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Reuters

Standing atop the stairs outside his university auditorium, 20-year-old activist Parit Chiwarak led a protest hundreds strong calling for an end to Thailand’s ruling military junta.
“The military is supposed to protect the country, not fight the people,” he told students gathered at Thammasat, one of Thailand’s most prestigious universities.
“We want elections,” they chanted, many of them waving fans emblazoned with hearts reading “Love Democracy”.
Within two months, Thailand is expected to hold its first election since the army seized power in a 2014 coup.

The March 24 vote could be swayed by young people, many of them newly politicised and active in a way that has rarely been seen since state forces crushed student pro-democracy movements in the 1970s. Voters aged 18-35 now make up just over a quarter of the electorate of about 50 million.
Of those, 7 million are eligible to vote for the first time.
While it is not clear which way youngsters will vote, many say they do not favour the junta and the military-backed parties that have been formed to contest the election.
It’s more than a transition of politicians, but a testimony whether we accept dictatorship
Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, student activist
Young Thais for years have been seen as politically apathetic. Many say they were turned off by years of paralysing street protests by Thailand’s two rival factions, the “red shirt” loyalists of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and establishment “yellow shirt” pro-military royalist groups.
But nearly five years of direct military rule has led to a small but determined movement of young people calling for change.
“Young people today are not like before. We’re more politically engaged, and we’re a large voter base,” said Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, a 22-year-old student activist.
“This is an all-important election for us. It’s more than a transition of politicians, but a testimony whether we accept dictatorship, a life-and-death moment for our future.”
A poll in December by King Prajadhipok’s Institute found that 90 per cent of voters aged 18 to 24 surveyed said they would vote in the next election, a departure from the conventional view of the Thai youth as politically apathetic.
That compares to only 37.9 per cent of Thais aged 15 to 25 who said they were “quite interested or very interested” in politics ahead of Thailand’s last election in 2010.
“Young people are creating ripples and are more politically awakened,” said Anusorn Unno, a lecturer at Thammasat University.

Much of the student activism has focused on calling for elections and does not necessarily translate into support for any one party.
But a new political party is making direct appeals to the youth vote as part of its platform. The Future Forward party, led by the charismatic heir to an auto-parts manufacturing empire, promises a new kind of politics that weakens the military and moves beyond the conflicts of yesteryear.
The young people grew up in a highly divisive society ... they seek a way out
Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit
“The young people grew up in a highly divisive society. They don’t see this as the new normal; they seek a way out. They seek change,” said party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, who at 40 is at least a decade younger than other major parties’ likely prime ministerial candidates, all in their 50s and 60s.
Future Forward, made up almost entirely of young progressives with zero experience in politics, touts left-wing policies including scrapping obligatory military conscription for young men and ending economic monopolies for wealthy families.
Also making appeals to the youth are two of the biggest established parties, roughly associated with the “red shirt” and “yellow shirt” rival camps that have taken to the streets in the past decade.
The Pheu Thai party, which has won every election since 2001 and is linked to the red-shirt movement, has seen a flurry of memes featuring its possible prime ministerial candidate, Chatchart Sittiphan, portrayed as The Hulk, among other pop culture references.
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Another prominent Pheu Thai candidate, long-time politician Sudarat Keyuraphan, often takes her teenage daughter with her on campaign tours.
The rival Democrat party, whose opposition to Thaksin gained some support from the yellow shirt movement, also heavily promotes its “New Dem” wing of young politicians including the party leader’s 26-year-old nephew, Parit Wacharasindhu, who promised to bring more youth agendas to government.

Even junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha has a few youthful fans – though they are harder to find.
“He’s obviously not corrupt like previous governments,” said Penumpai Phumxusri, 27.
In recent decades, youth activism in Thailand has been muted, haunted by the violent crackdown on student uprisings in the 1970s.
Thailand’s military rulers seek to curtail support for Shinawatras and their allies
On October 6, 1976, state forces and royalist mobs attacked a group of about 2,000 students inside Thammasat University and killed dozens, accusing them of sympathising with left-leaning revolutions sweeping through the region at the time.
Now, several youth activists have taken to calling the junta a “dictatorship”. Small protests are held and satirical cartoons targeting the military have appeared on social media and as street art.


