BANGKOK — A Redshirt-run television station has been permanently canceled after Thai authorities decided its news coverage was politically divisive and could "incite unrest."

The decision was announced by Natee Sukonrat, deputy chairperson of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission (NBTC), on his official Twitter account today. 

Redshirt leader Nattawut Saikua on Peace TV in January 2015. 

The station, called Peace TV, was previously suspended for a week in April after the NBTC said its news coverage violated the ruling junta's Order No. 97, which forbids media from fomenting violence or causing "divisions in the Kingdom."

The station, which is operated by the largely anti-coup Redshirt movement, often featured core Redshirt leaders like Jatuporn Prompan and Nattawut Saikua. 

NBTC member Natee said today that the channel violated its agreement not to air politically divisive content.

"The NBTC has carefully deliberated on the action and concluded that it is a repeated offense," Natee wrote on Twitter. 

However, another member of the NBTC also took to Twitter to voice her opposition to the board's decision to revoke Peace TV's license. Supinya Klangnarong said she was the lone member to vote against the measure.

In series of Twitter posts, Supinya explained that the NBTC can choose from a variety of punishments, such as suspending the offending talk shows. Yet, the NBTC "skipped" all other possible measures and shut down Peace TV for good, an punishment she called "disproportionate."

"I agree that, by principle, the NBTC should increase its effort to regulate TV channels to prevent the problem of reproducing hatred and incitement, but it should be proportionate," Supinya wrote. "We should not just jump from not using power to using power in the highest way."

According to Supinya, Peace TV has recently focused on discussing the draft of the new constitution, which was written by a junta-appointed body, and a car bomb in the southern island of Koh Samui last month. 

"From what I have listened, Peace TV does not use rude language like another channel that belongs to the same political group. The content may be seen as criticizing the state power with a skeptical viewpoint," Supinya wrote. 

Core Redshirt leader a co-founder of Peace TV Nattawut Saikua said he will appeal the NBTC's order in Administrative Court and seek an injunction. 

"Peace TV is a private organization that does its business legally," Nattawut wrote in an official statement. "This motion does not only affect the rights and liberty, but also affects business of the station. Therefore, our legal team is using legal channel to defend our station." 

He also said he believes the NBTC, which has yet to formaly notify the channel, has been plotting to shut down Peace TV from the beginning.

"It's like they gave us yellow card first to build some legitimacy for giving us red card later," Nattawut said. "I don't understand those in power right now. The current situation requires diverse opinions to benefit the drafting of the constitution and create reconciliation, but they end up blocking a channel that voices different opinions. It means the opinions of certain people that do not match those in power will be rejected. With thing like this happening, how could this country move to democracy?"

Both of Thailand’s Redshirt and Yellowshirt movements operate their own TV and radio channels featuring news programs and live broadcasts of their political rallies. Media agencies affiliated with the two groups played significant roles in the pro- and anti-government rallies last year that culminated in the May 2014 coup.

On 20 May 2014, then-army chief Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha unilaterally imposed martial law and ordered all partisan media agencies to shut down. Two days later, the general staged a coup d'etat and toppled the Redshirt-backed government. 

The partisan media outlets were later allowed to resume operations under the conditions that they change the names of their stations and adhere to the junta's guidelines. The junta has also enforced a ban on political gatherings and protests in an effort to promote "national reconciliation." 

Critics say the junta is particularly bent on curbing the influence of the Redshirt movement, which has commanded the polls and elected majorities in congress in every national election for the past decade. 

RANONG — Police in southern Thailand say they did not find any illegal activity during an inspection of a fishing port in Ranong province today, conducted as part of a nationwide effort to stave off the European Union's impending ban on Thai seafood.

Police and other government officials inspected workers at Saphan Pla pier, a major fish market and distribution hub, in compliance with the government’s orders to crack down on illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU), and human trafficking.

The EU announced last week that Thailand has six months to implement new measures to counter illegal fishing, or else face a potential import ban that could cost the country at least 20 billion baht in lost revenue. 

