Beware lest students be used for ill
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Students and children are an essential part of our country's democratic development and future, and adults must be careful that they not fall prey to political manoeuvrings.
Hundreds of students were killed in the Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing in June 1989. The world condemned the killings as brutal and senseless, but there was a long story behind that incident.
Former Chinese leader Mao Zedong, as part of his Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, had formed the Red Guard among university students. These radical young people were then encouraged by the “Gang of Four” – led by Mao’s wife Jiang Qing – to harass, torture and murder political dissidents. Deng Xiaoping, the subsequent leader who transformed China, was himself lucky to have survived that tumultuous period.
In Thailand, even though the rights of students and children must be protected, their involvement in politics must be monitored with extraordinary care. They must not be used by any party or group for its own sinister purposes.
Vint Chavala
Bangkok
