Jon has ‘no regrets’ over 2007 protest

“THERE IS no regret for what we did” Magsaysay award winner Jon Ungpakorn said a day after being found guilty by the Supreme Court for breaking into the Parliament as part of a human rights protest a decade ago.
In 2007, Jon and nine other activists opposed the junta-backed National Legislative Assembly (NLA) which swiftly passed a number of laws, including the Internal Security Act with its potential to curb people’s rights.
After a long court battle, they were eventually convicted and given a two year suspended sentence for being part of an assembly of more than 10 people, sedition, offences pertaining to national security and violating public peace.
Jon said the court proceedings were unexpected. “I thought temporary detention at the police station would be the most that we would have received,” he said.
“It was a peaceful movement. We gathered in front of Parliament for days but the NLA showed no interest in us,” he said. “We went in there only to sit in front of meeting rooms.”
Looking back, he said everything was worthwhile. The NLA eventually acknowledged the opposition that the group tried to reflect.
“We did learn a lesson,” he said. “People’s expression is a way to gain justice in times of injustice.”
Jon, the son of Bank of Thailand’s former governor and Thammasat University’s former rector Puey Ungpakorn, dedicated himself to social work.
He was elected as a Bangkok senator in 2000 and won the Magsaysay Award 2005. He founded an alternative online newspaper, Prachatai, and later directed the Internet Law Reform Dialogue (iLaw). Both platforms are active in inspecting movements and legislation of the current junta government.
Today, the 69-year-old activist might no longer have the strength to climb Parliament’s fence. But the court’s ruling on Wednesday would not prevent him from expressing his opinion on matters of social justice.
He said that political defendants are now treated much worse than he was. For instance, student activist Jatupat “Pai Dao Din” Boonpataraksa has been arrested for just sharing a controversial article on his Facebook page. The anti-charter-draft groups last year were also suppressed in light of August’s referendum, he said.
“We were much luckier,” he said. “Still, if I could rewind time, I would make the same decision. Fighting against undemocratic systems is nothing easy but it can trigger public awareness of their designated rights.”