Clean Up the Act Now
Given the tremendous negative image and loss of reputation Thailand has engendered over the last five or six years arising from vigorous prosecution of lese majesté cases and cases under the Computer Crime Act, it seems behooving to the state and government to at least clean up the lese majesté act so as to resemble, in international public opinion and in conformance with international agreements Thailand has already signed, a more civilized process. Right now minimal “adjustments” can easily be made that would at least offer a semblance of demonstrated respect for human decency and human rights, and illustrate Buddhist dharma. The following steps could be taken now.
1. Discard the use of shackles on lese majesté accused and convicted. Shackle and chain use visibly emphasizes what is seen as inhuman treatment and unnecessary restriction of physical movement.
2. Across the board always permit bail, other than when it is clearly demonstrated post-facto that the accused will flee. Restraining accused in remand for weeks while his or her rights would be duly protected through defense preparations on bail is hardly reasonable.
3. Formerly instruct all state officials to cease and desist form interfering in the criminal prosecution process by never counseling the accused to plead guilty or otherwise encourage the to admit guilt.
4. Provide the accused with proper and adequate legal counsel by attorneys, or at least the immediate opportunity to solicit their own, lawyers are not afraid to challenge the lese majesté accusations and the process then currently used to investigate them.
5. Fairly assess the claimed linkage between lese majesté and national security with the objective of reaching a non-military view as to just how the two qualities are related and whether, in fact, deemed defamation or insult really presents any kind of threat to national security. To date the claimed links have been spurious and unsubstantiated other than in vague references to links between the institution and national security.
6. A ruling by relevant state authorities should also be conducted regarding accountability of all state officials involved in lese majesté cases to determine just to what extent, if any, rights have been violated or protected, and whether there is indeed, as claimed, genuine potential of terrorism caused by the intimidating nature of the case and those involved in prosecuting it.
7. Current convictions should be reviewed both in Thailand and by an international agency properly empowered to determine compliance or lack thereof with international standards of justice committed to by the Thai state.
8. Academic and medical professional assessments should be considered to determine to what extent lese majesté cases cause terror individually and socially. While libel terrorism has been recognized abroad, it has only been recognized in principle in Thailand as contained in such wording as, “used by people for political purposes.” In fact, the charge can also be used by the state for the same purpose, and indeed, many social critics have observed the same.
9. Rather than proceeding with more and more secrecy in lese majesté cases, the state should instead increase transparency and openness and be held accountable for lack of compliance during the entire process with domestic and international obligations.
10. Police and other agencies owe the accused minimal protection from intimidation and harassment, in and out of state authority presence. Fundamentalist news media should be cautioned not to disperse hate speech.
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Well, yeah, Frank. All
Well, yeah, Frank. All sterling suggestions. The problem is that the Thai state is not acting in good faith, as pointed out in your comment to Fringe Philosopher's Worse than 112, Article 112 has become Thailand's WMD.
The ancien régime created article 112 as a WMD, uses it as a WMD, and seeks to maintain it as a WMD. The abuses you enumerate are part and parcel of its 'payload'. They are the essence of its effectiveness. The ancien régime will fight tooth and nail for their retention. They are not at all interested in ameliorating their weapon's effects. The are all for 'enhancing' them.
I am with John on this. The
I am with John on this. The suggestions are in a sense hollow. In fact they stem from a rational thinking person and are meant for rational thinking people. But the whole LM game is rigged from start to finish and people on the whole have been bamboozled into believing this is for the good of the people and the nation. It is a hodgepodge of manipulative pro panda that has been ingrained in the collective psyche of the population for many decades. It is certainly not rational.
If pleading guilty and then getting on your hands and knees and begging forgiveness for something is the solution to avoiding 10 years in prison as opposed to 5, you will be tempted. In fact they humiliate the accused and destroy his self esteem and self worth as a human being. Those that withstand this sadistic last kick to a man or woman already beaten lying helpless on the ground are to be respected and should become heroes.
The LM laws are more appropriate in a Kafka novel than the law books.
I think someone might be
I think someone might be missing the entire point. The statements were intended to lay it out pure and simple to those who don't like to see things laid out pure and simple. Of course not everyone in Thailand is reading these posts, but the essence of what was written is that these prices people pay for expression are humanly too high and need to be denounced. Letter writing campaigns and so on...a global protest needs to get started...one that works. If something seems too simplistic, perhaps as well might be observations made of it.
Good point, the public needs
Good point, the public needs things clear and simple. I do understand this.
As far as pressure from elsewhere goes I have many times suggested various ideas:
1) handing out informative pamphlets at travel agencies and airports in particular;
2) making it obligatory for travel agencies and/or airlines to inform travelers of the dangers of LM; this could be done for their own sake, to protect travelers from the consequences of what would be a silly act elsewhere. People should be made fully aware a hastily drawn cartoon on a restaurant table napkin or totally rational remark about the merits of a republic, a simple joke about royalty, all can land them in jail for years, and;
3) political pressure groups in European Constitutional Monarchies addressing directly their own monarchies to either intervene or make there stance clear, publicly and without evasiveness. Either they agree with the Thai LM laws or they disagree and no more riding the fence with blinders on. The royal families benefit hugely from their positions so they should at least have enough courage to openly show what they stand for.
And your points make it clear
And your points make it clear that there are simple, effective steps that can be taken to lessen the brutality of the 'law'... the dictate of a coup. And it's good of you to have taken the time to enumerate them, to point to the line of white pebbles leading out of the woods and back home. Now all that remains is for the government to lead us there.
I endorse everything you say
I endorse everything you say here, Frank.
You forgot to add to your
You forgot to add to your list that fake-NGOs funded by foreign corporate fascists need to disclose fully their funding, the details of the programs that money is funding, and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are not receiving directives from abroad - such as full transcripts from meetings like Google's Internet to Liberty which is conducted under "Chatham House Rules."
Another item you could mention is including in each article put out by "journalist" "NGOs" to disclose the fact that all the organizations, institutions, etc., mentioned are all related financially and politically to themselves.
You cannot make demands of fairness, transparency, openness, and freedom, when you yourselves are incredible opponents of these ideals. This is what one can expect from a politically motivated movement - which clearly you are - not a progressive pursuit of a better society.
And finally. Post-facto? How many UDD members have fled the moment they could? They have a network to facilitate this with Hun Sen openly declaring his nation a sanctuary for their foreign funded sedition. You don't release people like this on bail.
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2010/09/hun-sen-globalist-model-pet.html
Stop putting on this act - it is beneath you. Be honest about what you are trying to do here in Thailand, and give people the honest choice whether to join you or not.
The rest of you - shame on you for just rubber stamping this - this sycophantic display only further reinforces this is a political camp and not the convergence of independent rational minds.