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BANGKOK: Thailand’s parliament voted on Thursday (September 24) to delay making a decision on whether to amend the constitution, as demanded by anti-government protesters who have demonstrated almost every day for more than two months.
Parliament, dominated by government supporters, chose instead to establish a committee to first study the constitutional amendment process.
“The vote to accept a motion for constitutional changes is effectively delayed until November,” pro-government lawmaker Chinnaworn Boonyakiat told Reuters.
The decision angered MPs and opposition protesters, more than 1,000 of whom had gathered outside parliament to press their demands for a constitutional change and the removal of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, a former military leader. .
Protesters say the current constitution was drafted to ensure that he maintained power after last year’s elections. Prayut says the vote was fair.
Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn, a deputy from the opposition Move Forward Party, said the parliament’s decision to delay voting on the motion was intended to “mislead the people.”
“If the process is delayed a month to establish this committee, and if the motion is rejected, it will mean that members of parliament cannot propose another such motion again until next year,” he said in a tweet.
GOVERNMENT ‘BUYING TIME’
The protest organizer Tattep “Ford” Ruangprapaikitseree said the government was trying to “buy time” with the measure.
“He shows his insincerity towards the Thai people,” he told AFP. “We cannot accept it.”
Protesters stood at the bars to place pro-democracy stickers on top of the closed doors of parliament as the guards watched.
Others spray-painted the outlines of a plaque that had been installed during the weekend’s protest at the historic Sanam Luang Park.
The so-called “town badge” was later removed by the police. It was supposed to refer to a plaque commemorating the end of royal absolutism in 1932, which mysteriously disappeared three years ago.
Anti-government protesters in front of Thailand’s parliament on September 24, 2020 (Photo: AFP / Mladen ANTONOV)
Siraphop Attohi, one of the protesters, said: “This is a game to buy more time … We cannot bear this.”
The protests are the biggest challenge for the Thai military and palace-dominated establishment since Prayut seized power in a 2014 coup. The largest protest drew tens of thousands of people over the weekend.
Some protesters say the constitution also gives King Maha Vajiralongkorn too much power and have called for his influence to be reduced, defying a long-standing taboo not to criticize the monarchy.
The 2017 constitution was drafted by a committee appointed by the military and was approved in a national referendum in 2016 in which opposition campaigns were banned.
The assembly combines an elected lower House of Representatives and a military-appointed Senate.
PROTEST ONLINE SCRUBBED
The king is on the cusp of Thai power, supported by an arch-royalist army and the kingdom’s billionaire clans.
The royal family is supported by mostly older conservatives, dozens of whom marched to parliament on Wednesday to petition with 130,000 signatories against the constitutional change.
The ultra-wealthy monarch spends much of his time in Europe, but was in Bangkok on Thursday to mark Prince Mahidol Day, laying a wreath on his grandfather’s statue, according to local media.
The movement, which students say is leaderless and inspired by protesters in Hong Kong, is also calling for Prayut to step down and for the government to stop “harassing” political opponents.
READ: What’s behind the Thailand protests and what’s next?
READ: Thai Prime Minister vows to keep the peace during planned anti-government protest
Before the protest, authorities officially launched legal complaints against some of the social media platforms used by young tech-savvy protesters to promote their message.
Actions have been taken against Facebook and Twitter for failing to comply with a request to remove “offensive” material, said Minister of Economy and Digital Society Buddhipongse Punnakunta.
Last month, Facebook complied with a government request to remove “Royalist Marketplace,” a group created by an exiled government critic that analyzes the role of the monarchy in Thai society and which had more than a million members.
But some 400 requested URLs remain on the platform, Buddhipongse said, declining to say whether their ministry had flagged them because they were critical of the king.
“It’s not just politics, we have other factors covered in the (Computer Crimes Law),” he told AFP.
Facebook declined to comment on the move, while Twitter did not respond.
