The Week Ahead: Srettha faces court as People's Party rises

Hello friends!

A week of intrigue ahead for Thailand and Indonesia, it seems. Thai PM Srettha is in court to hear his future, Golkar looks to its future and the pro-democracy party in Thailand drops the ‘Future’ entirely.

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I’ll be back tomorrow for a post-Olympics warm-down.
Erin Cook

Moving forward to the future in Thailand

From the ashes of Move Forward: here’s the People’s Party. The new party, announced Friday after Move Forward was dissolved Wednesday by the Constitutional Court, is aiming for 100,000 new members in the coming days.  

Leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, a 37-year-old tech entrepreneur, follows the mould of Future Forward’s Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit and Move Forward’s Pita Limjaroenrat before him. Move Forward’s executives have been barred from participating in political life for a decade, but Move Forward MPs have happily thrown their lot in with the new party and Natthaphong’s leadership. Worries that some MPs would ditch for governing parties — as we saw from the Future Forward to Move Forward rebirth — have so far proven unfounded, likely due to the immense electoral success enjoyed by the dead party. 

The line between MF and the new party is very clear and we shouldn’t expect much, if anything, in the way fo a policy platform reboot. “We are going to continue what we have proposed to the Thai people that brought us to win the election last year,” Natthaphong told reporters Friday, as reported by Nikkei Asia. Where they go on campaigning for lese-majeste reform, however, is one to watch. 

Not everyone is stoked about the phoenix act. Thai Pakdee Party leader Warong Dechgitvigrom said yesterday in a post to Facebook that he’ll be asking the Election Commission if the People’s Party has enough branches to qualify, Bangkok Post reports. The PP is a renamed merger with the Thinkakhaochaovilai Party, but Thai Pakdee alleges that the party only had three branches: two in the north and one in Central Plains. The EC requires parties to have a branch in every region for at least one year to qualify for parliament. 

“If the Thinkakhaochaovilai Party has not had branches in four regions for one year, it will lose its status by the law. This means that the People’s Party cannot use the disqualified party,” Warong Dechgitvigrom said. I’ll be surprised if anything comes of this: if anyone knows how to set up a new party asap, it’s these guys. Still! Worth being flagged. 

Human and political rights groups as well as embassies in Bangkok have slammed the dissolution, citing the erosion of democratic norms and political freedoms — a charge the government has ignored and supporters dismiss as attempted foreign interference. 

A consortium of 88 student associations and activist groups from across 19 universities in the country have slammed the dissolution. “The Constitutional Court should be an organisation that protects the Constitution and constitutional rights. Instead, it is an organisation that expands state power and limits people’s rights and freedoms,” the group said in a statement, as per Prachatai. “We will continue fighting for democracy even without the Move Forward Party. We will stand by our dream of making Thailand a democracy where the people have rights, freedoms and truly hold sovereign power.” 

Prime Minister Srettha Thaivisin set to hear fate

The PM himself will be in court on Wednesday to find out if he’s to be dismissed from his post or not. “We are very confident because we did everything as per the legal procedure,” chief of staff Prommin Lertsuridej told Reuters, alluding to the cabinet appointment that got Srettha into hot water. “The case against the prime minister had been pushed on by selected member of the Senate,” he added. 

I’m also leaning towards it’ll all go away just fine, but the parties are preparing a response just in case. The coalition, which Pheu Thai leads, will meet today in Bangkok to discuss a plan b — and given that Srettha’s polling is through the floor, maybe that’s not a bad idea anyway. 

A giant steps back in Jakarta’s musical chairs

Bummer for Jakarta journalists hoping for a quiet Sunday shift yesterday, with the shock resignation of Golkar party boss Airlangga Hartarto. Airlangga has served as the party’s chair for seven years and is currently the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs in President Joko Widodo’s cabinet. His tenure as boss of one of Indonesia’s oldest and most influential parties (Dan Slater and Joseph Wong’s From Development to Democracy has a must-read chapter about Golkar) was due to end later this year, so the resignation has stunned. 

It comes amid pre-inauguration vying for influence and cabinet goodies in the Prabowo Subianto-era — and amid candidate appointments for the upcoming regional elections, with some big gubernatorial races seen as precursors to future presidential battles. The Prabowo-backing coalition has some big names in the tent, has Airlangga been rebuked? 

It’s also given immense gas to a longrunning theory that Jokowi, on the outs with previous ally Megawati Sukarnoputri’s PDI-P, is looking for a new political home for his post-presidency work. Golkar has long been floated as a possibility. Jokowi looks good in red and white, will yellow suit him? 

This week I expect lots of stories that revolve around one-word responses from various lawmakers and powerbrokers, but not too much firm confirmation in any direction. Let the intrigue continue!

Deadly drone attack in Rakhine State

In Myanmar’s Rakhine State, there’s nowhere safe to turn. For the Rohingya community, Bangladesh has been the best of a bad lot, but a drone attack last week shows that ‘path’ may be under attack. Dozens of Rohingya, including young children and pregnant women, were killed in a drone attack along the border last Monday witnesses told Reuters in this report from the weekend. 

Three witnesses told Reuters local ethnic armed group Arakan Army had been responsible — a charge the group denies. ‘Videos posted to social media showed piles of bodies strewn across muddy ground, their suitcases and backpacks scattered around them. Three survivors said more than 200 had died while a witness to the aftermath said he had seen at least 70 bodies,’ Reuters reported.

Returning home isn’t an option for many. Rohingya leaders say dozens of people are hiding out in paddies or trying their best to find an alternative route. “Rohingya in Maungdaw (town) are still trying to flee to Bangladesh. Some are fleeing to areas controlled by the Arakan Army as they don't see any other alternative,” Nay San Lwin, the co-founder of Free Rohingya Coalition, told Anadolu. 

Marcos slams dramatic air confrontation

Water incursions feeling a bit old hat in the South China Sea? Here are the planes! An unidentified ‘top Philippine security official’ told the Associated Press that two Chinese Air Force planes ‘executed a dangerous maneuver and dropped flares in the path of a Philippine air force plane’ while it was doing its regular monitor of the South China Sea. The plane and its crew were fine and returned safely to the Clark Air Base following the incident on Thursday. 

The moves were “unjustified, illegal and reckless,” Philippine President Bongbong Marcos said yesterday at a press conference, as reported by Reuters. Hysterical editorials from the Global Times are surely incoming.  

Fan Bingbing drives durian frenzy among Chinese tourists in Melaka (Straits Times)

“We have seen a steep increase of tourists from China over these few weeks and many told me that they wanted to taste the same durian that the Chinese diva uploaded in her social media page while visiting here in June,” he said on Aug 8.

Fan was made the Visit Melaka 2024 (TMM2024) ambassador by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusoh, also in June and Mr Low was also instrumental in arranging her visit here.

In Manila, how China set up an influence, espionage network (Rappler)

It’s a crucial discovery — perhaps the first of its kind documented in the Philippines. It also comes as the Philippines tries to bring tensions down in the West Philippine Sea while also guarding against influence and malign operations, especially those coming from China. 

These reports, shared with Rappler over several months, are part of a bigger domestic intelligence effort to weed out foreign espionage and influence operations in the Philippines.

PM salary lower than six state MBs or CMs (Malaysiakini) 

Great data work here from Malaysiakini poking into the pay packets of the country’s leaders.