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A 57-year-old housewife from Thailand is facing a military tribunal and seven years imprisonment over a photograph of her posing with a red bucket, which is adorned with messages from former prime ministers Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra.
The bucket, which is used to splash water during the mid-April Songkran festival, is signed by the Shinawatra siblings.
“The situation may be hot, but brothers and sisters may gain coolness from the water inside this bucket,” it reads.
Theerawan Charoensuk posted a photo of herself smiling with the bucket to Facebook. Upon discovering the image, police ordered that she attend military court for her rebellious actions. Nateephat Akarapongthiti from Chiang Mai’s Mae Ping police station clarified, “She was charged with section 116 — inciting chaos in the country.”
Military leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha defended the hostile response from authorities, claiming the charge was a suitable reply to a national security threat. Prayuth stated, “You have to see: the photo is about a man who broke the law… Isn’t support for a person who broke the law and ran away from the criminal case a wrong thing to do?”
Meanwhile, critics of the regime such as Human Rights Watch senior Thailand researcher Sunai Phasuk denounced the harsh reaction, saying “This new level of absurdity shows intolerance even to the slightest form of political dissent. The junta has passed a threshold in which no one knows where this is going to lead.”
The arrest comes as the junta clamps down on political expression ahead of a controversial referendum on 7 August, where authorities hope to pass the heavily criticised draft constitution. Many feel the document will enshrine military influence while doing little to resolve Thailand’s political turmoil.
Mish Khan is Associate Editor of New Mandala and a third-year Asian studies/law student. This article is part of her Southeast Asian snapshots series.
Are we “Desensitised”??
This rather attractive mature lady, faces 7 horrifying years in a Thai Prison, which are known to be dehumanising, disease ridden facilities.
Here people are sent to prison “for” punishment, whereas many countries use the term “sent to prison “as” punishment”. The difference is not semantic!
Despite this and the inevitable family ramifications, Mish’s article attracts no comment.
Sometimes I am bewildered by my fellow humans. Most of whom are incredible people…
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I am not at all a fan of the corrupt Thaksin, but I am not naive to know that the charges he was found guilty of were trumped up charges in court. He was never given a fair trial and he knew that and that is why he did not return when he left Thailand under the pretext of attending the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, as a guest of the Chinese govt.
This illegitimate, ruthless, military junta is so insecure, so out of touch with reality on the ground, so determined to wipe out Thaksin’s popularity and influence in the North and Northeast of Thailand, where most of the Red Shirts are from. What they have done and continue to do, will only serve to make Thaksin even more popular among the millions of Red Shirts, who have been marginalized, persecuted, jailed, threatened, severely restricted, and suppressed by this military junta. It’s truly absurd to see what levels they have fallen to, what their agenda is, how they are going about this vengeful mode of operation.
Thailand has become a “police state” and the military is making sure they control all aspects of life in Thailand. They don’t serve the interest of the majority of Thais. They are there to line their pockets and serve their own interests, by protecting the elites, the Sino Thai tycoons, who have enriched themselves for decades at the expense of the majority of Thai people.
It will only lead to a revolution by the majority of Thais. It is only a matter of time before the economy tanks, as the generals make a mess of it and will reap what they have sowed.
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Just a quick question, Ryan K.
When you say “[i]t’s truly absurd to see what levels they have fallen to, what their agenda is, how they are going about this vengeful mode of operation” I wonder whether you are suggesting that this particular military government is somehow worse than the ones pre-1973 or post-1976?
That their agenda is somehow different from those of their many many predecessors? Or that they are more “vengeful” than, say, the folks who unleashed the Octobers and Mays on the Thai people?
Or do you just mean to suggest, as so many do on NM, that the Junta is Bad?
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