Soldiers from the rank of sub-lieutenant and higher will now be allowed to prevent or suppress 27 types of offences, including crimes against public peace, defamation, gambling, extortion, and labour abuses. They will also be allowed in some cases to search property without a warrant.
The military is now authorised to seize assets, suspend financial transactions and ban suspects from travelling.
Thought this article by Pravit Rojanaphruk, the journalist who was prevented from attending a conference on free speech by the Thai government (and mentioned in your article) was pretty interesting as well. Definitely sounds like a bad time to be a Thai citizen.