Thailand Parliament Acts to End Military Rule, Rebuild Trust
Dismantling a dictatorship isn’t as simple as holding new elections. It’s a slow, grinding process of unwinding the dense web of laws, decrees, and norms that the old regime used to maintain its grip. That’s the challenge facing Thailand now, as its parliament grapples with the legacy of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), the military junta that ruled the country for years. As the Bangkok Post recently reported, Pheu Thai MP Chaturon Chaisang is leading the charge to revoke at least 23, and possibly as many as 55, NCPO orders (recent findings). It’s a crucial step, but it also reveals the depth and complexity of the structural changes the NCPO wrought.
This isn’t simply about repealing bad laws; it’s about rebuilding trust in the very systems of governance. The NCPO, like many authoritarian regimes, didn’t just seize power; it rewrote the rules to entrench its own authority. Orders like 49/2014, which criminalized political support, weren’t just about suppressing dissent; they were about reshaping the political landscape, chilling civic participation, and creating a culture of fear.
Think about it like this: If you build a house on a faulty foundation, you can’t just slap on a new coat of paint and call it fixed. You have to address the structural flaws first. In Thailand, these “structural flaws” include:
- Erosion of civil liberties and fundamental rights
- Weakening of democratic institutions
- Normalization of military intervention in politics
- Lingering influence of the military within the bureaucracy
These problems are interwoven and deeply entrenched, which explains why even repealing seemingly obvious overreaches like Order 49/2014 is just one piece of a much larger, more complex puzzle. The remaining 22 orders under review by the parliamentary committee are, according to Mr. Chaisang, more “technical” in nature. This signals a struggle over administrative policy, bureaucratic turf wars, and perhaps even the very definitions of lawful authority in a post-NCPO Thailand.
The real challenge is not just to repeal the orders of the past, but to build the institutions of the future. A democracy, like a building, requires constant maintenance, reinforcement, and a vigilant eye against those who might seek to undermine its foundations.
This process won’t be quick, and it won’t be easy. There will be resistance from entrenched interests, bureaucratic inertia, and perhaps even the lingering threat of backsliding. But the effort to dismantle the NCPO’s legacy isn’t merely a legal exercise; it’s a fundamental test of Thailand’s commitment to democratic values and the rule of law. It’s a delicate, ongoing negotiation between the past and the future, a dance on the edge of a razor, where the stakes couldn’t be higher.
