By Thai Newsroom Reporters
YOUNG GENERATIONS OF pro-democracy people will likely return to street protests in a sustained move for monarchical reform now that the Constitutional Court has delivered a ruling against it, said a noted academic yesterday (Nov. 11).
Chulalongkorn University political scientist Puangthong Pawakapan said a large number of students and other young generations will remain undaunted by the Constitutional Court’s ruling that massive calls for monarchical reform may be designed to ”undermine democratic rule with the Monarch as head of state” and that such moves must no longer be carried out.
The 10 demands in relation to monarchical reform raised by the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration and ruled by the Constitutional Court that they were designed to ”undermine democratic rule with the Monarch as head of state” refer to the calls, among others, for the abolition of the lese majeste law, better known as Criminal Code Section 112, which has been allegedly abused against the government’s political opponents, critics or those who may simply have opposing views and the calls for the Monarch to refuse to retroactively endorse a military coup which may put an end to an elected government as had been the case of the 2014 coup staged by then-army chief, now-premier Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Puangthong said the young generations will likely take to the streets again though the authorities may effortlessly take for granted that a future quelling on those street protesters can be justified by the controversial court ruling.
Pro-monarchical reform activism will resume on the streets of Bangkok or elsewhere in the country sooner or later in spite of the anti-reform verdict handed out by the Constitutional Court, the judges of which were appointed by the Prayut-led military junta.
The possible scenario in which pro-reform protesters and the authorities might engage in confrontations and violence could intensify so long as the question has not been resolved peacefully, according to the academic.
The Chulalongkorn academic commented that Move Forward Party MPs and other legislators might not be very active about the issue in parliament for fear that the Constitutional Court’s unfavourable ruling could be applied at anytime to stop them from putting it forward, thus prompting the young generations, especially those who have already signed a public petition for amendment to Section 112, to take to the streets in a sustained move for it.
Move Forward Party, a doppelganger of a dissolved Future Forward Party, is being faced with a lawsuit in pursuit of a dissolution of the party which filed legislation for amendment to Section 112 in parliament earlier this year. Such legislation will be almost certainly aborted by majority lawmakers, she said.
CAPTIONS:
Top: The Thalu Fah activist group’s seminar in front of Bangkok prison on Oct. 23, 2021 where their demands were reiterated . Photos: Matichon
Home Page: A procession of automobiles joined a street protest against Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha recently. Photos: Thai Rath
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