October 12, 2020 Thai Enquirer Summary Political News In what could be the most tensed day in the past 4-decades in Thailand’s history, protest leaders have come out to openly say that they will show the 3-finger salute, while the motorcade of HM the King passes the protest area. Outspoken Human Rights Lawyer – Anon Nampa, has come out to post that they will show the 3-finger salute to HM the King’s motorcade when the motorcade passes the protest area on Wednesday October 14, 2020 This is a post from Anon Nampa’s Twitter page Outspoken Human Rights Lawyer – Anon Nampa, has come out to post that they will show the 3-finger salute to HM the King’s motorcade when the motorcade passes the protest area on Wednesday October 14, 2020 All political pundits and even former protest leaders such as Jatupron Prompan have all come out to request that the student movement scale back their planned protest to just protesting and not showing the 3-finger salute or placards that says anything to do with the demand for the reform of the monarchy. HM the King has an engagement to be at the Grand Palace @ 17:00 hrs and has to pass through the Ratchadamnoen avenue to go to the Grand Place Meanwhile protest leaders announced to camp out and surround Government House from October 14 when the Khana Ratsadon 2020 (People’s Party 2020), an association of the Free People Group, will stage a mass rally at Democracy Monument in Bangkok on October 14. The authorities have warned that protestors cannot enter within 50-meters of the Government House while they are undertaking the protest. There are reports that the Royal Thai Police Office (RTPB) will deploy riot police to keep peace and order on the protest day and it assigned officers to try negotiating with protest leaders not to use the 3-finger salute because it is deemed inappropriate, especially after a royal procession through the rally area on October 14, according to a security agency source. The RTPB is reported to beef up security to handle pro-democracy rally scheduled to be held from 14.00 hrs on October 14 near Democracy Monument on Ratchadamnoen Avenue, with the Metropolitan Police Bureau being instructed to set up 21 security checkpoints to screen people heading to the protest and weapons from the evening of October 12. Free People posted on its Facebook page that they would not block the royal motorcade during the rally on October 14, but would instead make way with a three-finger salute in order to enunciate their demand for reform of the monarchy. Human rights lawyer and protest leader Anon Nampa announced during a brief speech at a pro-democracy rally in Nakhon Ratchasima province on the weekend that pro-democracy protesters would take the opportunity to make the case for a reform of the monarchy directly to His Majesty the King when the royal motorcade passes the rally site that day. Kao Klai (Move Forward) Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat pledged to join the major rally on October 14 organised by the Khana Ratsadon 2020. Former United front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) or Red Shirt, chairman Jatuporn Promphan came out to say that the recent protests in the provinces have all shown that the number of people attending the protest movement has shown smaller numbers and the protest leaders such as Anon should realize that the number of people who will come on October 14 may not be that many as in the past. Regarding the Khana Ratsadon’s October 14 planned rally, UDD’s chairman Jatuporn lashed out at the group’s call for the reform of the monarchy, saying that he was not afraid to be taken down but was worried for young Thais whom he perceived as being manipulated by masterminding puppet masters who operate from inside and outside the country. He said it was the protesting youths would rather get the blame than the masterminds who pulls the strings from behind. He warned protesting youths to rethink of consequences because the point is that the October 14 rally, a day after the anniversary of the late His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s passing. A sea of yellow shirts is expected to sweep Thailand at October 13 events to commemorate the late King, Jatuporn said. Twitter’s revelation that Thailand has violated its platform manipulation policies by conducting state-backed information operations (IO) with 926 accounts that it could reliably link to the Royal Thai Army (RTA) drew up negative criticism from various government opponents as well as a House committee. Chaturon Chaisang, former chief strategist of the defunct Thai Raksa Chart (TRC), took to his Facebook page to call on embattled Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, in his ability as the Defence Minister, to order the RTA to put a stop to such activities that engaging in behaviour targeting political opposition figures. Chaturon lashed out at the army and the new army chief that the use of social media accounts in the manner