NCPO orders ‘will cause more conflict’

EXPERTS have warned that the government will be responsible for more serious rights violations, plus economic disparity – and the next political time-bomb – if it continues its use of “special power”.

Key panellists at an academic conference yesterday on communal rights, the environment and city planning, urged the government to stop using power under Article 44 of the interim charter, as they voiced concern that it would cause a new round of political conflict.

The event was arranged by 11 public organisations, plus Rangsit and Thammasat universities.

The warning follows the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) issuing three controversial orders this year. Two of these – 3 and 4/2559 allow exemptions from city plan laws, while order 9/2559 allows the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process to be bypassed. 

Nearly 100 organisations have joined forces to campaign for the orders to be revoked.

Former Bangkok senator Rossana Tositrakul said the government should adhere to good governance if they want to avoid further conflict caused by their own policies to promote the industrial investment, which don’t care about people affected by their moves.

Rossana said Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha came to power as a negotiator in the political divide, but issuing orders to facilitate capitalists meant he was joining a new conflict in the political arena between people and his government.

“Unlocking city planning laws will lead to extreme development and totally neglects the principle of the rule of law, which will worsen economic disparity between the rich and the poor,” she said.

“I demand that the government stop using the absolute power under Article 44 of interim charter, because it will start a new political conflict,” she said.

Former senator Kraisak Choonhavan also said the prime minister should refrain from using power under Article 44 and revoke NCPO orders 3, 4, and 9/2559 in order to stop looming conflict.

“The government and PM need to listen to the people’s voices, because previously people have been heavily oppressed by the military’s power when they campaigned to protect their resources,” Kraisak said. 

“I can’t see the way out of this conflict, if the government insists on standing on the side of capitalists, instead of protecting the people’s interest.”

Former National Human Rights Commissioner Dr Niran Pithakwatchara also emphasised that use of “special power” by the NCPO not only violated human and communal rights, but also widened the wealth gap.

“We currently face a serious [wealth] disparity problem. On land ownership, the disparity between the rich and the poor is 326 times. While the person who owns the most land in the country has around 600,000 rai of land, and more than 3 million poor farmers’ families do not have any land to reside and work on,” Niran said.

“This disparity was caused by unjust development and if the |government insists on carrying on with investment promotion without considering the people’s rights, the disparity problem will surely worsen.”

Dr Niran said the use of “special power” to unlock city planning laws and bypass EIA process was a serious violation of human rights, as the government took away people’s right to manage natural resources.

“City plans are a human rights issue because the people are the ones who own national resources, not the government. And the prime minister is just the person that represents the people to manage the country’s affairs for us. All Thai citizens inherited power from the King [after the 1932 revolution], not any group of people,” he said.