I’m pleased to know that Mr Bob Car has added his name to the list. Also many thanks to the authors for helping to publicize the plight of those Thai political prisoners.
a lot of speculation of the transition to the new reign. However, is it really that imminent? I mean, the probability that 5 years from now we still have Rama IX is >50 %, I think. He’s old, yes, but compare to other people at the same age, he’s healthier than the average, I would think. Plus, he’s certainly under state-of-the-art medical surveillance. The queen mother lives to 90+ years old. I think there’s a high likelihood the king will match or exceed that.
Taro and PAD1 probably don’t deserve responses. One might expect it from PAD1, for the statement is one that is regularly heard from PAD and PAD supporters have behaved increasingly as racist stooges. PAD1 might want to list the laws that s/he thinks are equivalent, and then some debate is possible, but my guess is that no debate is even wanted for all contrary opinion and/or fact will be dismissed as “idiot opinions.” PAD1 is simply parrotting statements made on ASTV and repeated by Democrats leaders.
Taro seems unwilling to debate. When contrary opinions are proffered or facts requested, Taro resorts to name-calling. Taro also seems satisfied that some of his/her posts have disturbed readers. If Taro read a bit more of previous postings, that would seem a highly dubious conclusion to draw.
One sees that the level of discussion coming from the royalists and PADites has been dragged down in recent times, being far more abusive and less willing to engage with contrary opinions. One might consider that reflective of Thai politics in general. At the same time, royalist fears have overwhelmed reason.
No offence intended and if my following comment upsets anyone, I apologize. So far from my observation, NO poster who wants LM law to remain unchanged and object to citicism of it is able to provide any convincing argument. In most cases, these defenders resort to abuse, intimidation and childish strategies when they realize that they are UNABLE to use any logic or reason or even common sense to support their argument. I suggest that we ignore this sort of hysterical abuse and mindless defensiveness.
almost all countries in this world have the law like LM law, maybe call something else, to protect their leaders like King, prime minister, president, etd …. so i think it’s Thai ‘s ppl business… the foreigners who have tried to give opinions on this issue should mind their countries’ business first. we have our own ways to run our country … the foreigners’s opinions against this LM law may be considered as idiot opinions . thank you
Dear A Thai student >>> your comment here is so beautiful and if i can write English as good as yours ,i would write the same thing and i don’t think the majority of thai pp would know how to react about the criticism of the monarchy specially the King himself .
Chicanery? As a close observer of the Nicolaides case this couldn’t be further from the truth. You only need to look at the timing of when Heath Dollar made his claims (day after Harry was pardoned) to judge his ‘great integrity’. As I said above, these claims are meaningless.
She is one of the Red-shirted leaders??She acted like she was insane. I hope there are not many like her in the red shirt movement although recent news about red-shirt violence and aggressiveness seems to prove otherwise.
Liberal reform of the LM law is very nice and to be welcomed but really it is a red herring and symptom
What needs to be addressed is the many conflicting and contested sovereign powers: the military, the market, Thaksin, red and yellow shirt, of course last, but not least, the people
I have yet to hear any Yellow Shirts talk like this. and in fact have generally noticed a lot more of the roughneck in them than in the others. Be that as it may, this particular woman in the video is the one that lodged a fraudulent lese majeste complaint against me with the local police who referred it to Bangkok CSI. I was told by local police that insufficient evidence (what was there was fabricated) means that no case is to be opened.
Why should Ji not choose Oxford University as a platform for his campaign, given the institution’s reputation that lends credibility to his cause?
Anyway, Ji does not limit himself to “Loxbridge” but seems to now extend his activity to England’s red brick universities that are definitely not suspected of being elitist. On Tuesday, March 17th, he will give a talk at the University of Leeds about “Lèse-Majesté: An Obstacle to Democracy in Thailand?”. The organizers, “The International Affairs Forum”, haven’t announced the details yet, but the event will likely take place in the Yorkshire Bank Lecture Theatre, Leeds University Business School. Definite information regarding time and place should be published soon on this site: http://www.iaforum.org.uk/?id=upcoming_events
I’m not going to comment on your personal attack. But what I will say is that, yes, I did know many people in the audience, and gave my opinion not just out of thin air – you said yourself it’s an elite institution so I don’t think I have to make it any clearer to you.
I never implied Giles was not right in giving a talk there. In fact I believe the opposite, it took courage and I admire him for that, and Lee Jones for organising the event. They did well, and it was a very different atmosphere from the SOAS talk. It was a rhetorical comment- the answer was obvious- he chose the venue (and other venues) precisely because he wanted debate and to reach those people who would otherwise be very critical, rather than just playing it safe at Soas or other venues like Leeds or Sussex- like Susie Wong made clear AJ Giles is a very strong man. Sorry, I thought the answer to my comment was so obvious I didn’t feel the need to spell it out.
