Thailand
Abolition of military service and lèse-majesté laws are among the priorities for many young voters ahead of Sunday’s election
Fri 12 May 2023 00:32 BST
As the draft date drew near, 23-year-old Napasit Tonsiedee, from Buriram in northeast Thailand, would visit the temple, bathe in holy water and pray that the odds would be better for him.
Like many other young men in Thailand, he entered a lottery to decide whether he would be forced into military service. If you draw a red card, you will be drafted for two years; A black card means you are exempt from tax.
The annual draft lottery – which some political parties have proposed scrapping – is one of the many issues on young people’s minds ahead of elections.
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Much to his relief, Napasit drew a black card. He hopes the system will end under a new government.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s Pheu Thai party, which is expected to win the most seats, has wooed young voters saying a landslide victory would allow it to oust the military generals. She has promised to work to end conscription, allow equal marriage and raise the minimum wage.
In Sunday’s election, Paetongtarn, the scion of the Shinawatras, a family that has long dominated Thai politics, will face off against former army generals. Her family remains popular in northern and north-eastern Thailand – but is fiercely opposed by conservative military royalists.
Voters prepare their ballots at a polling station during the Phuket primary. Photo: Jack Taylor/The Guardian
But her party faces major challenges from an anti-electoral system (senators who vote with the House of Commons for a future prime minister are all appointed by the military) and from the Move Forward party.
Move Forward is the most progressive party and has attracted large crowds of committed young voters. It was the first country to pledge to end conscription and pledged to demilitarize politics and break up the big monopolies that dominate the economy.
“The military should be in the barracks”
The political attitudes of first-time voters were shaped by incumbent Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ochaa, a former military general who first came to power in a coup in 2014, said Dr. Pitch Pongsawat from Chulalongkorn University.
Mok, 30, who declined to give just one name, says she wants reforms to stop the country’s generals getting involved in politics. She says that every time there is a coup – there have been two since 2006 – the country stagnates.
“Every time it happens, it keeps Thailand stuck in one place. The military should be in barracks.”
This weekend’s election is the first since mass youth protests in 2020 calling for the resignation of Prayut and the removal of the military from politics.
Student protest leaders also risked jail time as they called for curbing the royal family’s power and wealth and repealing the lèse-majesté law, which bans and punishes criticism of the monarchy. Since the protests, more than 230 people, including children, have been charged under the law, which could carry a 15-year prison sentence.
The question of whether citizens should have the right to criticize the monarchy is a new political breaking point, and this election marks the first time that the lèse-majesté law will be debated by political leaders in a substantive manner, said Ken Mathis Lohatepanont, a political Commentator.
“The fact that this [debate] what happened was the result of the protests. But whether that actually leads to real change depends heavily on the composition of the next coalition.”
Move Forward has said it will push for a reform of the law, while Paetongtarn said the matter should be discussed in Parliament. Conservative parties strictly reject reforms.
“I hope I’m not being scammed”
Natchaya, 18, a first-time voter in Chiang Mai, is hoping for change. “Many of my friends have been charged under Article 112 [the lese majesty law]. I know if I make a mistake, it might come to me one day. The law should never have been like this.”
She was at school when the 2020 protest movement emerged and was actively involved in campaigning for changes in the education system, including more freedom of thought in schools.
“[The school system] is designed to teach students obedience and make us “good people,” according to their definition. This leads to a lack of diversity in Thai society.”
Saksit Konkrathok, 24, is pictured during the Phuket primary. Photo: Jack Taylor/The Guardian
“I want the curriculum to come from multiple sources, not just the Thai government, especially in history classes.”
She is also calling for more workers’ rights and action on air pollution after enduring months of dense haze from farm burning. “The pollution in Chiang Mai is no joke, our lives are getting shorter every day.” Some parties only point to the farmers in the fields, not the big companies that benefit from the produce, she adds.
In southern Thailand, Ekapong Noojaroen, 24, from Songkhla, said he also wants to invest more in quality education in government schools. He also wants jobs to be created outside the capital.
“I don’t want us to have to go to Bangkok for work.” Of his childhood friends, 80-90% have left to find work elsewhere, he said while attending the early voting in Phuket on Sunday.
Saksit Konkrathok, 24, who also took part in the early voting in Phuket, agrees greater investment is needed in areas outside the capital and says young people are finding it difficult to find jobs.
Both add that they want a future in which the electoral process is more democratic, without the influence of military-appointed senators and with a fairer electoral system. “The most important thing is that my true vote is really counted. I hope I won’t be cheated in any way,” Saksit said.
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