Online criticism not a threat to security, activist says
Personal opinions expressed online should not be viewed as threats to national security, a prominent anti-coup political activist said on Thursday.
Sombat Boonngamanong, who popularly known as Bor Kor Lai Jud, or the Polka Dot Editor, expressed his disagreement with government plans to take control of what is shared in social media. He said everyone should have the right to criticise their governments.
Expressing opinions or criticising government policies are not threats to national security, he added.
“I don’t think expressing opinions online will undermine national security. I don’t think criticising Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will undermine national security. It is as meaningless as criticising me,” he said, adding that the previous governments all had been widely mocked in social media.
“It would be better that people have access to a wide range of information. They should be allowed to decide if they can rely on it or not,” said Sombat, who had previously been arrested for anti-coup messages posted on Facebook. Officials deemed Sombat’s words were in violation of Article 116 of the Criminal Code on sedition.
He was one of the six speakers at a panel discussion, “Politics on Fibre Optics: Don’t Speak, Like and Share”, which was held at Thammasat University Tha Prachan. The other speakers were Arthit Suriyawongkul, a representative from the Thai Netizen Network, and four students from Thammasat and Chulalongkorn universities who often post their opinions on politics online.
They voiced concern over the military-installed government’s plan to work with social-media platforms such as Line and Facebook to restrict certain content, saying such a move would infringe on citizens’ freedom of expression.
