A pathetic knee-jerk reaction

A Cambodian national, Ratanak Heng, 21, was arrested on Thursday in Phnom Penh at the request of Thai authorities.
He was accused of posting fake news about Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Maj-General Surachate Hakpal from Thailand’s Tourist Police led the team to Cambodia to pick up the wanted man and fly him back to Thailand to face charges.
If convicted, Ratanak will face imprisonment of up to five years or a fine of Bt100,000 or both. 
In addition to the Cambodian, six Thai nationals have also been charged for sharing the post. They confessed to reposting the story but maintained they had no ill intent. It’s beyond one’s imagination why, of all security agencies, the Thai tourist police was tasked with carrying out the arrest. 
But the manner of Ratanak’s arrest points to a scant regard for the due process of extradition and is a worrying sign about the current state of affairs.
It is also disgraceful for Cambodia, a country that has constantly harangued against Thailand and Vietnam for violating its sovereignty and territorial integrity, to permit Thai police to come to its soil and arrest one of its citizens. 
It is not clear why Thai authorities blurred Ratanak’s face in the handout photo they released. 
If anybody should have been ashamed, it should have been the Thai police themselves. What precipitated this reaction? Did the post cause Prayut emotional distress? 
If he cannot take the criticism that comes with the job, perhaps he should have reconsidered his plan to launch a coup to oust a democratically elected government.
The Royal Thai Police’s Technology Crime Suppression Division charged Ratanak with violating the country’s computer crime law after he allegedly uploaded on May 23 a post saying Prayut had blasted Thai people who complained about the high petrol prices by telling motorists to fill their cars with water instead. 
Some people in the Thai police force or the military may be dumb enough to believe that water can actually replace petrol. But people with basic common sense know that Ratanak’s posting was intended to poke fun at Thai leaders.
Did it cause chaos in Thailand? Are we so stupid as to pour water instead of petrol in our cars?  Prayut may or may not have made the statement. But that is not the point here. The key question is: Did this case justify breaching the due process for extradition? 
Thai police explained that this particular piece of false information could have undermined the country’s national security. But if this qualifies as a threat to national security, where is the limit? If anything, the arrest is part of ongoing efforts to shut critics up.
Suppressing voices of dissent in one’s own country is bad enough. Now the Cambodian and Thai leaders are ganging up on this issue and such a collusion should have no place in the modern world. Ratanak’s posting may not fall into the “dissent” category. But to shut him up by handing him over to foreign law enforcement is a travesty.
Like Cambodians, Thais have cherished the idea of public debate and freedom of speech. 
Prayut’s right to protection from emotional distress cannot outweigh the greater public interest in allowing Thais and foreigners the right to freely express their views. 
We have a long tradition of satire in Thailand. If the junta can take legal action over a funny post because of emotional distress, then such a fate could befall many other public figures who may not like the way they are being portrayed in political satire or the print media.