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When Nutthapong settles Srimuong with the military government of Thailand, it sounds like this: "The capital of the country has been turned into a battlefield / Its constitution was written and wiped out with the boots of the military / The land that puts a gun in your throat."
Nutthapong is part of the group Rap against Dictatorship, which collected almost 60 million clicks on YouTube with their song "Prathet Ku Mee" ("What My Land Has"), forcing the military government on the defensive to no longer be successful dared to take action against the musicians. And in a country where even sharing a critical article on Facebook can lead to a prison sentence for lese majeste.
To this day, the black-and-white clip on "What my country has", in which the rappers appear partly masked and cheered by bystanders, can still be found on the net. The video also highlights one of the country's darkest chapters: the assault by Thailand's military on students at Thammasat University in Bangkok in 1976. Photographer Neal Ulevich then took a picture of a young man hanging lifeless from a tree whose body a man with a folding chair still further beat. In the video of Rap against Dictatorship it is a dangling doll that is being attacked.
The video's success shows how much the millennials in Thailand are fretting about the junta. The military toppled the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in 2014 and have since pledged new, free elections - but the Thai people have long been waiting. This Sunday is actually to vote on a new parliament.
According to a survey by the Bangkok Post newspaper, two-thirds of voters were still undecided in February. The largest opposition party Pheu Thai would therefore get 9.3 percent of the vote, the pro-junta party Palang Pracharat with top candidate and current Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha would therefore come to seven percent. In total there are about 80 parties to vote.
REUTERS
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha: Not in the lead in polls
The poll also calls for just under seven million 18 to 26-year-olds. This means that about one in seven of the total of 51 million eligible voters is first-time voter, the last election in the country is eight years ago.
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It is not easy to win the young voters group for themselves. The junta also had to realize that. She released her own rap song in response to "What My Country Has": "Thailand 4.0". "There are many talented Thais when we work together," it says. The video, which has been viewed on YouTube around four million times, features a postcard utopia of a prosperous and progressive Thailand. In the young target audience, the clip rather made for mockery and ridicule.
Nevertheless, the prospects for the junta are not bad.
With a constitutional amendment, the military government secured crucial advantages in the new election already in 2016. Since then, there has been a bicameral parliament consisting of a House of Representatives with 500 elected MPs and a 250-member Senate. The senators are determined by the military government. Six seats are reserved for generals. In order to appoint the new prime minister, a political camp needs a majority in both chambers, ie 376 seats. With the already secured in the Senate, the junta only has to come to 126 more in the lower house, the opposition parties, however, to 376. For one party alone, this is hard to do.
Sharp criticism from human rights activists
That would speak for a merger of several opposition parties, but such a plan was made considerably more difficult a few weeks ago: A court banned the Thai Raksa Chart, one of the largest opposition parties. Reason was the surprising candidacy of Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya, who had set up as a top candidate for the party.
After clear criticism of her brother, the still uncrowned king Maha Vajiralongkorn on the thrust, she withdrew her candidacy but quickly back. Experts had seen the princess as the only real competitor to Premier Prayuth.
AFP
Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya (right) talks to an Expo visitor in Hong Kong
Human rights activists and organizations like Human Rights Watch (HRW) also criticize that basic democratic principles such as freedom of the press were not respected even in the case of the upcoming election. The National Council for Peace and Order, as the military junta calls it, prohibits the dissemination of information that is "deliberately distorted" in order to "cause misunderstandings in the public sphere that could affect national security or public order".
"The junta has maintained its repressive legislation, dissolved the main opposition party, brought the electoral commission under its control, and handpicked the senators to undermine the will of the Thai people," said HRW Asia chief Brad Adams. In addition, there are reports that the houses were searched by candidates.
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First results of the election are only 60 days after the vote, ie in May, expected. The coronation of Maha Vajiralongkorn should take place between the 4th and 6th of May, so that it is not overshadowed by the election.
In summary: In Thailand will be elected on March 24. These are the first parliamentary elections in eight years. Although the military government has already secured all seats in the Senate through a constitutional referendum in 2016. But her attempt to convince the young voters has failed her so far. It is still completely unclear who will choose the nearly seven million first-time voters. Results are expected only in May.