I wonder if Abhisit giving a talk in Oxford on the 14th March is any kind of reply to Giles? Does anyone know any more details about the event?
Heath Dollar has been a friend of mine for over 15 years. He was indeed in Thailand teaching at the university during the period he stated in his article. He occasionally mentioned Harry during the course of our correspondence. He is a man of great integrity. Unfortunately, he has been vilified for his honesty by many who were snowballed by Mr. Nicolaides chicanery.
LM laws actually need not to be reform at all. I have seen lese majeste law caused alot of problems in our society. So, scrape it out ,that all i want to see.
Srithanonchai and Susan: I am one of the Thai students who attended the talk myself. I must admit that the questions and feedbacks from Thai audiences were very one-sided. I was also disappointed, but not surprised, that it didn’t turn out otherwise. (When it comes to politics and Thai people, there seems to be no correlation between level of education and political maturity. Yet, it is sad that in many cases, the more educated who know less about politics claim that they know more.)
As Susan mentioned, half of the Thai audiences were Oxford students and half were middle-age residents (from Oxford and London). I also want to add that there were at least 1 government official from the Thailand’s ministry of foreign affairs and 1 government official from Thailand to monitor and record the talk. So far, the embassy sent out at least 1 person to attend each of Aj.Ji’s talks around the UK.
Most of the questions and remarks were from a portion of Thai students who held a royalist view as well as from aunties and uncles who were determined to speak out in protection of the monarchy. I greeted a few of them after the talk. They told me that they were asked by the Thai embassy in London to come and help protect the monarchy on that night.
I know many of the aunties and uncles personally. They are nice people, but are also the type that gets very emotional when it comes to criticisms about the king. I am not sure whether it would do any good arguing with them. After all, we were not talking on the same ground of reasoning. I asked myself many times what I would do if the nice uncles and aunties judge me as a bad person. Maybe I was going a bit too far.
Anyhow, many of the comments by my fellow students and aunties & uncles suffocated me. When an uncle accused Aj.Ji of praising Western values and neglecting Thai values, I wanted to ask him whether he thinks everybody in Thailand has to hold the same set of values; and whether he thinks it is fair to use “Thai values” as an excuse to prevent people from demanding many things they deserve. When an aunty asked Aj.Ji how he could say bad things about the king given that the king is respected by almost 70 million people in Thailand, I wanted to ask that aunty how she could know “the number” for sure. When it comes to monarchy in Thailand, every word and every action is heavily truncated. One is encouraged and rewarded by the society when they praise the monarchy. One gets condemned and excluded from the Thai society when they question about “things” they are not supposed to. It is very easy to be a tamed Thai. It is utterly suffocating to be a curious and out-spoken Thai.
Having said all above, I am not claiming that Thailand has no hope for the freedom of speech it direly needs. I and many fellow Thai students regularly discuss about political matters in Thailand. Aj.Ji’s talk on that day has also opened a vigorous discussion floor among us. We would like to thank him.
Just because we couldn’t manage to gather our courage to speak out on that day doesn’t mean that we agreed with those who spoke out. I hope that the readers wouldn’t underestimate the number and the power of the unspoken.
Are those questions from Oxford students, or from Thai people in UK who travel to Oxford to attend the talks?
My impression is that students (doesn’t matter whether it’s in the elite or not-so-elite schools) tend to be much less hysterical (maybe the apathy of youth?) than middle-aged folks. Especially Thai restuarants owners,.. don’t get me started on how radicalized they are.. one way or another.
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New Mandala on lese majeste
I’m pleased to know that Mr Bob Car has added his name to the list. Also many thanks to the authors for helping to publicize the plight of those Thai political prisoners.
New Mandala on lese majeste
a lot of speculation of the transition to the new reign. However, is it really that imminent? I mean, the probability that 5 years from now we still have Rama IX is >50 %, I think. He’s old, yes, but compare to other people at the same age, he’s healthier than the average, I would think. Plus, he’s certainly under state-of-the-art medical surveillance. The queen mother lives to 90+ years old. I think there’s a high likelihood the king will match or exceed that.
