Silence of self-censorship is deafening
I suggest that our censorship laws be revised from top to bottom or scrapped. As they stand, they are so vague that they do not guide behaviour and severely hamper the growth of three of former prime minister Anand Panyarachun's "Seven Pillars of Sustaina
As they stand now, our laws result in broad self-censorship, like the following statement from The Economist to its subscribers: “Due to the sensitive nature of an article on the lese majeste laws in Thailand and the resulting potential risk to our distributors, we decided not to distribute the May 12, 2012 issue of The Economist in Thailand”.
We already have strong laws on, say, slander and libel, and should use those instead.
Not only that, in this day and age, censorship is ineffective. For example, The Economist goes on to give “A gentle reminder that, as a print subscriber, you have full access to The Economist online” – where the reader may read the banned article!
Censors, please wake up and enter the 20th century, let alone the 21st.
Burin Kantabutra
Bangkok