Last year, a music group called Rap Against Dictatorship released a song that notched up about 54 million views on YouTube, with lyrics calling Thailand “a country where the parliament is the military’s living room.”
Social media-savvy youth also took their frustration to Twitter in January with a hashtag translated roughly as “not another damn delay,” when the junta said a February 24 election date would be postponed again.
“I have seen a lot of changes in the youths over the past year, like with the rap song and the hashtag, which indicate how much they value their rights and liberties,” said Anusorn, the Thammasat lecturer.
“When the polls roll around, the young and especially the new voters will turn up in high numbers.”

On Tuesday, four cabinet ministers resigned to focus on campaigning for their pro-junta Palang Pracharat Party in the March elections.
The four are Industry Minister Uttama Savanayana, who is also the party’s leader, Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong, its secretary general, Science and Technology Minister Suvit Maesincee, the party’s deputy leader, and Prime Minister’s Office Minister Kobsak Pootrakool, a party spokesman.
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The ministers had come under pressure to resign from other parties, which contended that they would have an unfair advantage if they remained in their government jobs while campaigning for the polls.
“We made the decision on our own and weren’t pressured by anyone,” Uttama told reporters, pledging that he and his colleagues will devote their time to the party’s election campaign.
Additional reporting by Kyodo


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Graffiti depicting Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha in Bangkok. Photo: Reuters

FILE - In this May 19, 2012, file photo, protesters attend a prayer session during a rally at Ratchaprasong Intersection in Bangkok, Thailand. Thailand's Yellow Shirts and Red Shirts represent two opposing political factions: respectively, opponents of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and his supporters. The Red Shirts rose in response after Thaksin was ousted in a September 2006 military coup. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 4, 2006, file photo, Thai protesters wave flags and cheer during a rally opposing Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra at the Royal Plaza in Bangkok, Thailand. Thailand's Yellow Shirts and Red Shirts represent two opposing political factions: respectively, opponents of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and his supporters. The Yellow Shirts derived their identity from the color associated with the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)

REFILE - CORRECTING SURNAME SPELLING Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, leader of the Future Forward Party, talks during a Reuters interview in his office in Bangkok, Thailand November 1, 2018. Picture taken November 1, 2018. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

epa07328807 Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha looks at his wrist watch during a press conference following a weekly cabinet meeting at Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, 29 January 2019. Thailand is set to hold the general election on 24 March 2019, the first poll in five years since the May 2014 military coup. EPA-EFE/NARONG SANGNAK

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Thai soldiers march as part of a campaign encouraging the public to vote in the referendum on Thailand's draft constitution. Photo: AFP

Former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra shows her ballot paper during the referendum on a draft constitution at a polling station in Bangkok, Thailand, August 7, 2016. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom

FILE - In this May 10, 2015 file photo, Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, sitting in a car, leaves Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok to return to his seaside palace. A statement issued late Friday night, May 20, 2016, by the Royal Household Bureau said doctors used a tube previously placed in the king's abdomen to drain the fluids in a 75-minute procedure that evening. It described the result as satisfactory. The statement said the doctors advised drainage after noticing muscle spasms on the king's face. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)

epa05458062 Thai electoral volunteer official check ballot papers in in preperation for the referendum on a new constitution at Ratchathewi District Office in Bangkok, Thailand, 06 August 2016. Some 50.6 million Thai voters are eligible to cast their votes in a referendum for the controversial military's backed draft constitution on 07 August 2016. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT

epa05460926 A Thai police man keeps guard as people cast their ballot papers at a polling station in Pattani province, southern Thailand, 07 August 2016. Some 50.6 million Thai voters are eligible to cast their votes in a referendum for the controversial military backed draft constitution, the first polling in the country after the May 2014 military coup. EPA/ABDULLAH WANGNI

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