The American-based global NGO Freedom House last week downgraded the Kingdom of Thailand from "partially free" to "not free." This is not good news for those of us who love the country. Unfortunately, it seems to be justified.
Much of Thailand has seen increased "security" precautions in place since the Red Shirt-Yellow Shirt confrontations in 2010 and 2011 - bulked-up police and military forces, more visible than usual. Rumor says that many of the Red Shirt leaders -- those who were calling for the overthrow of the current government -- have been in hiding ever since the disturbances, and that one of the purposes of the security escalation is to catch them before the elections currently scheduled for July.
But the primary reason Freedom House changed Thailand's status had to do with the touchy subject of monarchy.
For decades, Thais have revered the King and Queen. Their portraits hang in virtually every house in the land, and the popular love for the King, especially, is so deep it's difficult to understand it outside Thailand. And, in fact, the 83-year-old King Bhumibol, who is the world's longest-reigning sovereign, has been an extraordinary monarch, tireless (until recently, when age has made him frail) in his people's behalf.
During the riots, the protestors were careful to distinguish between the elected government, which they opposed, and the royal family, whom they revered, or purported to. Recently, though, questions have been raised about whether the King -- a Constitutional monarch with enormous moral and ethical influence but little actual power -- was neutral in the overthrow of the billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, who was elected prime minister by a landslide but was thrown out of office in a coup while he was abroad.
The traditional Thai power elite -- mostly Bangkok, mostly Thai-Chinese -- has relied for years on the monarchy being sacrosanct. It was the one thing that could never be challenged, and they have taken a position directly behind it, secure in the belief that the somewhat unusual laws protecting the monarchy would also protect them.
Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code prescribes prison terms for those who defame or insult the monarchy. This article is being invoked with ominous frequency lately.
- A respected Thammasat University professor was recently hauled to the police station to hear charges read against him -- apparently at the insistence of Army chief Prayuth Chan-Ocha.
- The Thai Election Commission has imposed a ban on all discussion of the monarchy in campaigning leading up to the July elections.
- A national cyber patrol has been set up to monitor the Internet. Several people have been arrested, with prison terms ranging from 13 to 70 years, and some estimates place the number of banned sites in the thousands.
- Another Thai academic has been charged because of a book he wrote criticizing the coup against Thaksin, despite the fact that the book was not directly critical of the monarchy.
With a very dramatic election coming up, it seems inescapable that the lese-majeste laws will be used as a weapon against those who are challenging the government, a catchall response to criticism. And behind the lese-majeste laws stand not only the power elite but also the sometimes ominous weight of the military.
Not good. Not good at all.
Tim -- Sunday
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I'm sorry to see this. I'll admit, Asian events fall pretty far down the list of things I pay attention to. (There are only so many cycles in anyone's brain. No one is current on everything.) That said, your books have given me a soft spot for the Thailand people, if not for Thailand as a government or society. This is saddening, as the Thai people deserved better than what they'd been getting, not worse.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be change in the air, and not always for the good. Those wonderful smiling faces do indeed deserve better.
ReplyDeleteI understand that the power elite in Thailand benefit from the respect the people have for the monarchy, then I get lost.
ReplyDelete" A respected Thammasat University professor was recently hauled to the police station to hear charges read against him -- apparently at the insistence of Army chief Prayuth Chan-Ocha." I looked this guy up and learned that the king appointed him as head of the army. This suggests that the monarchy is now under the control of the military who acted against the Red Shirts, the good guys, in the riots. This suggests that the monarchy has chosen the wrong side?
"The Thai Election Commission has imposed a ban on all discussion of the monarchy in campaigning leading up to the July elections." It would seem that the Commission is suggesting that the monarchy has been neutered in terms of its ethical and moral influence. If the king is no longer sacrosanct than the ruling elite are even less so. Is there an issue over the leaders of the country being Thai-Chinese as opposed to pure Thai? If they have the power and the money, the army has to eliminate them, figuratively, I hope, if it wants to gain and hold power.
