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Bangkok's about-turn on
terrorism
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - The Thai government faces a political
storm after it did an about-turn on its
counter-terrorism policies, and then ignored the
parliament in its rush to crack down on individuals and
groups who could unleash violence in the country.
Human-rights activists are firing broadsides at
the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra for
its conflicting messages about the terrorist threat that
it says Thailand faces.
Until the past weekend,
Thaksin kept telling the public that this Southeast
Asian country was safe from any acts of violence, as was
the case on August 5 when a car bomb went off in the
Indonesian capital Jakarta, killing at least 11 people.
The government had stuck to this refrain ever since the
bomb attacks in Indonesia's Bali island last October,
where 202 people were killed.
But on Monday, the
government sought the assent of the Thai monarch, King
Bhumibol Adulyadej, to impose through an executive
decree the country's anti-terrorism law.
Bangkok
defended this measure as an urgently needed step to
combat possible acts of terror. "We need to be quick to
issue the [anti-terrorism] law because problems have
been occurring in neighboring countries. If Thailand is
slow, we could be a safe haven for terrorists," Thaksin
was quoted as having said.
But rights activists
such as Sunai Phasuk ask which government view of the
"terrorism threat" can be believed. "What bothers us to
begin with is the government being in total denial all
these days about a terrorist threat and saying there was
no need for an anti-terrorism law. And then it has
changed suddenly," said Sunai, a researcher at Forum
Asia, a Bangkok-based regional human-rights
lobby.
He also questions the rationale for the
special anti-terrorism law when Thailand, he says, has
sufficient provisions in the penal code and
anti-money-laundering laws to deal with the groups bent
on terror. "The Thai penal code has enough clauses to
punish perpetrators of terror; so do the
national-security law and the anti-money-laundering
law," Sunai pointed out. "There is no need for a new law
to combat terrorism."
Under the new
anti-terrorism law, any person who "threatens to commit
a terrorist act and shows behavior convincing enough to
believe the person will do as said" or influences people
into such acts will be classified as a "terrorist" and
can face a jail sentence or fines.
The law adds
that individuals who commit acts of terror - including
spreading fear and harming the public and damaging
public or private property - can face the death penalty,
life imprisonment, a jail sentence or fines.
With this anti-terrorism law, Thailand joins the
ranks of other Southeast Asian countries that have
either passed or are in the process of passing similar
tough measures to thwart acts of terror. Currently,
Indonesia and the Philippines have the special laws,
while Cambodia is in the process of formalizing similar
legal provisions. Singapore and Malaysia, on the other
hand, have used their respective Internal Security Acts
(ISA), which allow detention without trial, to crack
down on individuals the state suspects as being
terrorists.
But the method the Thai government
has used to secure the anti-terrorism law has made it
vulnerable to charges of undermining the country's claim
to being one of the few democracies in Southeast
Asia.
It is also being accused of setting in
motion a dangerous pattern, where the Thaksin
administration could bypass parliament and impose
executive decrees for unpopular or tough laws.
"We do not agree with the way the government
avoided the legislative process for this law," said
Jaran Ditapichai, a member of the National Human Rights
Commission. "It means that the government does not
respect the democratic process of checks and balances.
Parliament should have debated this issue."
"This violates the parliamentary procedure, and
sidelining the parliament like this could convince the
government that it can push through laws without
scrutiny and approval from the legislature," said Kavi
Chongkittavorn, a columnist and editor of the
English-language newspaper The Nation. "What is worse,
it has happened when both houses are in session."
Bangkok's haste on the matter has prompted
speculations that it acted to appease the US government
ahead of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
summit to be held in Thailand in October.
"Pressure and criticism from the US government
this year has forced the Thai government to take the
current position," said Sunai. "This is an attempt to
please the US and to be on the side of its friends.
Prime Minister Thaksin needs [US] President [George W]
Bush to attend the APEC summit."
But Deputy
Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh has denied the
charge that the Thaksin administration had caved in to
Washington's dictates.
Since the September 11,
2001, acts of terror in the United States, Thailand has
been spared bomb explosions, unlike Indonesia, but it
has been identified as a country where Muslim militants
from the region have found it easy to enter. Four Thai
Muslims were arrested this year for allegedly planning
to detonate bombs in Bangkok.
"The new
anti-terrorism measure is a good first step as part of a
much-needed strategy to handle the emerging threats,"
said Panitan Wattanayagorn, a security expert at
Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "But quick change
will not help in the long run."
What is needed
is across-the-board reform, including training people
and restructuring the security organizations, he said.
"There is a lack of comprehensive strategies to deal
with counter-terrorism measures in Thailand."
(Inter Press Service)
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