Officials investigate Saphan Pla pier in Ranong province, 27 April 2015.

The raid was jointly led by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security officials, anti-trafficking police, marine police, the counter-insurgency agency Internal Security Operation Command (ISOC), among others.

Police said all of the workers on Saphan Pla pier, most of whom are from Myanmar, are properly registered.  

"They have established employers," a police officer said. "They were neither coerced nor enslaved." 

Operators of fishing boats in the area have also been instructed to register their port calls, fishing areas, crew lists, and licenses with local authorities, police said.

Experts say many Thai fishing boats are unregistered, and there is no effective record of where fish is caught, or who is working on the boats.

The lack of oversight has allowed Thai boats to fish in neighboring countries' waters, and also staff their ships with illegal and often abused labor. Thailand was downgraded last year in the US’s annual human trafficking report, which cited the widespread use of trafficked labor in the Thai seafood industry and the complicity of some Thai officials.

Junta chairman and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told the nation in a televised address last Friday that Thailand is likely to miss the EU's deadline.

"We won't be able to meet [the EU’s deadline] because the issues are so numerous," Gen. Prayuth said, "Registering fishing boats alone is already difficult. In few days, in few months, we cannot do all of this. And we have received little cooperation so far, too."

Thailand is the world's third-largest exporter of seafood.  

NARATHIWAT — The commander of the Fourth Region Army has urged insurgents in Thailand's southern border provinces stop targeting civilians, especially children.

Lt.Gen. Prakarn Chollayuth made the plea while he was visiting a Muslim man and three children who were injured by a bomb in Narathiwat province on 24 April. The family was leaving a picnic on the beach when the roadside bomb exploded, police say. Authorities suspect the explosive was one of many planted by local militants who are aiming to create a breakaway Islamic state in the three southern border provinces of Narathiwat, Yala, and Pattani. 

Lt. Gen. Prakarn Chollayuth  visiting a man and his  three children who were injured by a bomb in Narathiwat province. 27 April 2015.

"I'd like to tell them, please stop harming innocent civilians. There are only negative consequences," Lt.Gen. Prakarn said at the hospital this morning. "Especially children. They are important strength for the country's future. They should not harm children."

Lt.Gen. Prakarn said medical workers at the hospital are also providing counsel to the three children for the psychological trauma caused by the incident.

A network of shadowy insurgents has been locked in a bloody conflict with Thai authorities since early 2004, claiming more than 6,200 lives. In addition to attacking security officers, separatists also regularly target public schools and teachers, presumably because they are viewed as instruments of the Thai Buddhist state. 

Experts say the conflict is mostly fueled by ethnic and religious differences. While the vast majority of Thailand is Buddhist, the three southern border provinces are dominated by Malay Muslims who speak a distinct dialect and trace their ancestry back to the sultanate of Patani, which was annexed by Thailand in early 20th century.  

Approximately 60,000 security officers have been stationed in the Deep South to combat the militants. The counter-insurgency is mainly led by the Fourth Region Army, whose commander, Lt.Gen. Prakarn also visited local Muslim clerics in Narathiwat earlier today.

In a meeting at Nurul Huda mosque, Lt.Gen. Prakarn said authorities are focused on rehabilitating former insurgents and helping them return to their normal lives in society. 

"We are giving opportunities for the misguided to meet with security officers," Lt.Gen. Prakarn explained to the clerics, using a military term that refers to members of the separatist movement. "The misguided will receive lectures in political schools that we have established in the region, so that their attitude about many issues can be adjusted. I insist that those who went through the program will be able to live their lives normally again. They can leave the country for Hajj."

He continued, "The violent situation has been happening in this region for 11 years now. It only causes losses to the region. Therefore, I ask all of you to help create peace in this region, especially by cooperating with security forces, so that we can move forward to building peace together." 

Thai authorities have been criticized for their heavy-handed tactics in the region, which has been governed under martial law for the past nine years. Lt.Gen. Prakarn recently apologized for a military raid on a village in Pattani province last month that left four civilians dead. An independent panel later determined that the four men had no connection to the insurgency.