International scholars call for reform of Thailand’s lese majeste law
Taro and PAD1 probably don’t deserve responses. One might expect it from PAD1, for the statement is one that is regularly heard from PAD and PAD supporters have behaved increasingly as racist stooges. PAD1 might want to list the laws that s/he thinks are equivalent, and then some debate is possible, but my guess is that no debate is even wanted for all contrary opinion and/or fact will be dismissed as “idiot opinions.” PAD1 is simply parrotting statements made on ASTV and repeated by Democrats leaders.
Taro seems unwilling to debate. When contrary opinions are proffered or facts requested, Taro resorts to name-calling. Taro also seems satisfied that some of his/her posts have disturbed readers. If Taro read a bit more of previous postings, that would seem a highly dubious conclusion to draw.
One sees that the level of discussion coming from the royalists and PADites has been dragged down in recent times, being far more abusive and less willing to engage with contrary opinions. One might consider that reflective of Thai politics in general. At the same time, royalist fears have overwhelmed reason.
International scholars call for reform of Thailand’s lese majeste law
No offence intended and if my following comment upsets anyone, I apologize. So far from my observation, NO poster who wants LM law to remain unchanged and object to citicism of it is able to provide any convincing argument. In most cases, these defenders resort to abuse, intimidation and childish strategies when they realize that they are UNABLE to use any logic or reason or even common sense to support their argument. I suggest that we ignore this sort of hysterical abuse and mindless defensiveness.
International scholars call for reform of Thailand’s lese majeste law
almost all countries in this world have the law like LM law, maybe call something else, to protect their leaders like King, prime minister, president, etd …. so i think it’s Thai ‘s ppl business… the foreigners who have tried to give opinions on this issue should mind their countries’ business first. we have our own ways to run our country … the foreigners’s opinions against this LM law may be considered as idiot opinions . thank you
International scholars call for reform of Thailand’s lese majeste law
Why your guy so meddlesome? Different country different culture.
Thailand have to be King .The King is spirit for Thai people.
You never understand because you aren’t Thai. I don’t know why
Western of the bitch guy they likes meddlesome to any Asia country.
Further details on Giles’ Oxford talk
Dear A Thai student >>> your comment here is so beautiful and if i can write English as good as yours ,i would write the same thing and i don’t think the majority of thai pp would know how to react about the criticism of the monarchy specially the King himself .
International scholars call for reform of Thailand’s lese majeste law
Well I think you guys are just … weird and crazy..nosy and so on.. Sorry that I have disturbed your mission with my opinion. Good luck with that.
Best Regards,
Taro
Heath Dollar on Harry’s literary ambition
Chicanery? As a close observer of the Nicolaides case this couldn’t be further from the truth. You only need to look at the timing of when Heath Dollar made his claims (day after Harry was pardoned) to judge his ‘great integrity’. As I said above, these claims are meaningless.
International scholars call for reform of Thailand’s lese majeste law
She is one of the Red-shirted leaders??She acted like she was insane. I hope there are not many like her in the red shirt movement although recent news about red-shirt violence and aggressiveness seems to prove otherwise.
“Nothing wrong with the lese majeste law”
Liberal reform of the LM law is very nice and to be welcomed but really it is a red herring and symptom
What needs to be addressed is the many conflicting and contested sovereign powers: the military, the market, Thaksin, red and yellow shirt, of course last, but not least, the people
Further details on Giles’ Oxford talk
A Thai student:
Thanks very much for your informative observations!
International scholars call for reform of Thailand’s lese majeste law
If anyone wants to see how one red shirt leader in Korat handles close observation see my Youtube recording at http://www.youtube.com/user/frankganderson
I have yet to hear any Yellow Shirts talk like this. and in fact have generally noticed a lot more of the roughneck in them than in the others. Be that as it may, this particular woman in the video is the one that lodged a fraudulent lese majeste complaint against me with the local police who referred it to Bangkok CSI. I was told by local police that insufficient evidence (what was there was fabricated) means that no case is to be opened.
Further details on Giles’ Oxford talk
Why should Ji not choose Oxford University as a platform for his campaign, given the institution’s reputation that lends credibility to his cause?
Anyway, Ji does not limit himself to “Loxbridge” but seems to now extend his activity to England’s red brick universities that are definitely not suspected of being elitist. On Tuesday, March 17th, he will give a talk at the University of Leeds about “Lèse-Majesté: An Obstacle to Democracy in Thailand?”. The organizers, “The International Affairs Forum”, haven’t announced the details yet, but the event will likely take place in the Yorkshire Bank Lecture Theatre, Leeds University Business School. Definite information regarding time and place should be published soon on this site: http://www.iaforum.org.uk/?id=upcoming_events
Crackdown on Prachatai
Ji should show up at the conference and ask for a debate or time for a rebuttal.
