An open letter from Thai students to ASEAN leaders
Dear ASEAN countries’ leaders,
We, Thai students from various institutions, would like to welcome ASEAN countries’ leaders to the 35th ASEAN Summit in Bangkok, Thailand, between 2-4 November 2019.
We are incredibly honored that Thailand was given the opportunity to be an ASEAN leader and host of this ASEAN Summit. However, the person acting as ASEAN leader today did not come from a free and fair election. Thailand’s general election on March 24th was full of questions regarding the purity and fairness of the election. The state and mechanisms of the state were used to interfere with the election. People’s intent was twisted. Also, the 250 appointed senators, who were not from the people’s votes, are all in some ways related with the coup d’etat council. They were appointed to vote for General Prayut Chan-o-cha to become, once again, the prime minister.
The votes for the political parties that supported General Prayut Chan-o-cha during the election were only a little over 8 million votes, while the parties that did not express support for General Prayut during the election had over 20 million votes. The people’s voices that chose political parties that did not support General Prayut were significantly stronger in number. Despite this, General Prayut was again able to become prime minister, by the twisted rules and independent organizations that supported the succession of power of dictatorship to become a dictatorship in disguise.
We welcome everyone, but we want to tell each one of you that this government came from an unfair process, from an election that was not free nor fair, and did not in any way reflect the true intent of the Thai people.
Best regards,
ธนวัฒน์ วงค์ไชย - Tanawat Wongchai
