Prodemocracy protests in thailand on the anniversary of the revolution which ended the absolute monarchy but almost 90 years later the political system remains controversial with military leaders calling the shots behind the scenes in government does real democracy really stand a chance this is inside story. Hello and welcome to the program im peter dopy it is 88 years since the revolution in thailand which was the end of the absolute monarchy and the start of democracy but its the army and the royal palace which define much of type politics the king by law has few direct powers but he is very influential the Prime Minister is elected but many thais question the democratic process Prime Minister. Took over last year after 5 years of military rule hes the former army general who led the last military coup in 2014 it was the 12th coup since the end of absolute monarchy the militarys control on society alarms prodemocracy activists protesters in bangkok have defied a ban on Mass Gatherings because of coronavirus they did fight briefly with police as they were rallying all to commemorate the events of 1932. Well prodemocracy activists have also raised concerns about what they say a government attempts to raise history monuments and buildings celebrating leaders and events of the 1932 revolution are being taken or altered scott hietala sets up a discussion today from bangkok. Early morning 88 years after the revolution that brought Constitutional Monarchy to thailand protesters gathered at the nations monument to democracy. Despite Police Warnings they projected historical footage of the Peoples Party from 1932 as the revolutionaries read out their democratic manifesto ending absolute monarchy they also laid down a replica of a missing plaque that once marked the spot where the revolution began. Their attempts to delete history by getting rid of the Peoples Party placable any democratic symbols this shows that the government wants to devalued the revelation in 2017 the plaque was removed from royal plaza without notification it was replaced with one bearing a promonarchy message the area was heavily guarded on the anniversary journalists prevented from filming nearby raj had done none avenue is a Historic District directly tied to the 1932 revolution lined with art deco buildings constructed after the transition to a Constitutional Monarchy the style was meant to represent the modern era or democratic architecture but in whats seen as a growing effort by military royalist conservatives to remove monuments and reminders of democracy the Crown Property bureau announced a renovation project will replace the art deco facade with a neo classical style to appear more thai. People have been using these historical sites as a political to the government is becoming more and these the architect as a threat to the ideology of democracy monument here is the crown jewel of the Art Deco District designed after the arc de triomphe in paris to serve as the focal point for the grand avenue it was completed 7 years after the revolution the same year the name of the country has changed from thailand Officials Say they dont plan on altering the monument but some conservationists are skeptical. Its not just russia dunham avenue where reminders of democracy are being erased 2 army camps bearing the names of revolutionaries were recently renamed and in 2018 in the middle of the night Security Forces removed the constitutional defense monument from this Traffic Circle in bangkok unfortunate theres a group of people in this country and super power for one person to forget about a party a short distance from where the constitution defense monument once stood theres a buddhist temple built to celebrate thailands democracy the ashes of the revolutionary leaders are interned on the grounds a place of worship that has so far been untouched by the attempts to revise the nations history scott hodler aljazeera bangkok. Ok there we are here we go lets bring in our guests today here on inside story from the thai capital bangkok we have private row john f. Broke political analyst and columnist at cos old english dot com thats a news website from kyoto in japan were joined by a pub in charge of all penguin hes the founder of the prodemocracy organization for c. And associate professor at Kyoto University and from Dominic Felder associate editor of the financial newspaper the Nikkei Asian Review a welcome to you all private in bangkok if i can come to you 1st your countrys being called a democratic dictatorship where we are right now is that a fair description. I would say thats a fair description of door him in that there could be other words that one might. Deployed. In describing to describe or this state of tie politics and democracy or the lack of democracy as i call it a hybrid hybrid democracy and thats partly to do with the fact that the current Prime Minister was the leader who staged a coup back in 2014 and then he appoints a draft of the charter drafter which sets the rules that enable him to return as Prime Minister so i would say thats a Fair Assessment pervan the military has been very good it seems to me making the right noises but for some reason it doesnt want to go any further than where it is at the moment why is that. Are you aware of 1st of all i have looked through with the previous speaker about a current state of type politics and dont want to do say to discuss and even to criticize the current government. You seem like. They already have the infrastructure in place so it at your current government will order a formal who will be able to stay here you know for quite some time d. Together we dont want to be she said that issue we should meet discussed because this is very critical for other future thailand i can get together have the dominate the title at the you know for some time and that forced sort of challenge to your taxation process and also to look at it will maintain that right now would you agree with that analysis dominic that the military really represents the biggest challenge or perhaps to fine tune it the relationship between the military and the royal family. Well there you can have to jump back a little bit here todays anniversary of the 1932 coup which found absolute monarchy entire weve had probably 20 could since the 13th successful the last one was in 2014 which is was correctly points out before and brought in general. As Prime Minister he pushed through a constitution it was drafted by the military. And has been elected all here is now the head of a Coalition Government was produced by that constitution and has a senate that is completely dominated by the military so its a very lopsided system its very complicated who sides who come in and look at it are you know often very bewildered by whats going on today in these rallies