Further details on Giles’ Oxford talk
Dear Chris,
I’m not going to comment on your personal attack. But what I will say is that, yes, I did know many people in the audience, and gave my opinion not just out of thin air – you said yourself it’s an elite institution so I don’t think I have to make it any clearer to you.
I never implied Giles was not right in giving a talk there. In fact I believe the opposite, it took courage and I admire him for that, and Lee Jones for organising the event. They did well, and it was a very different atmosphere from the SOAS talk. It was a rhetorical comment- the answer was obvious- he chose the venue (and other venues) precisely because he wanted debate and to reach those people who would otherwise be very critical, rather than just playing it safe at Soas or other venues like Leeds or Sussex- like Susie Wong made clear AJ Giles is a very strong man. Sorry, I thought the answer to my comment was so obvious I didn’t feel the need to spell it out.
I wonder if Abhisit giving a talk in Oxford on the 14th March is any kind of reply to Giles? Does anyone know any more details about the event?
Heath Dollar on Harry’s literary ambition
Heath Dollar has been a friend of mine for over 15 years. He was indeed in Thailand teaching at the university during the period he stated in his article. He occasionally mentioned Harry during the course of our correspondence. He is a man of great integrity. Unfortunately, he has been vilified for his honesty by many who were snowballed by Mr. Nicolaides chicanery.
Report on “Lèse Majesté in Thailand: The Enemy of Democracy”
Thanks Joy,
LM laws actually need not to be reform at all. I have seen lese majeste law caused alot of problems in our society. So, scrape it out ,that all i want to see.
Further details on Giles’ Oxford talk
Srithanonchai and Susan: I am one of the Thai students who attended the talk myself. I must admit that the questions and feedbacks from Thai audiences were very one-sided. I was also disappointed, but not surprised, that it didn’t turn out otherwise. (When it comes to politics and Thai people, there seems to be no correlation between level of education and political maturity. Yet, it is sad that in many cases, the more educated who know less about politics claim that they know more.)
As Susan mentioned, half of the Thai audiences were Oxford students and half were middle-age residents (from Oxford and London). I also want to add that there were at least 1 government official from the Thailand’s ministry of foreign affairs and 1 government official from Thailand to monitor and record the talk. So far, the embassy sent out at least 1 person to attend each of Aj.Ji’s talks around the UK.
Most of the questions and remarks were from a portion of Thai students who held a royalist view as well as from aunties and uncles who were determined to speak out in protection of the monarchy. I greeted a few of them after the talk. They told me that they were asked by the Thai embassy in London to come and help protect the monarchy on that night.
I know many of the aunties and uncles personally. They are nice people, but are also the type that gets very emotional when it comes to criticisms about the king. I am not sure whether it would do any good arguing with them. After all, we were not talking on the same ground of reasoning. I asked myself many times what I would do if the nice uncles and aunties judge me as a bad person. Maybe I was going a bit too far.
Anyhow, many of the comments by my fellow students and aunties & uncles suffocated me. When an uncle accused Aj.Ji of praising Western values and neglecting Thai values, I wanted to ask him whether he thinks everybody in Thailand has to hold the same set of values; and whether he thinks it is fair to use “Thai values” as an excuse to prevent people from demanding many things they deserve. When an aunty asked Aj.Ji how he could say bad things about the king given that the king is respected by almost 70 million people in Thailand, I wanted to ask that aunty how she could know “the number” for sure. When it comes to monarchy in Thailand, every word and every action is heavily truncated. One is encouraged and rewarded by the society when they praise the monarchy. One gets condemned and excluded from the Thai society when they question about “things” they are not supposed to. It is very easy to be a tamed Thai. It is utterly suffocating to be a curious and out-spoken Thai.
Having said all above, I am not claiming that Thailand has no hope for the freedom of speech it direly needs. I and many fellow Thai students regularly discuss about political matters in Thailand. Aj.Ji’s talk on that day has also opened a vigorous discussion floor among us. We would like to thank him.
Just because we couldn’t manage to gather our courage to speak out on that day doesn’t mean that we agreed with those who spoke out. I hope that the readers wouldn’t underestimate the number and the power of the unspoken.
Further details on Giles’ Oxford talk
Are those questions from Oxford students, or from Thai people in UK who travel to Oxford to attend the talks?
My impression is that students (doesn’t matter whether it’s in the elite or not-so-elite schools) tend to be much less hysterical (maybe the apathy of youth?) than middle-aged folks. Especially Thai restuarants owners,.. don’t get me started on how radicalized they are.. one way or another.