The Reign of Terror in Thailand’s Politics: an Analysis on Thai Middle Class and Junta’s Policy

The Reign of Terror in Thailand’s Politics: an Analysis on Thai Middle Class and Junta’s Policy

Since the military Junta seized power in 2014, it has exercised its power to cope with any protests that the people would have conducted against them. The Junta has not only been attempting to limit the people’s rights and control over political authority, but it has also been using power to suppress, intimidate, and eliminate the opponents, as summoning people to have attitude adjustment by military officers. However, the potential of the Junta has gone substandard with the corruption scandals such as distorting the rule of law and failure in economic management. For example, the scandal in building Rajabhakti Park, which the Junta has done ambiguously. Those examples have been widely creating dissatisfaction among the middle class. However, the Thai middle class should politically be the leading actor. It cannot mobilize the political movement under the reign of terror. The purpose of this paper aims to explore the means of government to silence the political opponents and middle-class uprisings by focusing on the policy implementation by the government.