Academic articles on Thailand I

As we do from time to time, PPT has been looking at academic journals to see what is being written on politics, economy, and society in Thailand over the last year and a half. Doing this gives a bit of a feel for what the academic world is thinking about Thailand. This time, we have to say that it is thin pickings in terms of getting PPT interested.

Some papers are free to download while others are behind a paywall. We have always found authors generous in providing copies if they are contacted.

Here’s some of what we found:

Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs

Michael K. Connors, Beyond the Leader: An Ideational-Political Logics Approach to Redshirt Movement Populism in Thailand

Alyssa Gosteli Dela Cruz et. al., Explaining Thailand’s Politicised COVID-19 Containment Strategies: Securitisation, Counter-Securitisation, and Re-Securitisation

Asian Studies Review

Michael K. Connors, Towards a History of Conservative Liberalism in Thailand after the 1932 Siamese Revolution: An Ideological Analysis

Puangchon Unchanam, Capital, Charity and the Crown: Philanthrocapitalism and Monarchy in Thailand

Peera Charoenvattananukul, The End of Compromise: Political Meanings of Thailand’s First National Day Celebrations on 24 June 1939

Pavin Chachavalpongpun, Kingdom of Fear: Royal Governance under Thailand’s King Vajiralongkorn

Pavin Chachavalpongpun, Nationhood in the Cloud: Cyber Sovereignty in Thailand

Journal of Southeast Asian Economies

Nattanicha Chairassamee and Oudom Hean, Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Labour Market in Thailand

Wannaphong Durongkaveroj, Recent Developments in Basic Education in Thailand Issues and Challenges

Sojourn

 Eric Haanstad, Phantasmagorias of Violence in Thai and Filipino Drug Wars: Projecting Police Drug Suppression through Media Spectacles in Southeast Asia

Modern Asian Studies

Tomas Larsson, Religion, political parties, and Thailand’s 2019 election: Cosmopolitan royalism and its rivals

Asian International Studies Review

Poowin Bunyavejchewin, Wichian Intasi and Watcharabon Buddharaksa, The Myth of Sino–Thai Brotherhood: Archival Evidence on Thailand’s Relations with China in Continental Southeast Asia in the 1990s

The Pacific Review

Alexander Bukh, The productive power of rising China and national identities in South Korea and Thailand

Chanintira na Thalang, Making sense of Thailand’s agency in changing global and regional environments

Updated: Bodies

There has been a minor social media kerfuffle following a Facebook post by Pavin Chachavalpongpun that was interpreted as saying that the king’s first wife Princess Soamsawali passed away. Of course, she has been seriously ill and incapacitated for several years.

While the still unreported death of her daughter Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol did get some attention on social media and official announcements that have parked her in non-death, there’s been no reporting on Soamsawali.

Likewise, there’s been no reporting on the fate of Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi/Sineenat Bilaskalayani who disappeared from public view months ago. We note that her Wikipedia page stopped adding to her profile following her restoration in 2020. 

PPT knows no more than what is reported in the media. The problem is that nothing is now reported on these three women. Even the Royal Household Bureau, which usually has announcements on royal health is tellingly silent.

Update: We changed expression and added a couple of points to the last paragraph.

Pavin on the “forgotten kingdom”

At Asia Media International, a publication from Loyola Marymount University’s Asia Pacific Media Center, Pavin Chachavalpongpun writes of his fears for Thailand in the contemporary moment:

Thailand has become a “forgotten kingdom.” Despite a myriad of domestic troubles, ranging from the growing absolutist monarchic power, the remaining authoritarian rule, the highly politicized judiciaries, to the heightened legal harassments against pro-democracy youths, Thailand is virtually free from international pressure and sanctions.

This is largely because:

While the world is busy dealing with greater threats to the international community, including the war in Ukraine, the growing clout of Russia and the leadership question in China, Thailand is left unattended. The global spotlight is elsewhere. This could allow authoritarianism to thrive in Thailand.

The youth protesters are caught in a dilemma. Their protests had an impact, but not what they intended:

Since the outbreak of Thai protests, there has been no sign from King Vajiralongkorn of his willingness to work with democracy. Instead, Thais have witnessed the mounting absolutist power of the monarchy….

