Updated: Lese majeste and madness

Madness is defined in various ways. Here’s one attempt:

1. the state of being mad; insanity.
2. senseless folly.
3. frenzy; rage.
4. intense excitement or enthusiasm.

Each meaning matches the madness associated with the vigilante lese majeste-ism that drives groups who hunt down unfortunates who happen to have apparently different views regarding Thailand’s declining monarchy.

These mad monarchists search the internet and are forever vigilant in “protecting” a monarch who is at death’s door, a monarchy that is filthy rich and a royal family that is dysfunctional and where some of its members are quite odd. And this list of royal characteristics doesn’t include the links to the murderous military, crooked cops and outlandishly and inexplicably wealthy “business people.”

Prachatai reports that the mad monarchists have been tracking down a woman in Khon Kaen and have now sent the authorities in search of her for the heinous “crime” of choosing to wear a color other than royal yellow.

Yes, we are serious, and this case is serious. The lese majeste inquisition has the authorities seeking an interrogation of the royal fashion faux pas “after she used a picture of herself and friends wearing black on her Facebook profile picture and cover photo during the King’s birthday weekend.”

The old anti-communist Internal Security Operations Command has “summoned Aree K., an employee of Srinagarind Hospital, the teaching hospital for Khon Kaen University’s Faculty of Medicine, for interrogation after Thai internet royalists widely bullied her on Facebook…. It is also reported that the director of the hospital will investigate her case.”

The hospital is one of Khon Kaen’s few yellow shirt strongholds, having previously provided the leader of the local People’s Alliance for Democracy.

On Monday, a Bangkok-based group of yellow-shirted fascists who believe they “protect” the monarchy lodged a lese majeste complaint against Aree. Wearing black is considered a royalist sin when it is the king’s birthday, even if the king himself is a no show for the celebration.

As well as wearing black, she is alleged to have made Facebook statements that the royalist zealots interpret as lese majeste.

While none of this would seem to amount to anything like lese majeste law, the royalist vigilantes have condemned her for “insulting” the monarchy.

PPT imagines that this mad monarchism can only get worse under the royalist military dictatorship and as the king’s death gets ever closer.

Update: The Bangkok Post has a story on this madness, stating that Aree was taken in by the military for interrogation. It reports that four other persons who allegedly posed with Aree in a photo at her Facebook page have been called in by the military thugs.  It also names the chief stooge who made the mad complaint. The complainers were led by Navasornsawan Thirakotr, who did not wear yellow, like her fellow complainers.