Global IssuesTHAILAND: Lese Majeste Cases Rise, But Public in the Dark
When Wipas Raksakulthai was arrested last month for violating this kingdom’s draconian lese majeste law, he could have consoled himself with the thought that at least his case was readily picked up by the local and foreign media.
Thus the 37-year-old’s story of being charged for posting a comment on the social networking website Facebook did not remain unknown to the public.
The press also got wind of Darunee Charnchoengsilpakul’s case, which continues to be mentioned in media reports about the over 100-year-old Thai law that threatens violators with a maximum of 15 years in jail for a single breach of damaging the image of the country’s royal family.
Darunee, 47, was condemned to 18 years in jail last August for a speech she had delivered at a political rally in July 2008. She was found guilty of three counts of royal insults, each with a six-year sentence.
Not so fortunate are scores of Thais whose cases for allegedly violating the law seeking to protect this nation’s royal family were submitted last year to the lower courts across the country — and largely remain hidden from the public.
The courts accepted a record 164 lese majeste cases in 2009, based on data from the office of the judiciary seen by IPS.
Sixty-nine of the alleged violations have been submitted to courts in the central region, followed by 37 in the north-east provinces and 12 in the eastern provinces, according to the still to be published data.
The second highest number of lese majeste cases filed before the lower courts was recorded in 2007, when the country was under the rule of a junta following a September 2006 military coup that ousted the twice-elected administration of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. That year saw 126 cases, a majority of which, like in 2009, remain unknown to the public.
'The 2009 numbers are a record by far. I don’t think anyone imagined there were so many lese majeste cases being processed through the courts,' says David Streckfuss, a U.S. academic specialising in Thai politics and culture. 'To realise that there is a massive number of cases that no one in civil society is aware of or has recorded really redefines these past years.'
The cloak of silence shrouding the 2009 cases may have more to do with them being heard outside Bangkok.
'The majority of cases in 2009 and 2007 were recorded in the provinces, where there is little media coverage about this issue. Hence the silence,' says Streckfuss, author of ‘Modern Thai Monarchy and Cultural Politics’.
The spike in the number of lese majeste cases since the last coup, the 18th, contrasts sharply with the previous years. Before 2008, which saw 77 cases submitted to the lower courts, the highest was 33 cases in 2005 as against only five in 2004, which had approximated the annual average for many years.
The rising number of lese majeste cases comes at a time when the 17-month coalition government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is struggling to protect the monarchy and yet, at the same time, stop the abuse of the law.
In mid-2009, the Abhisit administration confirmed plans to have a special panel appointed to guide the police and the attorney general’s department in their inquiries of alleged violations expressed through actions or words that were deemed to have insulted the king, queen and heir apparent.
But the ongoing political crisis on the streets of the Thai capital — between the government and street protesters — has exposed the provocative moves the government is willing to pursue to protect the royal family.
In late April, the government accused over 20 people linked to the anti- government protesters, including two former prime ministers, of being part of an alleged plot to overthrow the monarchy. This charge, which is tantamount to treason, unleashed a political firestorm, since the Thai monarch enjoys semi-divine status and is seen as a central pillar in the country’s political trinity of nation, religion and king.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has been on the throne for 60 years, is protected by the constitution. 'The King shall be enthroned in a position of revered worship and shall not be violated. No person shall expose the King to any sort of accusation or action,' the 2007 charted states.
The revelations of the anti-monarchy plot followed another attempt by the government to demonise the anti-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), which has attracted thousands of supporters from the rural and urban working class to occupy iconic parts of Bangkok since mid-March.
The government accused the UDD of harbouring 'terrorists' following a botched military crackdown on Apr. 10, where 19 civilians and six soldiers were killed.
At least 30 people have been killed and more than a thousand wounded following violent clashes between the protesting members of the red-shirt UDD and the government in Bangkok’s business district.
The allegations about the anti-monarchy plot are not without precedent, having been leveled before against political enemies by the military to justify a coup or right-wing groups targeting their opponents. The objective has been to create hatred against the target groups for not being patriotic, say analysts.
Anti-monarchy allegations have been used 'as a pretext or justification for almost every coup, massacre and violent crackdown,' says Thongchai Winichakul, professor of South-east Asian studies at the U.S.-based University of Wisconsin-Madison. 'The (government’s) charge is very serious; intended to raise the level of royal hysteria.'
'The royalist forces will raise the level of public hatred, of course,' adds Thonchai, who had been a victim of such a charge as a university student in Bangkok in 1976. 'I hope the media and public are smarter now.'
© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service