Lèse-majesté
Criticism of Thailand’s monarchy in any form is a crime
By Ray Sinclair and Laura Fell
Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn (68) is one of the world’s wealthiest monarchs with an estimated wealth of forty-three billion U.S dollars. According to the Times, when Covid-19 pandemic spread to Thailand, the King and his entourage fled to the Bavarian Alps and rented out an entire four-star hotel where he was reported to be holed up with up to twenty concubines.
With the continued rise and reach of social media, the citizens of Thailand took to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and defied the harshest lèse-majesté laws in the world. They criticised and condemned their king risking prosecution and imprisonment of up to 15 years.
According to the Lowy Institute’s online media publication, ‘the interpreter’ the present-day protests by pro-democracy activists has its origins in part to the bloodless coup of 1932 by the People’s Party. Despite the coup ending the rule of absolute monarchy, there has been an incomplete transition to democracy. In the following 88 years since the coup, Thailand has had just 24 years of elected prime ministers, but 60 years of either serving or retired senior military officers heading the government. The turbulent government history consists of 19 coups, 11 were successful, and 19 new constitutions.
Following the 2014 coup, for the twelfth time the army seized power, through Royal Thai Army Chief, General Prayuth Chan-o-cha. The ruling military junta implemented a ban on all political activity. The ban drew condemnation from Western governments and the United Nations. In 2019, after the funeral of the much-respected King Bhumibol the ban was lifted to allow politicking. Actively campaigning and street rallies remained banned. The Thais voted in a ‘free’ election which was supposed to return the country to civilian rule. Former junta leader Prayuth and his party ran under the banner of promoting traditional Thai values of devotion to the monarchy, often casting opposition opponents as disloyal to the King.
Prayuth now serves as Prime Minister and Defence Minister after winning the general election for the ruling political pro-military party Palang Pracharat.Thailand has been under direct military rule for nearly five years since General Prayuth overthrew an elected government.
Overview of justice in Thailand
All high-ranking judges feel they have a special connection to the monarch, swear an oath of loyalty before the King. The judges are appointed by His Majesty at the King’s royal command and perform their duties in the name of the sovereign. The highest court in the land is a Constitutional Court — The Dika, or the Supreme Court — with 15 judges. It has jurisdiction over legal issues pertaining to the Constitution, the supreme law of the state. There are no jury trials in Thailand. Justice is meted on very different terms for ordinary people and members of the elite. Lawsuits are increasingly being used as political tools in Thailand. Lèse-majesté laws have been used to silence critics of the ruling government. In recent years, legal challenges have brought down two governments. Joel Brinkley, a former Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for The New York Times and now a professor of journalism at Stanford University wrote in the McClatchy Newspapers, says, “Once suspects here are arrested for crimes, a surprisingly high percentage of them are said to have confessed. “Thailand’s legal system has glaring shortcomings, too. For one thing, the Thai police are thoroughly corrupt.”
King and the military
Technically, the King is the commander-in-chief of all Thailand’s armed forces. In 2019 King Vajiralongkorn issued an order for the transfer of two army units to the direct command of the palace, a royal decree is the latest move by the constitutional monarch to consolidate his authority. The King’s order, signed by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, cited article 172 of the constitution, which allows for the issuing of a royal decree in an emergency that threatens national security and the monarchy. There is no apparent emergency that justifies such a decision.
The King’s power grab might hurt the long-term viability of the monarchy. Although lèse-majesté laws outlaw public criticism, Thais are generally well aware of Vajiralongkorn’s past and present conduct. There is little evidence he has boosted his popularity as King. His maneuvering is making enemies among business, military and political elites, in addition to quiet republicans. Tens of thousands of student protesters known as the ‘free people movement’ are demanding three key changes to the current Thai government: dissolve the Parliament, re-write the military-backed constitution, and stop intimidating and arbitrarily arresting critics. Thailand’s citizens have come to distrust the military and the monarchy.
What effect has the law had on journalists and Thai people?
Journalism should promote freedom of expression. The lèse-majesté law is broad and subject to interpretation of what is defamatory, insulting, or threatening to the monarchy. Thailand newsrooms often debate over what is safe to share in the media, most commonly deciding to completely cut or only briefly mention stories relating to the king. Consequently, Thai people are losing confidence in these media organisations due to the censored content.
A human rights lawyer, Arnon Nampa, was the first person in over a decade to speak out about the monarchy in public on Thai soil. His statement disrupted a Harry Potter themed protest in Bangkok and was so abrupt that the media had to stop their Facebook Live streams. This speech and similar ones from student protests have been excluded from the news.
Student rallies last month have seen speakers confront the need for transparency in palace spending. But anyone who was not at the protest can only access this information through seeking out international media coverage or watching them live on the student movement’s Facebook page.
https://www.reuters.com/video/watch/mass-protests-challenge-thailands-revere-id719411950
Unlike social media, which has set a new standard of freedom of speech, little has changed in Thai mainstream media. Journalists are finding it difficult to convey these students’ messages when the stakes of facing lèse-majesté law charges are too high for established media organisations. And very few reporters are daring to risk the harsh penalties of the lèse-majesté law.
“To be a journalist covering Thailand truthfully requires breaking the law and becoming an outlaw.”
Andrew MacGregor Marshall, a former Reuters correspondent in Bangkok (Harfenist, 2017).
Since the 2014 coup, over 100 people have been prosecuted under the laws. A “cyberpatrol” of bureaucrats, as well as, volunteers from royalist groups, scour the internet for possible offenders. Thai people will not speak of the royal family with their close family and friends, let alone broadcast it to the public.
How to get arrested under the law?
From commenting on the King’s dog to liking anything critical of the monarchy on Facebook, Thai people can never be too careful when it comes to crossing the lèse-majesté law. Even when it comes to discussing past rulers, from over 100 years ago.
In 2007, a politician spoke on a radio program about slavery during the reign of King Mongkut (1851–1868), and was sentenced to two years prison. Even though slavery existed in Thailand at that time, the supreme court still deemed that defaming past monarchs was still damaging to the present king.
In 2010, director of Thai news website Prachathai failed to remove negative comments from readers about the monarchy quickly enough, and was given an eight-month suspended sentence.
In 2017, journalist Jatupat Boonpattaraksa was sentenced to two and a half years in prison under this law just for sharing one BBC article about Thailand’s king on his social media. He was also charged with violating a computer crime law for posting a link to the report, which was shared by more than 2,000 other people.
But what rules apply to foreign journalists?
When in Thailand, the laws and protocols around reporting on the King apply to every individual. For example, a journalist from France who was sent to Thailand to cover the King’s coronation in 2019, was given strict rules to obey while on the job. They had to wear dark blue clothes, with a yellow tie, the colour of the monarchy, and polished black shoes. They had to stay a minimum of five meters from the monarch and could not use ladders, as it is forbidden to be higher than the king. They could not film his back and had to bow deeply when he passed. As soon as they have left the country, international journalists are able to publish what they wish on the topic.
The only way for the monarchy to survive is for the old establishment to abolish the anachronistic law of lèse-majesté, allowing Thailand to make a complete transition to democratic rule.
