Amid cautions all around, on with the parade

The junta behind the military government has offered no resistance to Saturday’s annual Chulalongkorn-Thammasat university football match, traditionally a pageant of political satire. Instead, the organisers have been asked to ensure that no one is allowed to “exploit” the attendant parade of effigies and banners mocking the great and the good, lest social tensions be roused.

While emphasising that the National Council for Peace and Order has not prohibited this yearly burst of satire from university students, First Army Area Commander Lt-General Theppong Thipayachan has expressed hope that the underclassmen avoid expressing opinions that could cause division. A large contingent of soldiers will be present at Supachalasai Stadium to “maintain security and order”, he added.

It seems we might witness a repeat of last year’s scenario, when the same pretext disguised a screening process for the effigies and banners before they were carried into public view in the parade. 

Banners with messages considered provocative or critical of the junta were confiscated. Enterprising students nevertheless managed to smuggle in an effigy lampooning Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

Despite pressure from the military ahead of this year’s event, organisers have stood firm over the inclusion of the parade, the highlight of the proceedings. The more creative and controversial effigies remain the subjects of discussion and amusement long after the match result is forgotten. Government bigwigs are inevitably among the prominent public figures targeted for ridicule. Not even military dictators are spared.

Typically, Thammasat students organise the parade, their school being long a bastion of democratic reform and currently a hotbed of protest over the 2014 coup and the junta. To be sure, that rebelliousness is cause for concern among authorities fearful that Saturday’s event will be festooned with anti-government messages.

The authorities have made the right decision in allowing the parade to proceed. It’s to be hoped they don’t repeat their egregious mistake of last year, when parade organisers were manhandled at the stadium. The government’s image is already tainted enough in the eyes of the international community and the foreign press.

Alumni of both universities have urged the people in power to not take the students’ satirical digs too seriously. No government has ever been overthrown as a result of collegiate mockery, they point out. The authorities should be more open to constructive criticism, anyway, they add – doing so might just help the junta improve its image and its performance.

On the contrary, getting tough with the students would only foster more and fiercer opposition, says award-winning author Jiranan Pitpreecha, a Chulalongkorn graduate. Ongart Klampaiboon of the Democrat Party, who attended Thammasat, believes the students will judge well what is and isn’t “appropriate” and warns that any restrictions imposed on their freedom of expression could backfire.

People in power should indeed be open-minded about such shouts from the streets. Student lampooning can be read as a reflection of their rule and suggest possible improvements. The youngsters, meanwhile, are best advised to harness any vindictiveness and instead use their creativity wisely, their goal only the betterment of society. If there is the slightest indication that any among them have been duped and are being used as pawns by any political entity, their good cause and a great opportunity will be lost.