The site of roadside bombing in Pattani province, 27 April 2015.

This morning, a roadside bomb exploded in Khok Po district of Pattani province at around 8 am and injured two soldiers on patrol. One later died at the hospital. The deceased was identified as Master Sergeant Niphon Niyomchai, a 55-year-old native of Nakhon Ratchasima in northeastern Thailand. 

BANGKOK — Junta chairman and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha expressed resistance to postponing the election scheduled for early next year, citing the time frame outlined in the interim constitution.

Gen. Prayuth's remark came after politicians from across the political spectrum called for a delaying the poll in order to change what they see as a flawed charter, which was drafted by a junta-appointed council.

Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha at the Air Force Base in Bangkok, 26 April 2015.

"Who said that? What power do politicians have to do that?" Gen. Prayuth quipped at a reporter who asked him to comment on the issue yesterday, "What does the Constitution say?"

Answering his own question, Prayuth continued, "The [interim] constitution has already been written … this is my road map. We have 60 days, 90 days, it has to be like that. If it can be different, find me a way. How can I amend that?"

According to the time frame outlined in the junta’s interim charter, the draft of the new constitution must be finished in early August. The junta has said it will promulgate the new charter – Thailand’s 20th – by 4 September and hold a new election 150 days afterwards, estimated to be in February 2016. 

The charter draft was written by the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC), whose members were chosen by the junta last year. The draft is currently under deliberation by the National Reform Council (NRC), another junta-appointed body.

Last week, Jatuporn Prompan, leader of the Redshirt movement's official umbrella organization, called for postponing the election in order to address the new charter’s “undemocratic” nature, including a  clause that allows MPs to appoint an unelected Prime Minister, the establishment of an unelected Senate, and the establishment of powerful unelected "independent" agencies.

"Do not be afraid that a delayed election will damage the country," Jatuporn wrote on his official Facebook account. "Be afraid that a quick election under undemocratic rules will cause far more damages, in an unmatched way. We all wish to see a good, correct, and fair constitution, with rights and liberty that will lead to equality and fraternity that will take place in this society."

Other politicians from Thailand's both primary parties, Pheu Thai and Democrat, also urged postponing the election. 

In the press conference yesterday, Gen. Prayuth also spoke about other issues, including:

Media freedom

"The media has to write well. I will keep my eyes on what you write. You understand when I talk to you, but when you write, it turns out to be something different. I circle so many passages from newspapers when I am in the car. You are all geniuses. You suggest that I fix this issue and that issue. What kind of [professional] background do you have? I ask you. Those people who criticize me, have you ever done anything successful? Or you are only at good working for newspapers, since you were a baby, until you are old? You keep criticizing the government harshly. But this is a government that seized power. Don't criticize me like I'm a normal government. You cannot. We do everything for you. We fix everything. But you still criticize me. What the hell is matter with you? Am I being too kind? I don't know."

Decentralization

"Can [decentralization] be done? Today, we have decentralized a lot. We have PAOs [Provincial Administrative Organizations], we have SAOs [Subdistrict Administrative Organizations]. We have good ones and bad ones. Today, you may not want Governors, that's okay, but on that day, the country will be divided and there will be a war. Believe me, that will happen if you keep thinking like that. If you are ready, I'm fine with it. You may want something like the United States of America. But ask them how far apart each district, subdistrict, village, and state is to each other. It takes 5-6 hours on a plane ride. Is Thailand that far apart? Today we have DLA [Department of Local Administration], we have Municipal Offices. They are already good. It's just we need to improve their quality and rearrange works. What will people have? Where will be the budget come from? Today you say you want decentralization, but even without decentralization, things are a mess already. How far do you want it to be decentralized?"

The new background for his weekly TV show 

Gen. Prayuth used a new background for his weekly television show on 24 April 2015.

"I want to convey a message that forests are beautiful. Thailand should preserve its forests. Think, think! I want people to see that Thailand has beautiful forests, that we have an orderly society. Or do you want me to use something bad for the background? Do you want that?"