The ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has cited the “politically abnormal” post-coup atmosphere as a reason why it needs to enact series of absolute laws from the martial law imposed in 2014 to the current interim charter’s Article 44.

Without bothering to use normal legal procedures, the NCPO head and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is empowered by Article 44, which gives ng him absolute authority to order and replace officials or perform any act, whether legislative, executive or judicial.

Since December 2014, General Prayut has ‘necessarily’ issued 91 orders via this absolute power. This sense of necessity has spanned vastly from setting up new governmental agencies, dealing with drunk drivers, revoking police rank of a fugitive former PM, and too many more to mention.

A series of orders have also been issued to appoint, suspend or shift officers mostly suspected of involvement in grafts or misbehaviour. One example is the NCPO Order Number 19/2015 that shifted 70 officers including Winai Sawasdivorn, then-secretary general of the National Health Security Office (NHSO).

The secretary general, normally, acts with the NHSO board when discussing public health policies with the public health minister, appointed as the NHSO chairman by position.

Former NHSO board member Nimit Tienudom saw that this use of Article 44 as unbalancing proportions of a board made up of representatives from various sides. This variety had helped weigh decisions on health policies to be applied for about 49 million Thais covered by national health security, Nimit explained.

The same order also froze 42 local administrators who were all elected.

Another example from the same category is NCPO Order No 21/2015 dismissing Lt-General Pongsakorn Rodchompoo from his position as a deputy secretary-general at the National Security Council in July last year. The order stopped Pongsakorn from carrying on terrorism issues and made him an adviser to the PM. That, he told The Nation, “requires me to do nothing but a member of some governmental boards, where I again have almost nothing to do.”

Pongsakorn said he still didn’t know why he was transferred, insisting he was not involved with any graft cases.

Prayut also issued orders to push government-promoted reforms. In November last year, Prayutissued NCPO Order Number 40/2015 to “reform” the Social Security Office (SSO) by revamping members of its three boards and advisers.

But this “reform” has grounded the SSO to a bureaucratic pattern since all board members were appointed.

Wilaiwan Saetia, president of the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee, said the selected board members have not let insured people check the SSO’s financial operations. Lacking extensive participation, Wilaiwan feared the SSO would not transparent and independent enough to protect the benefits of those insured.

The orders, as Prayut claimed, were also issued to speed up decision-making processes. One example is NCPO Order No 9/2016 allowing preparation for construction to be carried out in parallel with environmental impact assessments (EIAs). Previously, EIAs had to be completed before construction but that was said to “consume time”.

The order was followed by worries that the practice would allow building to go on regardless of concerns of local communities.

“With things speeding up, projects are likely to be carried out much less carefully,” Pakpoom Withantirawat, from the Assembly of NGOs for the Protection and Conservation of Environment and Natural Resources, said.

Another bid to speed up processes is the NCPO Order No 36/2016 to reclaim Sor Por Kor land to tackle land encroachment cases around the country.

One affected area is the Klong Sai Pattana community in Surat Thani that is home to hundreds of families, whose faith was shaken by the abrupt order.

“We almost finished dealing with the government in land reform when suddenly this order struck,” Surapon Songrak, a coordinator of the Assembly of Southern Farmers, said.

The orders have also been used to deal with urgent national issues. For instance, NCPO Order No 24/2015 was issued to counter illegal fishing, such as banning of set-bag nets.

Safidee Konkalimeen, a local fisherman in Songkhla, said that almost 200 families had been forced to remove the nets without getting any compensation from authorities.

‘Unanimous rejection’

In a light of next week’s referendum, all of these people linked to or affected by the use of Article 44 unanimously told The Nation that they wished to reject the draft charter.

Some said their sentiments on Prayut‘s government would affect how they will vote.

“This government doesn’t return happiness to people at all,” Safidee said. “I will [vote to] reject the draft. Some other villagers want to vote for it though, because they want to shoo the government away as quickly as possible.”

Surapon shared the same thought. “The government is undemocratic and they don’t listen to us. They also took part in drafting process and I won’t support it.”

Other Article 44 “victims” said they would decide by the content of the new charter and insist on rejecting it if it cut out rights on their concerns when compared with previous charters.

For Nimit, he saw that the draft omits healthcare for the elderly, while Wilaiwan noted that the draft does not guarantee fair wage adjustment like its predecessor did. And Pakpoom felt the draft doesn’t give communities any rights at all.

Pongsakorn, who had his name written in the order, said he would not let his grudge sway how he votes. “But I’ll vote it down anyway, as it bars people from being able to play a significant role in the political arena,” he said.