that we saw or there was a demonstration one that could really be called armstrong parliament calling for reform comes to sherman and establishing today as the national day because it was it was once the national day and that was tension in 1960 so you know these are very complicated things what there is no question about is that military is very very powerful and thai politics but something thats important to point out this juncture is that we are in an exceptional period weve just come through but were not going through were going through the code in 1000 crisis and this government is now ruling under him an emergency decree which gives the general more power than before so hes almost gone back to the last government and so the real question today in terms of poll lets fix is getting to the end of that emergency decree and getting back to the form of qualifying term across it whatever you want to call it that we had prior to the cove in 1919 is has been absolutely devastating drug its done a lot of time. Image the tire company and you know there are great concerns that it may usher in a more authoritarian era because simply because people are being more and says the medical reasons so as i say its a very complicated picture private region of troops there in bangkok as well given coronavirus and given these extraordinary powers that are being deployed against the people of thailand under the umbrella of were doing the right thing by you does that mean that the military in thailand can carry on doing pretty much what its done for a generation now which is behave like a citadel almost like a state within a state i do not think so. As the previous speaker had mentioned the negative impact on to the thai economy has been in meant. Were talking about. Accurately expecting the more the worst economic negative growth ever by the end of the year so that a lot of people are losing jobs were talking about millions and that will be very difficult for the government to carry on putting a lid on it and what were seeing today partly has to do with this and side about the prospect of the economy as well and not just democracy particularly among the Younger Generation who will find it very difficult to. The able to secure decent employment now the Younger Generation millions of them i think theyre looking towards a prospect of under employment. At least officially but the economy. Its been a give asked patients over the past 3 months. A pats a bank or as still. Not even being able to recover since theyre so dependent on the Tourism Industry basically it is no Foreign Tourists are coming to thailand and that amounts to 20 percent of the thai national. G. D. P. Ok understood lets go back to pavin in kyoto there seems to be this triangular relationship between the monarchy the military and conservatives with a small c can the pro democracy there seems to be this triangular relationship between the monarchy the military and conservatives with a small c can the prodemocracy activists in thailand secure or guarantee for the voters proper democracy if that relationship stays in place. Well that is. A main struggle in fact is this is something that thailand has experienced throughout you know f yes exactly today is the day someone already mentioned about the uk as it were not uniting turkey to that has been a long struck oh. During these past etiquette you know as we have seen the working relationship between he and dimitri together they have been able to create a network also in war you know conservative he you know especially. Back a president and hes also or as i said earlier you know going to decide on a kind of politics this country was also that brought him to see movement that has been beaten over time. Because we have a we can do more at the institution we have a certain Political Party in the past that might not be you know willing to to go to before i refer to you know for example to cripple the uk from the shinawatra or she could have done a lot during his but obviously i think what what we have seen you know during during the last days that kathleen wanted to reconcile with the consulate rather than to be serious seriously about what i say to the process so what im saying is that we have the democracy is we have we move men and asked every then today yes a number of protests in bangkok argument station i would say that you know perhaps maybe less than 50 people out there but it gets them have people cost so much about wanting to change you know dukat you take that to treat. You not on sunday you know to. Basically express their different pending against the government even against them or not. Through twitter up to. You know on twitter back yet you know when it comes to cancel out come your happy feel went on to speak so i think that is the real struggle at the end of it gay acting do you kind of like a theory and in doing some kind of protest art probably understand you know either tape ok or cholesky ok pavin let alone get let me if i can distill that down and nudge the conversation towards dominic in a way dominic we seem to be saying that this asymmetric relationship between the monarchy and the military needs to be got rid of but if youve got the current signaling very clearly to the United States and the e. U. Were heading in the right direction and the United States is more worried about chinas growing influence in this country in this region people outside the country are reacting to what theyre being told by the jointer as opposed to reacting to whats actually going on. Well its quite a question lets go back to 932 and look at the contradictions the military got rid of the monarchy so that should be remembered now it was clamoring for commemoration of what happened in one of those 2 if you go forward to the 1960 s. The cold war the monarchy was reestablished in thailand and it went up from their owners to the reign of the king the present king father king bhumibol. And what is that weve never had in thailand genuine commentary democracy it had little patches of the mid seventys. Late eightys it was democratically elected the ninetys were a kind of golden period we got a new constitution that was progressive and liberal and that was abolished fire crew in 2006 and amazingly we had another coup in 2040 now you talked about Little People being conservative with a little say the group that were really. Looking at the relationship demonically the military and big business and its big business that has done extremely well since the 2014 coup and since the 1960 s. What i say the military came back what happened was that the military built this this protective image that it was there to ensure that the molecule was always preserved and protected and basically thats fine as long as you have. It in terms of peace and stability as long as you