RUNNING A COUNTRY is much easier if you can silence naysayers. Just ask Thailand's prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha. Having seized the job after leading a coup in 2014, he clung to it through an unfair election last year. One of the secrets to his success has been the severe restrictions on what Thais can say about both their government and the monarchy. More than 900 people endured "attitude adjustment" in the years after Mr Prayuth came to power, according to iLaw, a Thai NGO. Approval of a new constitution in a referendum in 2016 was eased by a ban on criticising the draft. As of 2017 at least 100 people were either detained awaiting trial or serving prison sentences for lese-majeste. But the authorities are not content with the same old gags. They are always coming up with new ways to silence dissent.
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