LM law applies to others too
Re: “It’s not just our own monarchy that’s protected by Thai law”, Letters, January 2.
It is good of Somsak Pola to bring to our attention that, under Thai law, defaming foreign monarchs, leaders and ambassadors is also a crime and subject to jail terms. However, his statement that the law has never been enforced is incorrect.
There was a case in 1957 when an authoritarian government of Field Marshall Pibulsongkram prosecuted MR Kukrit Pramoj, a top writer, philosopher and then-owner of the newspaper Siam Rath for defaming an ambassador. He referred to the ambassador as an American ruffian who helped Pibulsongkram conduct the dirtiest election ever. The term “ruffian” was seen by the court as defamatory and Kukrit was sentenced to jail for a month and fined Bt500. The Appeal Court later reduced the penalty to just Bt500.
While waiting for the Supreme Court’s judgement, the government was overthrown and replaced by Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat who then dropped the case against Kukrit.
Songdej Praditsmanont