have a United Military if you have a military that starts getting going in different direct actions then it becomes quite dangerous and we had 2 failed coups in the eightys where the military was factional ours i think it is fairly unified. The question of the relationship that the selfjustification the military this constantly saying that people other than the military are not good are not to be trusted Political Parties the dangers this is all very toxic stuff ok and its not take the country forward ok well get on to the toxic aspect of it in just a moment to go back to predator jennifer in bangkok but when we talk about other countries who have a relationship here u. S. Government policy when it comes to thailand is the relationships between washington and other countries in the region including thailand that should be government to government should that actually be inverted and should the relationship be one where the usa inculcates an atmosphere of improving and Encouraging Civil Society i. E. Putting down the foundations for a real democracy. Yes that there is a deep rooted. Distracts. Towards america and thats partly because of the role of the United States during the cold war where do you that itself played a instrumental role in fostering. A military dictatorship in the 1960 onward and referring to a field marshal to turn on. A separate tonara and subsequent military leaders schalke you know this is an all wound that always has been exploited by the thai conservatives saying that well you know the americans actually doesnt really care about democracy in this region were just not important enough if we could be used as a pawn d and say during the cold war they will use it and now its quite complicated because on the other hand you have china which is by far not democratic country extra extending its clout and influence into thailand so we i think tyree prodemocracy movement dont really feel that they have any genuine in our lives perhaps the e. U. Are more agreeable but at the end of the day if they can work things out that ability to reach into all previewed the car and say my democratic government then that will be the case so ok i think yeah thats thats ok thats. In kyoto there are now as of today demonstrations in 12 provinces in the country so the desire for real democracy is clearly the how combustible is the situation right now. Had not been because of course i would have thought that you know the demonstration would have grown bigger but because of nike and also all these they wanted a state of emergency saw out there could do for you already why late this state of emergency death why i emphasize earlier out a little number out today but i mean it does trend continue and police say about the. Inability of the government to solve the not a problem that can be quite weak and also economic recession that had been so bad i would expect that you know that number of people who come out you know to protest against the government would grow bigger and become stronger i mean. Protests in thailand usually based on political discontent men but again this time i might have to look again who believe that the beacon in the recent could become a male driving or for Younger Generation you know for a lot of proceed mencia use this asked you know a good reason in order to do it out of people who have to be suffering from a bad economy prosy up the government and also or again not be out havent let me stop you there because were heading towards the end of the program the dominant folder. The people of thailand this time around have waited what 55. 00 and a half years for democracy how much longer. Ive. Just got i want to talk about something you said about this leadership from the u. S. I think its a real red herring nobody in thailand is looking to the u. S. For Political Leadership and more scoring on the and the swing away from the u. S. As going all through the century the alliance the greater interest the greater influence of china is based on its economic success you know the chinese have performed very well you talked about combustibility in thailand we had political bloodshed mentioned 7376 months to 2010 very serious stuff i dont think weve got that. Because one of the reasons is that the Younger Generation are much more tactical and smart and they are not been allowed to go out on the streets and become easy targets for the military again they become much more sophisticated and they are feeling their way through it so this idea that theyre looking for outside leadership were living in a leadership less world moment and the ties i think will come all the way to some kind of. Better tag. If youre looking for something a book critic trigger Serious Problems its the moment situation and i think some of the desperation with the worst unemployment in silence at the end of the 2nd world war that could lead to civil disorder and it be much more the nuances in the constitution and whos propping up ok last point in a minute or 2 private there in bangkok some analysts say there is some democratic space in the lower house of the parliamentary set up the lower house of the parliament is that the kernel of hope so that you might be on track to get a full democracy. Yes and no yes theres some democratic space and there are some m. P. s and party steps could be realigned to a point to deliver and be the voice. Of the electorate but i dont think thats sufficient but what we are seeing is that a new generation is coming of age politically speaking and i think its in their hands now were talking about the people on social media that john darwin was complaining about i think we will need to give them some time they are learning its a learning curve and its date who will inherit tyson society and now within the coming years they will have to decide what they would want to do and its not just again about the lack of genuine democracy but the terrible economic. Problems that thats already affecting millions and will affect many more as in the months ahead gentlemen we will have to leave our discussion there thank you private puffin and dominic thank you to i guess they were private roads on the rock pub in charge of open going dominic folder and thank you too for watching you can see the show again and in time via the website aljazeera dot com the address and for the discussion to check out our Facebook Page thats facebook dot com forward slash a. J. Inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter at page 8 inside story or you can talk to me on twitter as well peter dont be one for me to go over and everyone on the team here in doha thanks for watching i will see you very soon for the moment. The health of humanity is at stake a Global Pandemic requires a global response. W. H. O. 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