Thai military prohibited a seminar on the controversial draft constitution in northern province of Chiang Mai as the public referendum on the draft is drawing near.
Matichon Online reported on Saturday, 2 April 2016, that Sunai Phasuk, a coordinator of Human Rights Watch (HRW), tweeted on his twitter account that military officers from Kawila Military Base in Chiang Mai ordered the cancellation of a seminar titled ‘Reading the Constitution as Literature and Art’.
The aborted seminar about the complete draft constitution was initially planned on 3 April at Book Re:public, a bookshop in Chiang Mai.
The speakers of the discussion were Pitch Pongsawat, political science lecturer of Chulalongkorn University, Pandit Chanrachanakit, political scientist from Ramkhamhaeng University and Thasnai Sethaseree, lecture of media and arts of Chiang Mai University.
According to the facebook page of Book Re:public, the military officers contacted the staff of the bookshop and told them that the seminar cannot be held.
The public referendum on the draft constitution written by the junta-appointed Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) is scheduled on 7 August 2016.
Recently, the authorities passed a bill on draft referendum which gives the Election Commission of Thailand (ECT) authorities to regulate all campaigns, both supporting and opposing the draft constitution.
Moreover, the bill sets a heavy sentence for anyone who tries to oppose the referendum.
Article 62 of the bill states “anyone who publishes text, images or sound, through either newspaper, radio, television, electronic media or other channels, that is either untruthful, harsh, offensive, rude, inciting or threatening, with the intention that voters will either not exercise their right to vote, or vote in a certain way, or not vote, will be considered as a person creating confusion so that the vote will not proceed properly.” The penalty is a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine of up to 200,000 baht.