Thailand hit the headlines twice this week.
Bangkok won warm praise as host for Burma’s pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi
and her first visit outside of her country in 24 years. Thousands cheered as
“The Lady” toured, visiting Burmese migrant workers, listening to their stories
and focusing on issues like health.
She
told workers she would raise their issues with Thai authorities as well as at
the upcoming International Labor Conference in Geneva.
Thailand
was in part driven by self interest. With Burma opening its doors with promises
of democracy, the rest of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
is working overtime to integrate Burma with the ASEAN Economic Community that
will emerge in 2015.
Thailand
is also worried that Burmese migrant workers, for years a source of cheap
labor, will return home. Nevertheless Suu Kyi was feted.
This
was a far cry from the treatment meted out by Thailand to one of their own.The
Bangkok Criminal Court found Chiranuch Premchaiporn guilty of computer crimes
and sentenced her to one year in prison, reduced to eight months and suspended.
Chiranuch is the website manager of the online news portal Prachatai.
Her
crime was that she didn’t move fast enough to delete online comments deemed by
some as insulting to the country's royalty. In other words, this was another
case of lèse-majesté and a legal action seen widely as a test of freedom of
expression in Thailand.
It
could have been worse. Chiranuch had faced up to 20 years in prison for failing
to quickly remove 10 comments others had posted on her Prachatai news website.
The verdict has come shortly after the death in prison of Ampon Tangnoppakul,
61, a polite working class man who lived with his mother and suffered from
mouth cancer that impaired his speech.
He was
jailed for 20 years for a crime he apparently knew nothing about: four SMS
messages sent to the personal secretary of former Prime Minister Abhisit
Vejjajiva, deemed offensive to the monarch.
Lèse-majesté
laws strictly forbid any action that could defame or insult the Thai monarchy,
but critics argue they are simply used by politicians and their backers to
silence their opposition. King Bhumibol Adulyadej has said he wasn’t opposed to
criticism of the monarchy. No member of the royal family has ever filed a
charge of lèse-majesté.
Chiranuch
was arrested during a crackdown on online media initiated by Abhisit with a
focus on content the government considered offensive to the monarchy. But she had
thought she would be acquitted in a case that drew international attention over
censorship of the Internet and the liability of a website operator for comments
posted by a third party.
Thailand
has endured massive political convulsions over the past six years, with Red and
Yellow Shirts at times fanatical in their attempts to draw support from the
broader public.
Suu
Kyi’s historic visit, her first international trip since 1988, was an example
of Thailand at its best and offered a breath of fresh air. But the verdict
against Chiranuch will hardly rate among this country’s finer moments.
Luke
Hunt
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