Inching towards a totalitarian state
In a move that mirrors the passing of the U.S.’ Patriot Act, the Thai government has voted to further water down and strip away more of the countries democratic rights and personal freedoms, all in the name of fighting terrorism and preserving the peace in the south.
After tactics ranging from the violent and heavy-handed (the Tak Bai temple massacre) to childish and utterly moronic (littering the southern provinces with thousands of paper cranes), our government has deemed that the best way to achieve a speedy resolution to southern violence and to rebuild trust is to spy and censor our citizenry, as well as equip our schoolteachers with bullet-proof vests and sidearms. Instead of lecturing and scolding our southern neighbors, perhaps the government should try listening to them? Perhaps if someone came up with a sexy phrase for “coalition building and compromise” that sounds good on a t-shirt or 10-second media sound byte, it might finally become a cause c
Lets face it. No good ever comes from a country annexing and claiming as it’s own (whether through war or as part of a deal with an empire), part of another country (as happened with the Southern Thai Provinces in 1909). Look at Northern Ireland, Mongolia, Kashmir and so on.
And what’s a futher similarity is that no country ever deals with it in “the right way”. It always ends up in violence.
Am I the only one who notices the similarities between Thaksins emergency powers and Senator Palpatines?
But seriously, I don’t understand why he needs this for the whole of Thailand when the problem is only in 3 southern provinces. This is way too much power for Thaksin (who already has a tight grip over the media) and I pray the King will bring some sense to this issue.