In the past several weeks Thailand has witnessed a series of incidents that altogether signal the beginning of the public’s shift in perception. Slowly, Thais are becoming more and more concerned about the abuse of human rights, freedom and democracy. Now, Thai liberals have a reason to be optimistic despite the continuous oppression by the junta. A whiff of change is in the air.
By Saksith Saiyasombut & Siam Voices Dec 17, 2014 3:19PM UTC
By Thitipol Panyalimpanun
In the past several weeks Thailand has witnessed a series of incidents that altogether signal the beginning of the public’s shift in perception. Slowly, Thais are becoming more and more concerned about the abuse of human rights, freedom and democracy. Now, Thai liberals have a reason to be optimistic despite the continuous oppression by the junta. A whiff of change is in the air.
It began with the public broadcast service Thai PBS on November 15 when it was reportedly pressured by the junta to, and eventually did, replace program host Nattaya Wawweerakup after she questioned the coup. The incident kicked off a campaign by her fellow Thai PBS fellow journalists in which they closed their eyes, ears and mouths as a protest symbol on social media. Thai PBS, which had been considered by many as pro-coup, now stood against the junta. And this was just a starter for that very busy week for Thai politics.
Several days later, on November 19, while junta leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha was giving a speech in Khon Khaen, five university students flashed the Hunger Games three-finger salute. These students from the Dao Din movement were then taken to a military camp to get their heads “fine-tuned”. They still managed to show the three fingers everywhere, on the police truck that took them away and in front of the camp, rollicking like rockstars. Coming long after the first waves of demonstration against the junta, this protest resonated in other parts of the country, including the 11 Bangkok students who symbolically picnicked in front of the Democracy Monument that same evening.
Then National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chief Amara Pongsapitch spoke out against martial law and the arrest of the student protestors. Although this sounds like a fitting action for a person of her position, it in fact came as a surprise. This was the first time Amara took a clear stance against the junta’s oppression since May 22. Last Saturday, when Amara was presenting awards for contribution to human rights, of which a representative of the Dao Din movement was a recipient, the ceremony was disrupted by students again showing up with banners protesting the NHRC’s lack of action. “Where were you when people were taken to camps?” being an example of the criticisms. Yet, from a broad view, that six-month-late remark she eventually made still spoke volumes, implying that the total compliance the junta had been enjoying was not set in stone.
After the May 22 coup and the following crackdown on academics and activists, many fled to social media. Facebook has become a hotbed of commentary and opinion from liberal advocates. On November 22, there was collective ecstasy online when the social media heard of Somsak Jeamteerasakul ‘s return to Facebook. The outspoken Thammasat University professor has always been quick to cricize Thailand’s draconian the lèse majesté law and had disappeared from the scene since the coup (his house was the target of gunfire in February. The rapture went beyond the Internet as Thammasat students threw flyers celebrating his comeback. With Somsak joining forces with vocal advocates like The Nation journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk and Fah Diew Gan magazine’s editor Thanapol Eawsakul, Facebook became even more active on the Thai political front.
The junta knows well there’s no easy way in stopping this online information, as demonstrated when it allegedly tried and failed to shut down access to Facebook in Thailand. When newspapers and TV are busy with self-censorship, social media probes and speculates.
In this series of incidents, extreme royalists too were triggered to question their support of the lèse majesté law after the arrest of the police officers and relatives of Princess Srirasmi, as Reuters reported, who were charged for citing the monarchy for benefit and were later stripped of their royal surname. While the story was reported internationally, major news outlet could only beat around the bush. Before the event concluded last week with the then princesses’ resignation from the royal position, the ambiguity surrounding the issue has put the public at unease. This is not to mention the significant rise of the lèse majesté cases, which are now handled by the military court, including the imprisonment of 23-year-old Pornthip M. for her political play about a fictional monarch in August.
When basic rights are threatened time after time even downright conservative Thais struggle to justify such counter-intuitive measures. The oppressive acts of the junta and the authorities have been increasingly raising awareness about human rights or lack thereof. Thai society is not by any mean stupid. Ignorant, maybe, but only because we have been raised and educated without the notion of political correctness. The ethnocentric Thai society is learning an important lesson at a high price; and some of us are taking a beating. It will require not only time, but courage, a lot of courage.