Bangkok - Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva should seek
royal advice on changing the lese majeste law that has led to a slew
of cases in recent months and forced a prominent academic to flee the
country, well-known social critic Sulak Sivaraksa said Wednesday.
'There is a chance to change the law but the government must have
moral courage,' said Sulak, 76, who himself faces a lese majeste
charge that may be officially lodged with the Attorney General later
this month.
'They need to go to the king and Royal Secretariat and ask what
can be done,' said Sulak, who was arrested in November on charges of
insulting the monarchy in a speech he delivered at Khon Kaen
University on December 10, 2007.
Sulak is one of several people charged in recent months with lese
majeste, a law that makes it a criminal offense to insult the
monarchy and royal family that carries a maximum 15-year jail
sentence and a minimum of three years imprisonment.
Last month the Bangkok Criminal Court sentenced Australian author
Harry Nicolaides, 41, to three years in prison for insulting the
monarchy in his novel Verisimilitude, which sold only seven copies.
Nicolaides has asked for a royal pardon, a request backed by the
Australian government.
Over the weekend prominent Thai academic Giles Ungpakorn fled to
Britain after being charged last month with lese majeste for passages
in his 2007 book, A Coup for the Rich, which criticized the 2006
military coup that overthrew former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Ungpakorn claimed his self-published book was censored by
Chulalongkorn University which refused to sell it at the college book
store on the grounds that several passages could be construed as lese
majeste.
After fleeing the country, Ungpakorn, a self-professed Marxist,
issued a manifesto on the internet titled 'Red Siam,' calling on the
Thai people to 'modernize' the country. The manifesto contained
several passages that would definitely qualify as lese majeste.
As a dual Thai-British citizen, Ungpakorn faces no problem living
in the United Kingdom, and is unlikely to be extradited to Thailand
should the Attorney General pursue the case.
'For me this is a bit of a cop-out,' said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a
political scientist at Chulalongkorn University. 'He knew this would
be the logical outcome of his remarks. He was setting himself up to
be a martyr but as soon as he stepped out of the country it was
martyrdom denied.'
The Ungpakorn case is expected to draw more international
attention, and criticism, of Thailand's lese majeste law that has
been in place since passed under a military regime in 1956.
Thailand's lese majeste law is deemed the harshest in the world.
Although it has rarely been enforced in the past, a rash of recent
high-profile cases has drawn international attention to the
legislation and increasing media scrutiny.
Fears of lese majeste content have prompted local agents of the
Economist magazine to cancel the distribution of three issues over
the past three months.
At least one prominent foreign journalist, Jonathan Head,
South-east Asia correspondent for the BBC, faces lese majeste charges
and possible imprisonment.
The dramatic rise in lese majeste cases has been linked to
Thailand's chaotic politics of 2008, when the monarchy was highly
politicized by anti-government protestors who claimed to be defending
the institution against elected politicians.
The government has also launched a campaign to prevent lese
majeste on the internet, closing down 4,000 websites in recent
months.
Thailand's new Prime Minster Abhisit has backed the legislation as
a stabilizing force, but said his government would 'uphold the law,
but we must not allow people to interpret the law too liberally and
abuse the law.'
Sulak has urged the prime minister to approach Thailand's
much-revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 81, to find means of modifying
the law, to avoid further embarrassment for the government and the
monarchy.
In a speech delivered two years ago the king obliquely criticized
the lese majeste law himself, noting that he should not be above
criticism.
'The king is fond of Abhisit and Abhisit ought to have guts,'
Sulak said.
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