459/16361048977_d010a2c223.jpg" /></p> <p><em><span style="color:#ff8c00;">Panitan Watanayagorn is currently adviser to General Prawit Wongsuwan, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister.</span></em></p>

<div><span id="E30" qowt-eid="E30">Note: </span><span id="E31" qowt-eid="E31">This piece was a response to the </span><a href="http://prachatai.org/english/node/4773" id="E32" qowt-divtype="qowt-field-hyperlink" qowt-eid="E32" target="_blank"><span id="E33" qowt-eid="E33">10 February release</span></a><span id="E34" qowt-eid="E34"> and dismissal of charges against </span><span id="E36" qowt-eid="E36">Jaruwan</span><span id="E38" qowt-eid="E38">, Anon, and Chat</span><span id="E39" qowt-eid="E39">, three people accused of creating a Facebook book page with </span><span id="E41" qowt-eid="E41">l </span></div>

<p>Translator’s Note: The fable below was originally published in Thai on Prachatai in four parts in <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/journal/2014/10/55974">October</a>, <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/journal/2014/12/56904">December</a>, <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/journal/2015/01/57391">January</a>, and <a href="http://prachatai.org/journal/2015/02/57849">February</a>.</p>

<p>It is easy to become dispirited in these dark days.</p> <p>So let’s have a joke or two.</p> <p>*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; *&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Once seated in a fairly upmarket restaurant, the customer looked about him and noticed that all the waiters appeared to be carrying a spoon in the top pocket of their jackets.&nbsp; When his waiter came to take his drinks order, he questioned him about this.&nbsp;</p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-0b43c8fe-6c7c-bb72-37a9-df8cfe65773c">It was the artist Tran Luong and a red scarf. It does not take more to make the Vietnamese police raid the German cultural center in Hanoi. An interrupted installation in a space that is actually protected by diplomacy. I saw Tran Luong’s performance in full, uninterrupted, in Berlin, far away from the country he was from my interpretation commenting on by throwing a red scarf around, playing cheerfully with until the scarf tied his hands behind the back and he was unable to move.</span></p>

<p>In contemporary history, Thailand has experienced more military coups than any other country. But the one that took place in September 2006 when the Thai military staged a coup d'état against the elected government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has divided people into two main groups; the yellow and red. Now in 2015, the country is under military rule again.</p>

<p>The selective NCPO ban on demonstrations, rallies, and any other form of public assembly is beginning to cause concern following recent disturbances of just the kind that martial law was supposed to prevent.</p>

<p><em>Translator’s Note</em>: The fable below was <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/journal/2015/01/57391">originally published in Thai</a> on Prachatai on 14 January 2015. The first part was published in October, in Thai <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/journal/2014/10/55974">here</a> and in English <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/4433">here</a> on Prachatai.</p>

<p><strong>Executive Summanry</strong></p>

<p>In a move that caught observers completely unaware, the National Anti-Corruption Commission has initiated moves to impeach the National Legislative Assembly.</p> <p>Fresh from its victory in impeaching former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the NACC seems intent on purging Thai politics of all forms of corruption.&nbsp; And in their way of thinking, voting constitutes a form of corruption.&nbsp;</p>

<p>OK, next item on the agenda, the Torture and Enforced Disappearance Prevention and Suppression Bill, for approval before it goes to the Council of State and the NLA. &nbsp;I don’t know if anyone’s had chance to go through …</p> <p>Sorry for interrupting, but did you say ‘prevention’?</p> <p>Er, yes, that’s what it says.&nbsp; Prevention and suppression.</p> <p>What on earth for?&nbsp; I mean, I have no objection to a law regulating torture, you know, who can do it, what methods are OK, etc, etc, but are you seriously talking about banning it?</p> <p>Yes, that’s what it seems to say.</p>