Lese majeste law flouts universal legal principles: Thai historian

Thongchai Winichakul, a history professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US, said that two legal principles operate in Thailand’s single legal system.

“Royalist jurisprudence” replaces the normative rule of law in cases dealing with relations between the monarchy and the people, he told an online seminar held by Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) on April 17.

Thailand’s justice system ”does not follow the normative principle and rule of law but has its own jurisprudence and legal system based on its own kind of rule by law,” said Thongchai, who was a student leader during the 1976 Thammasat University massacre of students by security forces and right-wing militia.

The London School of Economics (LSE) defines “normative jurisprudence” as a set of moral and legal principles that come from a universal understanding of human nature or justice, rather than from laws made by specific governments.

In contrast, Thailand’s lese majeste law (Article 112 of the criminal code) centred on the deep-rooted “Buddhist kingship notion”, Thongchai said.

Buddhist kingship encapsulates the status of a Thai monarch who stands above the law and retains a position of revered worship, according to French political scientist Eugénie Mérieau.

Thongchai said the highly esteemed status of the Thai monarch was once again underscored by the Constitutional Court’s recent ruling that the Move Forward Party’s push to amend Article 112 was an attempt to “separate the monarchy from the nation” and represented a “danger to national security.”

The court said changing the royal defamation law would adversely affect the King’s “sacredness” and “inviolability” under Article 6 of the Constitution.

The main opposition party faces possible dissolution next month after the court agreed to hear a case in which it is charged with undermining the constitutional monarchy.

Thongchai also said that Thai jurisprudence also normalises exceptions to normal criminal procedure by routinely denying bail release to citizens charged under Article 112.

A total of 272 people were charged with lese majeste in 303 cases between November 2020 and March this year, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.

The number of lese majeste cases soared during youth-led protests against General Prayut Chan-o-cha’s government following the disbandment of Move Forward’s predecessor, Future Forward, in 2020.

Among those jailed for lese majeste were lawyer-activist Arnon Nampa and Mongkol “Busbas” Thirakot. The latter was sentenced to 50 years in jail.

Thongchai said that if this trend continues, he feared Thailand would turn from a democratic system with the King as head of state into a semi-absolutist system.

“[Article] 112 is a form of blasphemy law like those used by other religious states because it’s based on radical fundamentalist Buddhist ideas,” he said.

The law had undergone only small revisions since the time of absolute monarchy so was no longer appropriate for the present time, he added.

Article 112 has been revised three times since the Siamese Revolution changed the country from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy in 1932. The latest alteration in 1976 increased the maximum jail term to 15 years.