Members of a now-defunct political party continued their assault on the government of Prayuth Chan-o-cha, accusing it of colluding with the military to wage a digital disinformation campaign against their critics and the public at large.
Wiroj Lakkana-adisorn, an MP for the recently disbanded Future Forward Party, said during last night鈥檚 no-confidence debate in parliament that the military had built a cyber network 鈥 websites and social media 鈥 to attack pro-democracy critics and activists, and incite divisions among the people.聽
Future Forward was disbanded by a court Friday, weakening its members just days before the no-confidence debate began against Gen. Prayuth, who led the 2014 military coup and became prime minister after last year鈥檚 flawed elections.
Wiroj gave as an example the site , the homepage of which reads 鈥淭hailand South Situation. The 鈥楩act鈥 You Can 鈥楾rust.鈥欌 Posts on the page praise the role of soldiers in the restive Deep South, where they have been accused of human rights abuses and torture, and criticizes the human rights activists who bring light to their abuses.
One of the kingdom鈥檚 foremost human rights defenders who was frequently referenced by the page, wrote afterward that her legal complaints about the page went ignored.
鈥淚 always wondered who鈥檚 behind [Information Operations] that slandered, accused and distorted the work of human rights activists,鈥 Angkhana Neelapaijit, a former National Human Rights Commissioner, wrote after Wirot鈥檚 speech. 鈥淣ow I have the answer why police didn鈥檛 arrest anyone when I reported it to the Technology Crime Suppression Division.鈥澛
Wiroj also presented documentary evidence that Prayuth鈥檚 government maintains a list of social media accounts and profiles of people and groups who are 鈥渁gainst鈥 his government, such as legal rights group iLaw, social critic Winyu 鈥淛ohn鈥 Wongsurawat and writer Sarinee Achavanuntakul.
He described the collective effort as one to keep the public divided and inflame social ruptures.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 hate each other out of nowhere, but here is the mechanism that incites us to hate each other,鈥 Wijoj said.
As Wiroj was speaking, Prayuth walked out of the parliament, saying he needed 鈥渟ome rest.鈥
Wiroj鈥檚 party, Future Forward, was disbanded after the Constitutional Court on Friday found party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit guilty of violating election rules by loaning THB191 million in the run-up to the 2019 election.
The no-confidence debate is expected to continue until Thursday.
Related:
Protests sweep Thai campuses after court disbands popular political party
Thai gov鈥檛 calls Future Forward鈥檚 1MDB accusations 鈥榮lander鈥
