One of the things that still seems strange to me after living in Thailand many years is that life under a military dictatorship is so much better than in a "democracy" (evil quotes because the US doesn't seem like a real democracy to me). At least as long as you aren't someone the government decides to target for saying something they don't like. A western style democracy would probably be worse for the majority of people in Thailand. None of that changes the fact that the brutal oppression of free speech (15 years in prison for saying something considered disparaging to the monarchy is pretty brutal) should be rebuked harshly by any country that holds free speech as an important value.
> life under a military dictatorship is so much better than in a "democracy"
I'm replying to both you and the parent since you both seem to support this stance.
You are in no position to decide what is better for a group of people. Further, until the Thai experience democracy, neither you or anyone else actually knows how it will turn out. Perhaps most people you deal with hide their true beliefs about life under a monarchy. The opposite may also be true: people may really end up preferring autocracy! But until they are given a chance to try living in e.g. a proper constitutional monarchy, you simply cannot state such things with any certainty.
> At least as long as you aren't someone the government decides to target for saying something they don't like.
Remember, the government's opinion changes over time based on its interests. You might wake up one day to find that something you believe to be right contradicts directly with what the government thinks.
Here's a simple, recent example I lived through back in 2011.
The UAE government was not very supportive of the Arab Spring, but you were fine as long as you didn't protest or call for a change in the status quo. Pretty fair, given that you are living under a monarchy.
But the UAE decided to back a military coup in 2013 which ousted the Muslim Brotherhood and reverted Egypt back to an autocracy. With this move, the UAE outlawed any criticism or questioning of either the UAE's position or Egyptian military rule in general. So if you supported democracy in Egypt, you were now "forced" to change your opinion or face potential punishment (at best, deportation).
> until the Thai experience democracy, neither you or anyone else actually knows how it will turn out.
Unfortunately we do know how it turns out. The whole Shinawatra fiasco up until the coup shows how Thai democracy goes. I don't think anyone would call the years before the coup healthy.
