Thailand is about to lift martial law. But make no mistake — 10 months after staging a coup, a military junta is still ruling the country, essentially with absolute power, and made clear this week it’s not easing up yet.
On Tuesday, the military-installed prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, said he plans to lift martial law — a move his deputy said was “a response to calls from foreign countries.” He gave no immediate timeline.
Martial law made Thailand look bad, and the junta faced growing pressure from foreign governments, human rights groups and particularly its own business community to remove it. Although it wasn’t generally visible in everyday life — there were few soldiers in the streets — it scared off foreign investors and hurt tourism, which accounts for nearly 10% of the GDP. Tour operators called it a tourist deterrent — partly because many insurance companies won’t cover travelers to countries under martial law.
But scrapping martial law doesn’t mean that Thailand is any closer to civilian rule.
In its place, Prayuth said he will invoke a special security measure in the junta-imposed interim constitution called Article 44. Critics say it gives Prayuth unchecked authority over all three branches of government and absolves him of any legal responsibility for his actions.
“From the outside, the lifting of martial law is good news for business and tourism,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist and director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University.
“But from the inside, we’re functionally in the same boat,” he said about Article 44. “Similar restrictions are still in place. And where there are pockets of dissent and political expression it is likely to be more draconian.”