"A national cyber patrol has been set up to monitor the Internet. Several people have been arrested, with prison terms ranging from 13 to 70 years, and some estimates place the number of banned sites in the thousands.A national cyber patrol has been set up to monitor the Internet. Several people have been arrested, with prison terms ranging from 13 to 70 years, and some estimates place the number of banned sites in the thousands."Freedom of information is always the first to go when liberties are being curtailed. What website led to 70 years in prison? That is a death sentence sooner rather than later.
"Another Thai academic has been charged because of a book he wrote criticizing the coup against Thaksin, despite the fact that the book was not directly critical of the monarchy." Does this mean that the coup was supported by the army?
For the sake of Thailand, I hope that academics and the educated don't experience the policies of Pol Pot in Cambodia.
In the real sense, "lese majesty" can be anything anyone wants it to be. So, the monarchy is losing the respect of the people because the king is supported by the army who are eroding academic freedom and the right to organize after the failed Red Shirt demonstrations of last year???????
I don't know anything about the politics of the east but that doesn't mean that I am not more than happy to be taught by someone who has personal knowledge of current affairs.
Beth
Hi, Dana -- I know that this isn't necessarily at the center of people's consciousness, but it seems to me to be interesting because it's so Thai -- it's hard to think of another country where the lese-majeste laws would be used so aggressively to prop up the ruling elite, and that's complicates by the fact that the King is legitimately a great man.
ReplyDeleteLil, the people of Thailand are among many exceptions to the cynic's rule that people get the government they deserve. The Thais' complacency and good nature have been exploited for decades.
Beth -- There is some intentional vagueness in what I wrote, since I have little desire to be arrested next time I go back. (You'll find that same vagueness in BREATHING WATER.)
Let me try to respond with a few generalities. In the days of the Renaissance, high-ranking families would designate one son the principle heir, another for the ruler's court, another for the army, another for the church, and so forth. What you have in Thailand is a tight-knit group, the Kingdom's core families and their circle, who dominate military affairs and civil government. They're all profoundly conservative and dedicated royalists.
The fact that the King appointed someone chief of the army doesn't mean what the words suggest, any more than the Queen of England actually appoints the prime minister. The King of Thailand is a constitutional monarch. What would be more accurate is to sat that this powerful elite, who are always in sympathy with the King and with whom the King sometimes sympathizes, appointed the chief of the Army.
The monarchy, constitutionally speaking, can't "choose the wrong side." Still, the royal family governs a country that, in the past 40 years, has become prosperous, almost universally literate, and generally peaceful. There are going to be apprehensions about "intruders" coming in and slowing progress. This whole situation began with Thaksin Shinawatra -- the first prime minister in the history of the Kingdom to win by an actual majority vote, who didn't have to cobble together a coalition with his opponents-- being kicked out of office. Shinawatra was NOT a member of the club, even though he was rich and Thai-Chinese. And he had far too much power to suit the traditional power elite. The tanks in the streety meant that the army was involved, but it wasn't primarily an army coup.
I don't understand what you mean when you say the election committee seems to be saying that the monarchy has been neutered. It's a muzzle act that has nothing to do with the monarchy. It will allow the commission and their lawyers to do is read everything the opposition says, looking for anti-monarchical implications, so they can move legally against them, or perhaps disqualify them.
Remember, Thaksin by a majority. The power elite knows that there's an excellent chance the national vote will go against them, and this ruling might give them a way to void it.
The cyber patrol is a big deal -- they've even moved against discussion forums containing sentiments that could be interpreted as lese-majeste. (Article 112 does not define "defame or insult.") I don't know the name of the site whose editor was sentenced to 70 years, he had been ordered to remove some visitor comments and had declined to do so.
Finally, the academic who wrote the book challenging the Shinawatra coup didn't DIRECTLY criticize the monarchy, but by implication allowed readers to draw the conclusion that the King could have acted and did not.
Sorry this is so endless, but it's hard to be concise when writing in figure eights.
I appreciate the effort you took to clarify something that is so clear to you and so foreign to me.
ReplyDeleteBecause I have no experience of the kinds of things that are happening in a country a world away, it did not occur to me that your responses would have to be in figure eights. That most westerners wouldn't realize it is proof we need to learn so much.
Beth
"8" has always been my favorite number. Perhaps that explains why I became a lawyer.
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