Ex-premier Abhisit turns on Thai junta's draft charter
A former prime minister whose party supported Thailand's last coup lambasted the junta's new constitution on Wednesday before a referendum on it, a rare blow to the army from within its own political camp. The junta says the new document is crucial to tackling corruption and ending a decade of political turmoil that has torn the country apart. But critics say it will straitjacket democracy with clauses calling for a fully-appointed senate and unelected premier -- both of which could help the military elite keep its allies in power. Abhisit Vejjajiva, who was prime minister from 2008-2011, leads the Democrats, Thailand's second biggest party. "I do not approve of the draft constitution," Abhisit told AFP in a rare attack on the junta from within Bangkok's powerful elite. His party has failed for two decades to win an election but carries major clout within the establishment that rallied behind the May 2014 overthrow of Yingluck Shinawatra's elected government. "It goes against the basic principle of what we believe in... democracy," Abhisit said, adding that the document "will trigger new conflict." He urged the junta to rewrite the charter. Abhisit, a smooth speaker educated at top British fee-paying school Eton, is a serial election loser who has boycotted two polls in the past decade. Most recently, he lost the 2011 vote that swept Yingluck into power. Two years later his deputy led the street protests to unseat Yingluck, who commands strong support from Thailand's rural majority but is hated by the Bangkok-based elite. Abhisit was a vocal supporter of the protests but became uncharacteristically taciturn as the coup unfolded. - 'Criminalising expression' - His intervention against the referendum is likely to sting a military already hypersensitive to criticism. Last week two eight-year-old girls were charged under a junta law for tearing down voter lists in a game, the latest increasingly bizarre act in a crackdown before the vote. Yingluck's toppled Puea Thai party has urged supporters to vote down the charter next month. It would like to see a swift return to elections, which the party is certain it would win after dominating every vote in the past decade with strong support from the rural poor. But the Shinawatras' political network has been reined in by the junta over the past two years, with the generals especially keen on blocking any 'Vote No' campaign against the charter. On Wednesday a former Puea Thai MP for Chiang Mai, Thassanee Buranupakorn, was taken into military custody on accusations she printed letters critical of the draft. She was charged with sedition and violating the junta's draconian anti-campaigning law, police told AFP, crimes that could carry a total of 17 years in prison. Several other local party figures have been arrested. The United Nations on Tuesday urged the junta to loosen its grip on dissent over the referendum period. "Instead of criminalising expression on the draft constitution, the Thai government should encourage an open environment for public discourse," said David Kaye, a UN Special Rapporteur. The junta has vowed to hold elections in 2017 but has not said what will happen if its charter is rejected, fuelling fears a re-write could prolong its time in power.
