The Bard is Barred

Thailand's film censors have banned an adaptation of Shakespeare's "Macbeth," saying it could inflame political passions in the country.

The Thai-language film "Shakespeare Must Die" tells the story of a theater group in a fictional country resembling Thailand that is staging a production of Macbeth, in which an ambitious general murders his way to the Scottish throne.

Censors at the Culture Ministry issued a brief memo Tuesday saying that the film could not be distributed in Thailand because it "has content that causes divisiveness among the people of the nation." The memo did not specify which scenes were deemed offensive.

But, Ing Kanjanavanit, the film's director, said the censorship committee objected to anti-monarchy overtones in the film as well as politically charged content, including a scene based on an iconic photo from Bangkok's 1976 student uprising showing a demonstrator being lynched.

Director Ing Kanjanavanit

"The committee questioned why we wanted to bring back violent pain from the past to make people angry," Ms. Kanjanavanit said in an interview Wednesday. The censors also disliked the attire of a murderer in the film, who wore a bright red hooded cloak — the same color worn by the pro-democracy demonstrators known as the "Red Shirts."

The director called the ruling "absurd" and a reflection of the fear in Thai society.

"I feel like we are heading to a very dark, dark place right now — a place full of fears and everyone has to be extra careful about what they say," Ms Kanjanavanit said, saying the character resembling former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra could represent any leader accused of corruption and abuse of power.

"The character could represent anyone," she said. "When Cambodians watch this they'll think it's Hun Sen. When Libyans watch it they would think it's Gadhafi."

That’s right.  Art is subjective.  Actually, when I first read the title “Shakespeare Must Die” and learned that the movie was about Thailand, I thought the character may have represented Abhisit Vejjajiva. After all, he was corrupt and abused his power when the military installed him as Prime Minister in 2008.  Plus, like Shakespeare, Abhisit is also British.

Now, I’m totally against censorship but if the Thai government is going to ban this adaptation of “MacBeth” perhaps they’ll allow my idea for a movie which is an adaptation of the hit Rogers and Hammerstein musical play – “The King and I”.

Yes, based upon the bestselling book by Margaret Landon in 1944 about Anna Leonowens, a British governess in the Royal Court of Siam during the 1860s, the story mainly concerns the culture clash of the Imperialist Victorian values of the British Empire with the autocratic rule of Siam's King Mongkut. 

In my version of “The King and I”, the part of Anna Leonowens would go to Abhisit Vejjajiva because, as I mentioned before, he is British too.

Of course, this film may be somewhat controversial too but here's a small clip anyway.

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Rapists, Killers, and Pachyderms But Not Joe Gordon

Ambassador Kristie Kenny is a public servant.  But who does she serve?

When she was ambassador to the Philippines, Kristie Kenny was directly involved in the Subic Bay Marine Rape Case Fix. 

Nicole (not her real name), was a 22-year old management accounting graduate in the Philippines, when just before midnight of 1 November 2005, was plied with drink and God knows what else in a bar, shoved into a van, and raped inside by US Marine Lance Corporal Daniel Smith while his four buddies egged him on with cries of 'F__k! F__k! F__k!'

Later, she was lifted out of the van by her hands and feet by two men like a pig and deposited on the pavement.  She had on only a shirt and a panty, with a condom still sticking to her panty.  Someone from the van threw a pair of pants in her direction, and the van drove off.

On December 4, 2006, Judge Benjamin Pozon of Branch 139 of the Makati Regional Trial Court convicted and sentenced Smith, committing him temporarily to the Makati City Jail.

Daniel Smith

However, Smith was spirited out of the Makati City jail and brought to the US Embassy by virtue of a “deal” made by Ambassador Kenney.  Smith stayed comfortably ensconced in the US Embassy and the case dropped out of the headlines.  But, in a bombshell development in February 2009, the Philippine Supreme Court ruled that Smith must be held in custody in a Philippine prison, and quashed Kenny’s deal allowing him to be “detained” at the Embassy.

