Wave of attacks hit southern Thailand after signing of new constitution

Thai police on Friday reported 22 attacks, including at least five small bomb blasts, in Muslim-majority southern Thailand only hours after King Maha Vajiralongkorn signed a new constitution on Thursday as a step towards ending military rule.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in the attacks in the region where there has been a recent upsurge in a decades-old Muslim separatist insurgency. Parts of the region voted against the new constitution at a referendum last year.

"The incidents are to create disturbances. They want to destroy the government's credibility and create fear among people," said Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for local security forces.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility and security forces said they did not know who was to blame.

Thailand's king signed a military-backed constitution into law on Thursday, an essential step towards an election the junta has promised will restore democracy after the 12th successful coup in little over 80 years.

The new constitution is the Southeast Asian country's 20th since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932 and critics say it will still give the generals a powerful say over Thai politics for years, if not decades.

Voters in the most heavily Muslim parts of Thailand were among the few to reject the draft constitution in last year's referendum.

Security forces said five bombs had exploded on electric poles, causing local power cuts, and there had been a number of tire-burning incidents.

Details were not immediately available of all the attacks. A large number of co-ordinated attacks in the region is unusual.

A Malay Muslim separatist insurgency in the provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat has claimed more than 6,500 lives since it escalated in 2004, according to independent monitoring group Deep South Watch.

On Monday, police reported what they described as the biggest attack by insurgents in the south in years. They said about 30 insurgents had fired more than 500 shots into a police booth.

In February, the government of the Buddhist-majority country struck a deal with MARA Patani, a long-standing umbrella group that claims to speak for the insurgents, but other separatists rejected it.

source: interaksyon.com

Thai PM defends cyber controls as censorship concerns rise

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Thursday defended a decision to amend a cyber-crime law to increase the military government’s ability to remove online content as authorities seeks to tighten control on dissent.

A royal transition this month saw new King Maha Vajiralongkorn ascend the throne following the death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, on Oct. 13.

Thailand has some of the world’s toughest laws against royal insult, which has curtailed public discussion about the monarchy’s role following the death of King Bhumibol, who was seen as a unifying figure.

Since King Bhumibol’s death, authorities have cracked down on what they consider to be insults to the royal family and have shut down hundreds of websites.

The government is also sensitive about what it sees as criticism of the military’s role in politics, and opposition to its seizure of power in a 2014 coup.

Prayuth’s comments came a day before parliament will decide whether to pass amendments to a 2007 Computer Crime Act which critics say could result in more extensive online monitoring.

Amendments to the law, seen by Reuters on Friday, would allow state officials to obtain user and traffic data from service providers without court approval.

Any website that is seen as a threat to national security or “offends people’s good morals” can also be removed or suspended.

The current law says officials need court approval to remove content.

“This law is for when anyone posts something that is poisonous to society so that we know where it comes from,” Prayuth told reporters.

“Don’t think this is a rights violation. This isn’t what we call a rights violation … this is what we call a law to be used against those who violate the law,” he said.

Critics say parliament is likely to approve the amendments.

Since taking power, Prayuth’s military government has made increasing state control over cyberspace a priority.

In September, it launched a Ministry of Digital Economy and Society. One of its tasks is to block and delete what it considers to be inappropriate online.

Some 342,000 people have signed a petition calling for a reconsideration of the amendments, highlighting opposition to what critics, including civil society groups, say is a threat to internet freedom.

Arthit Suriyawongkul of the Thai Netizen Network said the amendments were problematic.

“It’s not the law itself that is a rights violation, but the authorities’ extensive power when monitoring and censoring online content, which could raise privacy concerns,” he said.

source: interaksyon.com