But lately, there have been some changes within the walls of the palace. After the protests dissipated, it seemed that Vajiralongkorn has adopted a less controversial lifestyle. He now resides mostly in Thailand, refraining from commuting so frequently between Bangkok and Munich, hence reducing chances of being a target of German paparazzi. This includes no more riding a bicycle in a tiny tank top. He also appears in public only with his queen, Suthida, rather than flaunting the threesome relationship involving the second wife, Royal Noble Consort Sineenat. Indeed, Sineenat has disappeared from the public eyes, swirling up gossips that questioned her wellbeing and whereabouts. [is she back?]

Because there have been no new issues concerning the king, it will be difficult to call for another round of protests. Even if a protest could be organised, the protesters might have to revisit their demands for royal reforms proposed two years ago. Whether the public would continue to support the old demands is a challenge for the entire youth movement….

Thailand is trapped in stagnation…

 

VOA and Pavin

VOA Thai reports that its interview with Pavin  Chachavalpongpun sparked a “rare, vibrant discussion on Monarchy”:

Viewers flocked to VOA Thai’s interview with Pavin Chachavalpongpun – one of Thailand’s most influential activists for accountability and transparency of the country’s monarchy – with nearly 250,000 views and more than 100,000 engagement actions on social media. Pavin, a Thai scholar and political exile, explained how he saw his role in promoting constitutional monarchy and Thai democracy. The interview prompted lively online debate about the future of Thailand’s 800-year-old monarchy – a topic that is on people’s minds but not freely discussed, given its strict lese majeste law.

[PPT: It makes no sense to write of an 800 year monarchy given that there were so many changes of “capital,” many competing and self-proclaimed princes and kings, many usurpers, and many violent coups over that 800 years. That claim is part of a post-1932 royal propaganda meant to support the revival of the monarchy.]

Monarchism and Foreign Affairs

We seem to have missed this free article from the the Journal of Contemporary Asia. From JCA’s blog:

“On His Majesty’s Service: Why is the Thai Foreign Ministry Royalist?” (DOI: 10.1080/00472336. 2022.2081930) is a new article by Pavin Chachavalpongpun of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Kyoto University in Japan.

This article is now available for free download. This offer expires soon.

The abstract for the article states:

In the final decade of the King Bhumibol Adulyadej reign, various state agencies lined up to defend the monarchy against political opponents. Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was one of those state agencies expressing its disdain for elected governments dominated by Thaksin Shinawatra whose popularity was perceived to threaten royal power and prerogative and, hence, the stability of the throne. Beginning in 2006, Thai diplomats, serving and retired, joined anti-Thaksin movements calling for his resignation, which culminated in the 2006 military coup. The research question for this study is: Why is the Thai Foreign Ministry royalist? It is argued that the Foreign Ministry’s contempt of Thaksin was, at one level, due to its obligation to reinforce royal hegemony. At another level, the Foreign Ministry sought to protect itself in the face of Thaksin’s drastic bureaucratic reforms. This study traces the source of royalism among Thai diplomats. It explores the impact of the bureaucratic modernisation in the late nineteenth century, which further deepened ties between the Foreign Ministry and the palace. It also examines the characteristics of Thai diplomats as a privileged political caste whose status is sustained by its dependence on the monarchy. In the final part, the study discusses Thaksin’s control of foreign affairs, inevitably instigating a clash with the Foreign Ministry.

Sharing Pavin 112

On 26 September 2022, Absorn (pseudonym), 23, employed at a private company, was sentenced by the Criminal Court to 4 years in prison on lese majeste, computer crimes.

The court decided that as she had never been previously been sentenced to prison, her sentence was reduced to 2 years and suspended for 3 years. She will be on probation for 2 years.

Absorn, a trans woman, was charged on a complaint made by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society after she shared a Facebook post by academic Pavin Chachavalpongpun. The exiled Pavin argued that the campaign was “outdated” and:

claimed that the … royal family launched a public relations campaign in order to compete with pro-democracy protesters, such as by having Princess Sirivannavari, King Vajiralongkorn’s youngest daughter, join a dance event, or reporting that Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi, the [then] King’s royal consort, supported a Royal Project by buying products from the Sai Jai Thai Foundation.

