FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

Netiwit attacked for pointing out the naked truth

Netiwit attacked for pointing out the naked truth

Re: “PM scolds student activist for plan to change university’s prostration custom”; “Netiwit shaken but defiant after threatening incident on Chula campus”, National, May 6 and 8.

Young activist Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal reminds me of the kid in Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, who innocently utters “But the emperor hasn’t got anything on!”
We’ll never know what happened to the kid and his family after that because the story ends right there. Were he and his family rounded up and taken for “attitude adjustment”? Or was he sent to a special school to be “re-educated”? Netiwit is a brave young man who dares to express his opinions and beliefs, knowing he will be mocked, intimidated and ostracised by those who disagree with him.
At the age of 20, Netiwit has done more to strengthen freedom of expression than many of us sexagenarians and septuagenarians put together. With the kind of “snafu” society we are living in, I hope and pray for his welfare and safety. 
Somsak Pola
Samut Prakan

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