Thailand may see an end to its political impasse and demonstrations as its monarch signals on compromise.
In a rare interview with the press over the weekend, King Maha Vajiralongkorn said "Thailand is the land of compromise” when asked if there is a possibility of a compromise.
The pro-democracy demonstrations, led by student activists, which started in July, has its roots in the dissolution of the Future Forward Party; which did well in last year’s elections. Considered a new political force, the young urban elite flocked to it and so did their older counterparts. When it was ordered to dissolve over a financial issue (of a loan) and its executives were banned from politics for 10 years, the people took to the streets but the protest paused as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More recently, the protesters have called for a new constitution, the dissolution of parliament and resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, the former army general who seized power in a 2014 coup.
What had made their demands notable is that they have tackled the issue of the monarchy. In an unprecedented move, the demonstrations call for its reform and that the King is answerable to the constitution.
“This is the first time the protests have explicitly called for reform to the monarchy. Partly it is because the current king is so different from his father. He reigns from Germany…. Young people are sick of arcane institutions and rules. It is not just politics but school rules such as having to prostrate yourself and they are thinking why they have to do all these when young people in other countries don’t,” said a political observer in Bangkok. He pointed out that the protestors are embarrassed by how far Thailand had backslided in terms of international perception.
Thailand has one of the world’s strictest lese majeste laws where criticizing the King, Queen, or heir apparent can lead to a maximum 15-year prison sentence.
The protesters have been publicly breaking this taboo of speaking out. They have also taken their protest to social media where they have clocked up millions of tweets; and our Bangkok observers also pointed out a surprisingly audacious hashtag that surged to two million mentions.
(Editor: This is in marked contrast to Malaysia which has half of Thailand’s population. Its tuned-off people could barely muster up 10 to 30 thousand twitter mentions amidst its own political turmoil. See our data analysis on the Malaysia political emergency here).
One month Twitter mentions for selected hashtags relating to the Bangkok protests
In the spotlight are also the king’s immense wealth and power. Since his ascent to the throne, the king has appointed his own military unit and vastly increased his personal wealth by transferring billions of dollars' worth of royal assets held by the Thai Crown directly into his control.
Students are of the view that for Thailand to achieve true democracy, reforms are needed to the the top-down ruling establishment - the monarchy, military and wealthy political elites.
While dozens of protestors have been arrested under the emergency decree in October, the Thai government has been fairly restrained. None of the student leaders have been arrested to date. The emergency measures were subsequently reversed in less than two weeks after even more daily protest in Bangkok and other cities.
Whether there will be a compromise as the king had signaled, remains to be seen and the protests will continue for now.
By KHOR Yu Leng, Sharon TAN, and the PolTracker team, 1 Nov 2020