Absorn shared the post and without adding anything to it.

She was charged in November 2020. The public prosecutor prosecuted her “on the grounds that the post contain false information and may mislead the public into thinking that the King is an enemy of the people and tries to interfere with politics. The prosecutor also said that the post was rude and intended to cause hatred against the King.”

Of course, facts about the royal family are disputed, but never by the royalist courts. At the time, it was clear that the royal family mobilized to push back against reform calls.

Absorn said the “post was shared onto her old Facebook account which she no longer used. She also immediately took the post down after a coworker warned her it might be illegal.”

Further updated: Mad, mad, monarchism III

For those wanting an update on the mad royalist effort to prevent serious academic study of the monarchy in Thailand, Prachatai has it.

The story there opens with this:

Chaiyan

After it was disclosed that an investigation report into allegations that historian Nattapol Chaiching falsified information in his PhD thesis may itself contain falsehoods, political scientist Kullada Kesboonchoo Mead has published an open letter to the Chulalongkorn University Council, calling on it to reject the report.

Much of the royalist fervor can be attributed to Chaiyan Chaiyaporn, of the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, who has proclaimed himself a defender of everything royal. In claiming “errors” in Nattapol’s work (since corrected), Chaiyan has himself made errors. In the mad world of royalists, however, his error is an “honest mistake” by a “good person.”

Update 1: PPT has yet to obtain a copy of the Bangkok Post article published on 18 December 1950, which the Post stated it had reproduced. Any reader have a copy they can send us?

Update 2: While on the topic of academic research and monarchism, we noticed that Pavin Chachavalpongpun’s recent article “On His Majesty’s Service: Why is the Thai Foreign Ministry Royalist?” is available for free download.

The attacks on 112 exiles

The Japan Times has an op-ed on attacks on Pavin Chachavalpongpun in Kyoto and Aum Neko in Paris. It uses these cases to speak more broadly to attacks on dissidents overseas by several regimes.

On Pavin’s case:

Appearing at the Kyoto District Court in May to deliver a statement, Pavin, 51, who is living in exile in Japan, asked the defendant sitting in front of him, “I don’t even know you. I want you to tell me who asked you to attack me, and what was the purpose?”

The culprit, 43, is an unemployed Japanese man. According to the indictment, the man broke into Pavin’s apartment in the city of Kyoto in the early hours of July 8, 2019, and injured him and his partner with tear gas while they were asleep. The man pleaded guilty to the charges of intrusion and causing injuries and was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison on June 8 this year….

The defendant said his motive was that a “senior colleague had repeatedly asked” him to carry out the attack. He did not reveal the name or identity of his “senior colleague.”

On Aum;s case:

Aum when in Bangkok

An attack targeting a Thai national also took place in Paris in November 2019. Aum Neko, 28, was suddenly beaten by a group of men upon leaving a restaurant with an acquaintance. Three Czech nationals in their 20s were arrested and sentenced to prison terms in November 2021, but their roles and motives remain unclear.

Both Pavin and Aum face lese majeste charges.

Instilling fear into dissidents is meant to silence them. For Pavin and Aum, that seems unlikely.

 

 

Palace discipline

At 112 Watch, there is a list compiled by Pavin Chachavalpongpun where he has gone through Royal Gazette announcements from 3 August 2016 to 31 August 2020.

Given the manner in which King Vajiralongkorn has used the Gazette, often in furious language, to instill “discipline” and fear, this is a very useful listing. It details the causes of dismissal, demotion, de-decoration, de-robing and imprisonment of each individual under King Vajiralongkorn.

86 individuals are listed.

Death of King Ananda

On the anniversary of his death, in addition to the usual books and blogs on the death of King Ananda Mahidol – Marshall, Pavin, etc. – readers may find this old book of interest: Alexander MacDonald, Bangkok Editor. An account of the first major royalist coup, the death of King Ananda and the politics of the period, available at Library Genesis.

The most recent effort is by Pavin Chachavalpongpun in his Love and Death of King Ananda Mahidol of Thailand. It is also available at Library Genesis.