[Chapter-delegates] URGENT - anybody in Bangkok tomorrow?

[Narelle Clark]

Peng Hwa
Thank you for these updates - rest assured the region is taking note!

Thailand has had such turbulence over recent years when they are such an
essentially peaceful people. It would be sad to see any more.

I think your assessment of the issues being more to do with positioning
for future transitions is very accurate.

Regards


Narelle Clark
President, ISOC-AU

> My apologies for the tardy response. A bunch of emails got trapped in my
> box because of syncing problems with my new home broadband that is
> supposed to go 100Mbs.
>
> Two caveats before I start:
>
> 1.     what I am giving you is the simplified version. The long version is
> unbelievably complex.
>
> 2.     I like to return to Thailand’s beaches, food, hotels and shopping.
> So I will be tiptoeing around the mines.
> The micro-situation first: there was a man called “Uncle SMS” who died
> early May while in prison for allegedly sending an sms insulting the King.
> He had cancer and was brought to the hospital only after he had fainted.
> The man, a truck driver, said he was barely competent with the mobile
> phone, and could not write Thai well. The sms, however, was in flawless
> Thai. So when Chiranuch did not go to jail, there was relief all round.
> The context of all these lese majeste suits is that there are power
> transitions in Thailand. First, at the monarchy level. The current King,
> who is popular, is ailing. The speculation is that Royalists—those who
> support the King—want to assert their power. (Which actually shows they
> are weak but that’s another story.) It should be noted that no member of
> the monarchy has ever filed a lese majeste suit although, as one might
> expect, there is speculation that there are hidden hands.
> At the political level, there is a fight to allow the former prime
> minister Thaksin to return to Thailand. He had been ousted in a 2006 coup.
> Because of the in-fightings, media laws had not been updated. (I was in
> Bangkok to talk about self-regulation of the media.) Among the updates
> needed are immunity provisions for intermediaries and news sites. A major
> concern is that the Chiranuch case is over a news site and there is no
> clear law on how quickly offensive content must be acted upon.
> As the saying goes, when elephants fight, the grass suffer. Well, when
> political heavyweights fight, the grassroots suffer. In 2005 there were 50
> such lese majeste suits in the year; in 2011 there were 600.
> I asked a Western observer who has lived in Bangkok for two years how long
> the power tussle might last. He said that from the experience in the West
> of such transitions, it would be a minimum of five to ten years.
> The good news is that they are not targeting Internet users per se. The
> bad news is that the laws are likely to be in the books and enforced for
> several Internet life-times.
> Regards,
> Peng Hwa Ang
> ISOC Singapore