Govt slammed over move to ban FCCT debate on lese majeste law
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SPEAKERS scheduled to discuss the lese majeste law before the event was banned have slammed the government, saying it has made things worse by further limiting the freedom to publicly discuss the controversial law.
“Not surprised, but disappointed. [The ban] can only hurt Thailand in the long run. Thailand is facing big changes and those changes involve the [lese majeste] law,” said David Streckfuss, a Khon Kaen-based scholar who has written a book on the subject.
“This is one of the most suppressive laws against freedom of expression in the world in the past centuries. The point is that the issue is there whether the regime acknowledges or not, period.”
The talk was scheduled to take place at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand on Wednesday and was organised by the club.
The FCCT cancelled the event after the National Council for Peace and Order verbally ordered the club to call it off under threat of being shut down.
FCCT president Jonathan Head, the BBC’s correspondent for Southeast Asia, tweeted: “General Prayut says even to discuss lese majeste law is un-Thai. 68 million people banned from talking about a law that many see as unjust.”
The maximum penalty under the law for defaming the monarchy is 15 years in prison.
Instead of the panel discussion, the speakers quietly dined at the club on Wednesday, with more than a dozen police and plain-clothed intelligence officers present in and around the venue.
Social critic Sulak Sivaraksa, another invited speaker, told The Nation that banning a discussion on lese majeste was “pure stupidity”.
“It just shows how stupid they are. The law is not God’s commandment. With God’s commandments, you can even disagree [with them] unless you’re in the Middle Ages.”
Sukanya Prueksakasemsuk, the wife of lese majeste detainee Somyos Prueksakasemsuk, had also planned to speak at the event. Somyos is in the fourth year of an 11-year sentence.
On leaving the club, she was followed by intelligence officers to a nearby BTS Skytrain station.
“It’s like we’re being muzzled. I feel discomfort because I can’t even convey my feelings to society. We have been violated. Normally, this is something we ought to be able to talk about … Thai society has become a restrictive society,” said Sukanya.
Streckfuss said that the government had drawn attention to the law by banning the FCCT discussion.
“The only way to close divisions is through a process of debate and discussion, at the end of which society decides what it’s about,” he said.
While Streckfuss was barred from speaking on Wednesday, the New York Times published a piece the same day in which the scholar wrote about the “unimaginably long terms” given to some lese majeste violaters. The article was widely available in Bangkok and elsewhere.
