With so much wrong, junta tightens clamp on academia
I fully agree with the National Human Rights Commission that charges against five people who attended the recent International Conference on Thai Studies in Chiang Mai should be dropped.
They, including the director of Chiang Mai University’s Regional Centre for Social Science and Sustainable Development, are accused of illegal political assembly, as the forum involved more than five people.
But the forum was non-political, and Section 31 of the Constitution guarantees freedom of expression and protection of academic freedom. Also, why were only five persons arrested and not everybody? Do we have double standards?
We are mired in economic doldrums, severely affecting our competitiveness.
Our World Economic Forum 2015 competitive ranking, at 31st out of 144 countries, is well behind Malaysia (20th), not to mention Singapore (second).
To use our immense potential, we dare not settle for the status quo since, to progress, we must leave the status quo behind. This is especially true for education.
The WFE found that “another concern is the mediocre quality of education at all levels (87th in the world)”.
With a third of our 15-year-olds being functionally illiterate in any language, how can we progress?
On top of that, we are far from being reconciled, as shown by the junta’s refusal to loosen the ban on political gatherings.
Rather than muzzling academic studies, the junta should be protecting freedom of expression and academic freedom – helping us break out of our economic bondage and exploring how we can work together towards overarching goals. Let academic freedom ring!
Burin Kantabutra
