Guidelines for Management of Social Unrest Organized by the People

Abstract

               This research article on Guidelines for Management of Social Unrest Organized by the People has objectives to: 1) study the context and problems of disorganized activities based on public gathering, 2) study the compulsion of Public Assembly Act B.E. 2558 and its solution towards insurgency in case of public gathering, and 3) propose guidelines for management of the unrest organized by the people. It is a qualitative research in which it utilized a documentary study, in-depth interview with 21 key-informants who are scholars, people in public sector organization, government officials, and politicians. The focus group discussion was also conducted with 12 individuals who are academicians, reporters, crowd police, general public, and students. The data were analyzed by using typological, analytic induction, and content analysis, and verified by utilizing triangulation method.

          The results revealed that 1) freedom of assembly is an important factor of the occurrence and existence of democratic society, peaceful and unarmed public assembly is a part of processes concerning decision in democratic regime, public gathering is a mechanism in an expressing of opinion and open criticism, problems and claims made by people or interest group, and the government can clearly see conflict within the society. 2) The Public Assembly Act B.E. 2558 had important matters that included (1) it is an assembly in the public, and (2) other people can join the rally. The assembly with an incomplete components per se is not considered as a public assembly under this law. The gathering in a personal space, inside the residence, in a private hotel, or personal auditorium including any other gathering that individuals cannot participate such as a meeting of members of the village organization, public gathering that is not under the said Act, some kind of gathering that are exempted so they are not under the enforcement of the law, for instance, 1) a gathering of the royal ceremony and state ceremony, 2) religious ritual, traditional activities, or local culture, 3) show, sports, and tourism promotion organization, 4) a gathering within educational premises, 5) a gathering according to the law or an academic seminar organized by unit with educational purposes, and 6) public gathering during the declaration of emergency state or proclamation of martial law, a gathering in a forbidden area or any other areas as announced by the minister. And 3) The guidelines in the management of the unrest caused by public gathering included 1) the situational or event awareness pertaining to the unrest, 2) the assessment and forecast upon the degree of public gathering, 3) the solution method towards the unrest, 4) the working group to solve the problem, 5) the confidence concerning the working group, 6) the participation in decision making by the working group, 7) the aim of problem solving, 8) the adherence of jurisprudence, 9) the use of mass media in solving the problem, and 10) the measurement of the result in solving the problem.