Thailand's military-installed parliament approved a controversial internal security law that critics yesterday warned will allow the military to maintain a grip on power even after this weekend's general election.
The new law will allow the Internal Security Operations Command to order curfews, restrict freedom of movement and curb the powers of government officials in situations deemed harmful to national security.
It also allows the agency to restrict access to electronic equipment, a vague clause that critics say could include censorship of the Internet and tapping of telephones.
In a concession to critics, the law names the prime minister as head of the ISOC and the army chief as second-in-command, a change from draft versions that had the army chief as the agency's director.
The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) voted 105-8 with two abstentions to pass the Internal Security Bill late on Thursday, in a vote widely criticized as an effort to steamroll through legislation before Sunday's general election.
The NLA was set up by the military to serve as an interim parliament until the election, which will fill the 480-seat lower house of parliament. The poll comes 15 months after the coup ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Hundreds of activists protested outside parliament on Thursday, one of several demonstrations against the security law.
The legislation was proposed after Thaksin's ouster. The interim government argued that old laws covering national security needed to be reviewed to curb new security threats, such as the rise of a bloody Muslim insurgency in the country's far south and threats from drug trafficking.
Critics say the law assures sweeping military powers over the country.
"The bill will allow the military to control the situation in the future if things get out of hand. It is meant to deal with internal threats like street protests and oppositions, and not external ones," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. "It will be like a state within a state."
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in