Extending emergency will not bridge divide, say critics

"Our system is no longer a democratic system but one in which the government exercises power at will," said Suthachai Yimprasert, Chulalongkorn University lecturer of history, who was recently detained under the law for a week for trying to organise a political gathering.

Suthachai said the government may think such a law is a necessity in order to keep a lid on its opponents through censorship and detention, but this law - which he regards as "illegitimate" - is leading people to ask whether Thai society today is fundamentally democratic or not.

 "The middle class [which supports the decree] today are on the government side and allow the government to do anything because they are insecure. They don't care about human rights. The government doesn't listen to the voices of the poor today, however. So the question for the middle class and elite is whether they genuinely want democracy or not."

 Sirote Klampaiboon, political scientist at Mahidol University's Centre of Human Rights and Development believes the extension of the emergency will not help solve the political division.

 "It doesn't help solve the problem of co-existence. ... People in society should ponder how we can talk within [a democratic] system. What the government is doing now is to make the system dysfunctional and everything unpredictable," he said, referring to anger among red shirts about the continued suppression of their movement through the draconian law.

Pairoj Polpetch, human rights activist and chairman of NGOs Coordination Committee on Development (NGO-Cord), the Kingdom's largest umbrella network of NGOs, predicted the decree will itself not only prevent the government from achieving the goal of national reconciliation but will allow the military to play an increasingly dominant role in Thai politics and society.

"The military will have a bigger political role - permanently. This will affect the rights and liberty [of citizens]."

Pairoj warned that those thinking the decree is not affecting them personally should consider the fact that the decree is limiting people's rights due to its unchecked power that will have long-term repercussions on rights, liberty and democracy in Thailand.