During the period of the Abhisit Vejjajiva regime, it was reasonably common to see various Thai diplomats leaping to their keyboards to send off letters to magazines and newspapers to “correct” what they considered “incorrect” on the monarchy. Of course, what they produced was the usual officially-sanctioned royalist nonsense.
If a recent letter to The Economist is any indication, it seems that the Yingluck Shinawatra government is going to retrace the ideological path taken by Abhisit’s royalist regime. This is not surprising given the efforts Yingluck has made to accommodate with the royalists and royals who were previously on the other side. And, it was under Thaksin Shinawatra that a couple of foreign journalists were harassed on lese majeste accusations and The King Never Smiles was banned.
In the letter to The Economist, Rutchabhoom Boonrawd, First Secretary at the Embassy in London, writes to provide “facts,” presumably considered missing in the short story on the death in custody of lese majeste victim Ampol Tangnopakul. As that (rather innocuous) story (12 May) caused the whole of that issue of the newspaper to be withdrawn in Thailand, PPT posted it.
Rutchabhoom’s response is little more than the royalist blarney of the past, but includes some new twists and squirms. The letter begins: “First, we are deeply saddened by the death of Mr Ampon.”
None of the rest of the letter suggests that there is any sadness. And, the judiciary’s propensity for enormous sentences suggests no sympathy at all. Ampol got 20 years and just yesterday 72 year-old Surachai Danwattananusorn was slammed with a total of 25 years! Yes, it was reduced by half for a guilty plea, but 12.5 years is a death sentence. There’s no sympathy or sadness at all.
Rutchabhoom almost immediately attacks those who see Ampol’s death as a travesty of the (in)justice system and the political use of lese majeste, stating: “It is regrettable that certain groups have tried to gain publicity from his death for their own political means.”
That line was sprouted by numerous ultra-royalists in Thailand after Ampol’ss death. Conveniently those making this point neglect that Ampol’s arrest, jailing, charging, trial and verdict were all used by royalists in making a very particular political point: no one can criticize the monarchy because it is the linchpin of the repressive royalist state. The “protection of the monarchy” and its accoutrements requires that even sick and poor old men must be left to rot in horrid jails.
Rutchabhoom goes on to “explain” that “Mr Ampon, as with other prisoners with health problems, was provided with proper medical treatment for his illness in the corrections department hospital.” It seems that Rutchabhoom thinks that Thai prisons are a bit like a health resort. We doubt whether anyone else considers Thai prisons such great places. Indeed, even the lese majeste-hopeless 2011 human rights report of U.S. State Department states:
Prison conditions were poor. Most prisons and detention centers were overcrowded. There were approximately 250,000 prisoners in prisons and detention facilities designed to hold 150,000. Sleeping accommodations were insufficient, medical care was inadequate, and communicable diseases were widespread in some prisons
Rutchabhoom’s nose is looking pretty long as he adds that Ampol “was allowed to leave the corrections facility to receive chemotherapy treatment at an MRI centre five times in 2011 and twice this year.” We can only assume that Rutchabhoom is misinformed as MRIs are diagnostic. Ampol died of liver cancer, and if he was having MRIs then even as a diagnostic tool this would not necessarily be especially helpful in finding the cancer. Perhaps Rutchabhoom just gets all of this wrong. Perhaps he’s making it up.
Unsurprisingly, Rutchabhoom then states:
the legal proceedings against Mr Ampon were carried out in accordance with Thai law and due process, including the right to a fair trial, assistance from lawyers and ample opportunity to contest the charges. He was also entitled to appeal.
This is little more than really stupid propaganda. Ampol was detained without bail while awaiting trial. This meant that he and his lawyers were unable to prepare his case adequately. The trial was a travesty of justice, with the court unable to prove that Ampol sent the messages but still convicted him because he could not prove that he didn’t send them.
The final paragraph of the letter is another plagiarism from the Abhisit regime:
the lèse-majesté law is part of Thailand’s criminal code, which also contains provisions on defamation and libel for private individuals. The law gives protection to the rights or reputations of the king, the queen, the heir-apparent or the regent in a similar way that libel law does for commoners. It is not aimed at curbing people’s rights to freedom of opinion and expression, nor the legitimate exercise of academic freedom, including debates about the monarchy as an institution.
This is royalist nonsense. Sure, due to extensive political conflict in recent years, debate has emerged, but that is one reason why the law has been used so enthusiastically: trying to limit discussion. There is no similarity in the way that the lese majeste law and libel laws are implemented. The former is a political law that defends a political and social regime. It is used to limit political opposition. In addition, the logic of the claim is missing: if the libel law was indeed similar, then why have the lese majeste law at all!
Readers can read a very similar account of lese majeste by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under yellow shirt Kasit Piromya here. As far as defending the monarchy in the MFA, nothing seems to have changed since the bellicose Kasit was running the show.
Political Prisoners in Thailand 