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Three years ago today

Red Thai Socialist - February 6, 2012

New divisions emerge in Thai politics - Red Thai Socialist. January 29, 2012
In 2012 lese majeste will be the litmus test for Thai democracy - Red Thai Socialist. January 3, 2012
Tensions grow as Thailand awaits Thaksin's return - Sydney Morning Herald. December 29, 2011
Lese-Majeste: A potent political weapon of stifling proportions - East Asia Forum. December 28, 2011
Thai army chief opposes change to royal insult law - Agence France Presse. December 20, 2011

Giles Ji Ungpakorn – On a warm February morning three years ago today, I left my birth place in Bangkok, Thailand in a hurry. I was forced to leave my job as an associate professor of politics at Chulalongkorn University and give up my career. I arrived in a snow covered Britain. Three days later, journalist Duncan Campbell wrote in the British newspaper The Guardian, that I had fled Thailand at the weekend in the face of a lengthy sentence under the country's draconian lese majeste law, which forbids criticism of the king. I was quoted as saying that I did not believe I would receive a fair trial.

I had been charged with lese majeste for writing a book criticising the Thai Military which had staged a coup d'etat against an elected government in September 2006. In my book I stated the obvious fact that the coup d'etat had been supported by the King. After all, the coup soldiers wore yellow royalist ribbons and claimed they were protecting the Monarchy and were photographed with the King. He made no criticism of the coup. In fact he praised the junta-appointed general who became Prime Minister. I also criticised the King's "Sufficiency Economy" which is against any income re-distribution. The King is the richest man in Thailand and the richest monarch in the world. I also stated that the Thai King seemed to be more at ease with military dictatorships than elected governments. After all, it is no secret that his career as King really took off after being promoted by a military dictator in the 1950s. Finally, in my book I also raised the question about whether the Head of State in a democracy should protect the democratic Constitution against a military coup. All those sentences were deemed to be "lese majeste" and I could have been sentenced to 15 years for each sentence.

Before I left Thailand myself and my partner were threatened with violence and subjected to continuous insults.

In 2009, the next military appointed Prime Minsiter, Abhisit Vejjajiva, gave a talk about "Democracy" at St John's College Oxford. I was among the many pro-democracy Red Shirts protesting at the college. Abhisit claimed that I "ran away" from the trial and that I should return to face "justice". One year after giving his speech about "Democracy" in Oxford, Abhisit and the army generals gunned down almost 90 unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators in Bangkok.

Since I escaped from the possibility of being locked up in a Thai "Gulag" in 2009, many less fortunate people have become victims of lese majeste and the Military. I write "the Military" because it isn't the weak-willed and unprincipled King that is using the law. It is the Military who use the King and need the law to protect themselves.

Since I escaped, they have locked up and thrown away the key in numerous cases. There is a brave woman, nick-named Da Torpedo. She made a political speech. There is the sixty year old man who was sentenced to 20 years, supposedly for sending text messages. There is Somyot, a labour activist, who has to appear in courts up and down the country in slave-era shackles. There is Red Eagle, who is locked up on charges of managing a website. There is Surachai, an elderly activist in poor health. He made a speech too. Many have not even been tried but are refuse bail. Some, like Chiranut of Prachatai and Prof. Somsak have charges hanging over them. The list goes on and on...

Worse still, the National Human Rights Commission is silent on lese majeste. Amnesty International is silent or dishonest about the problem, the Thai NGOs are mainly royalists and the US Government Human Rights report says that "Thailand has academic freedom". And to top it all the present, newly elected Peua Thai Government, a descendant of the government which was kicked out by the 2006 coup, is now hand in glove with the Military in promoting the use of lese majeste.

In Thailand people are in jail for speaking their minds. But those who murdered unarmed pro-democracy protestors are free. Those who used violence to tear up the Constitution are free. How can anyone claim with all honesty that there is "justice" in Thailand? How can anyone get a "fair trial", especially when lese majeste cases are held in secret?

That is why people like me and Jakrapop and anyone else who can make it out of the country had no choice but to flee. But now we are starting to see a choice. The Nitirat Group and the Campaign to Reform Lese Majeste are building a movement of opinion against lese majeste and the military. That is why these brave people are being threatened with violence and subjected to continuous insults from the enemies of democracy. They have also been banned from holding seminars in Thai universities. Let us all get behind this movement and give it maximum support.