alleged by Twitter is an embarrassing act. He said the new army Gen Narongpan Jittkaewtae did not speak the truth when he said the army would not get involved in politics. In response to this matter, the military denied its involvement as its spokesman Lt Gen Santipong Thammpiya came out to say, “The Royal Thai Army has not used social media accounts in the manner alleged by Twitter,” :A thorough examination needs to be conducted on all suspended accounts,” he added. In the same disclosure, Twitter said it had suspended 668 other accounts attributed to Russia, Cuba, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the opposition Pheu Thai Party called for the House committee on military to investigate the army’s using IO to meddle and intimidate government opposition figures to stir up divisiveness and hatred after the RTA’s online information operations have again come under the spotlight. Prasert Jantararuangtong, Pheu Thai MP for Nakhon Ratchasima as the committee’s advisor, said he will propose to the committee on October 14 to probe into the allegation. Prasert accused the army of violating the Computer Crime Act by involving in information operations. Prasert said he will also ask the committee to summon Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, as the Defence Minister, to clarify the matter himself. Pheu Thai’s Pichai Naripthaphan vowed to push for a cut on defence budgets as he said the army spent taxpayers’ money to fund its IO network to create divisiveness among the public and undermine national security, instead of using it to boost security. He also pledged to cut all budgets for tanks, armoured vehicles, submarines and luxury VIP transport jet for top generals. Four networks joined forces to launch the Re-Solution Group to push for the abolition of the 2017 constitution. At the Multi-Purpose Room on the 1st floor of the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC), Progressive Movement leader Piyabutr Saengkanokkul announced the launch of the Re-Solution Group: Time for new constitution. The group was formed under cooperation of 4 networks including the Progressive Movement; the Kao Klai (Move Forward) Party; Parit ‘Itim’ Wacharasindhu, former Democrat Party MP and founder of the Advance Constitution Group, and Yingcheep Atchanont, representative of Rights group Internet Dialogue on Law Reform (iLaw). The group’s main goal is to campaign for a new constitution that truly belongs to the people. Piyabutr likened the 2017 constitution to a ticking time bomb that led to political establishments like government MPs and the Senate that are not sincere to push for charter amendments as they fear to lose power derived from coup makers. A majority of people believed old political groups are behind political demonstrations that defended the constitutional monarchy, according to an opinion survey released by Super Poll. The poll entitled “new or old political groups and political mudslinging”, conducted on 5,260 people across the country during June 1-October 10, found a majority of people, 93.3 per cent, believed that old political groups are behind the scenes in supporting the protests that culminated with the ousting of the current government without taking into account of economic woes facing the public to reap personal gains. In contrast, merely 6.7 per cent of respondents believed that new political groups are behind street demonstrations based on their policies that inspired the younger generation amid the COVID-19 era and rampant social media use as a main communication channel influencing Thai youths, said Noppadol Kannika, director of the Super Poll Research Centre. On popularity of political parties, the poll found the Phalang Pracharat Party (PPRP)’s rating rose over the period while the Kao Klai (Move Forward) Party’s rating plunged over the same period as shown in the graph below. Economic News Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan, former chief strategist of the Pheu Thai Party, came out to question the democratic credibility of embattled Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o- cha’s administration. In her Facebook post, Sudarat was fired up by reports that Japan’s newly appointed Prime Minster is considering state visits to Vietnam and Indonesia in his first official overseas trip, that Tesla plans to set up manufacturing units in Indonesia and India and that Panasonic’s moving factories to Vietnam, causing 800 job losses Thailand. Sudarat said all these reports are a bad signal to the Thai economy, showing that the country is losing its status as a regional vehicle production hub and export hub. Sudarat went on to say that she is worried about the government’s incapability to figure out reasons behind such relocations while it instead exhausted all resources to support investment in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) which were perceived as nothing that help Thailand gain the upper hand in the eyes of investors.