BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand's junta lifted martial law in most of the nation, but 10 months after staging a coup, it remains firmly in control -- with new laws invoked Wednesday that essentially give it absolute power.
The government of former army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha had faced growing pressure from foreign governments, human rights groups and particularly Thailand's own business community to revoke martial law.
Although it wasn't generally visible in everyday life -- there were few soldiers in the streets -- it scared off foreign investors and hurt tourism, which accounts for nearly 10 per cent of the GDP. Tour operators called it a tourist deterrent, partly because many insurance companies won't cover travellers to countries under martial law.
Thailand's king on Wednesday formally approved a request from the junta that martial law be lifted.
In its place, though, the junta invoked a special security measure called Article 44 in the military-imposed interim constitution that gives Prayuth the power to override any branch of government in the name of national security, and absolves him of any legal responsibility for his actions.
Thai media have referred to it as "the dictator law." Under similar legislation in the 1960s, a Thai dictator carried out summary executions.
"From the outside, the lifting of martial law is good news for business and tourism," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist and director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.
"But from the inside, we're functionally in the same boat," he said about Article 44. "Similar restrictions are still in place. And where there are pockets of dissent and political expression it is likely to be more draconian."
The main difference between the two measures is that martial law -- which remains in place in several southern provinces where the army is fighting a decade-old Islamic insurgency -- is very specific and Article 44 is very vague.
Martial law places the military in charge of public security and allows arrests without warrants, trials of suspects in military courts, bans on public gatherings, and censorship in the name of preserving order.
The junta issued one order with 14 articles late Wednesday under Article 44 that are similar, giving the military the authority to make arrests, conduct searches and seize assets, censor the media and crack down on any threats to national security or the monarchy. Some reiterated previous junta orders imposed after last year's coup, like bans on political rallies of more than five people and threats to jail those who violate junta orders. Other orders under the article could be issued later.
The New York-based group Human Rights Watch said the decision to invoke Article 44 marked "Thailand's deepening descent into dictatorship."
"Thailand's friends abroad should not be fooled by this obvious sleight of hand by the junta leader to replace martial law with a constitutional provision that effectively provides unlimited and unaccountable powers," said Brad Adams, the group's Asia director.
Thailand's military has a history of intervening in politics, having seized power 12 times since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932.
Prayuth imposed martial law on May 20, 2014, when he was the country's army chief. On May 22, he led a coup that toppled the elected civilian government after months of sometimes-violent street protests.
Stability was restored but at a steep price. Thailand's democratic institutions were dismantled, and the country's authoritarian rulers have crushed dissent.
Critics say the coup leaders' real goal is to eliminate the political influence of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was overthrown in a 2006 coup. His sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, was ousted by a court ruling just days before last year's coup and later barred from holding office for five years.
The coup was part of a societal schism that in broad terms pits the majority rural poor, who back the Shinawatras, against an urban-based elite that is supported by the army and staunch royalists, who see the Shinawatras as a threat to the traditional structures of power.
Since the coup, the junta has moved to consolidate power. In July, the military adopted the interim 48-article constitution and formed a junta-appointed legislature. In August, the legislature appointed Prayuth as prime minister -- a post he said he will retain until elections, though no date has been set. Polls were initially promised for this year, then pushed to sometime in 2016.
Prayuth sought to downplay concerns about Article 44, saying nobody had made much fuss about it until now.
"Article 44 will be exercised constructively," Prayuth said. "Don't worry, if you're not doing anything wrong, there's no need to be afraid."