Suddenly the whole issue was very much back in the headlines and causing all sorts of problems for both governments and their cozy military relationship.  It became imperative that yet another deal had to be done to allow business to proceed as normal.  Lo and behold, in March 2009 Nicole filed an affidavit recanting her testimony and withdrawing her accusation of rape against Smith, saying that the sex had been consensual.  Never mind that the affidavit didn’t sound like she’d written it or that it was first made public by one of Smith’s lawyers.  She then promptly left for the US with $2000 “compensation” using a hard to get US visa courtesy of the US Embassy.  

As ambassador, Kenny utilized all legal and political means available to protect and absolve Smith. That Kenny debauched justice by surreptitiously transferring Smith to the US Embassy after his conviction and then “arranging” an agreement by the victim to recant her testimony should be enough proof of the limits that the ambassador can go to in order to help an American in trouble. 

More recently, in Thailand is the criminal case of Ronald Fanelli aka the “Mad Yank”. 

Ronald Fanelli

He was convicted for the stabbing murder of bar hostess Wanphen Pienjai last year in Phuket. Wanphen was the mother of two children. Her daughter, named Farm, was 3 years old. Her son Iang is in the sixth grade. She was financially supporting her partially blind mother who is now charged with taking care of Wanphen’s two children without any form of financial support since Wanphen was an only child.

Wanphen Pienjai and her daughter

During his trial, Fanelli confessed to killing Wanphen by stabbing her, but said it was an “accident”.  Fanelli then stuffed Wanphen body into a large suitcase – posthumously breaking both of her legs so he could fold them into the luggage.  He kept the body in the room for two days before transporting it by motorbike to a remote part of Wichit several kilometers from his rented home and dumping it.

Prosecutor Permgiat Bumrung said that the US embassy had filed a letter to the court through the defense lawyer.  “The US Embassy explained in the letter that Fanelli is a former Marine who served in Afghanistan for several years. He killed many people during his tour of duty, and this could well have affected his behavior,” he said.

It is remarkable that the Embassy’s plea for leniency is based upon Fanelli’s US military training turning him into a “killing machine.” It would be even more remarkable if it were true. Fanelli was not a “former Marine who killed many people in Afghanistan” but rather a former US Navy lieutenant who served aboard the USS Nevada – a submarine.” Fighting the Taliban in land-locked Afghanistan using submarines is quite a stretch – even for a Thai court. Nevertheless, Fanelli’s murder sentence was reduced to 10 years and 3 months partly based upon a lie from the US embassy.

Then there is the case of Ambika.  Ambika is an Asian elephant residing at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoological Park in Washington.  Last month (March 12) Ambassador Kenny took time from her busy twittering schedule to come to the US for a photo op at the National Zoo’s elephant complex in honor of National Thai Elephant Day. 

Ambassador Kenny with Ambika and the National Zoo's Elephant Manager  

I’m sure the zoo does good work with Asian elephants and other endangered species and a visit by Ambassador Kenny is great publicity but wouldn’t the publicity generated by a high profile visit by Ambassador Kenny to imprisoned American citizen Joe Gordon be great too?  

Joe has been in a Thai prison for over 10 months for something he did in the US – translating part of the book “The King Never Smiles” and providing a link to that book on the internet.  

Joe’s prison cell is much closer to the US embassy in Bangkok than the elephant compound at the National Zoo in Washington yet Ambassador Kenny has yet to make the time or effort to visit him.  Joe is not a rapist, murderer, or an elephant.  He is a decent man and an American citizen deserving of more help than what the US embassy in Thailand has offered him so far.

If our ambassador finally gets around to visiting Joe, perhaps she could bring along Tharit Pengdit, head of the Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation (DSI) which arrested him.  They can entertain him and the rest of the lese majeste prisoners with their imitation of the comedy team of “Laurel and Hardy.” 

Keeping people in prison for expressing their views is obviously a joke to both an American ambassador and a Thai thug.  It’s not funny to us.  

There is a saying that "elephants never forget".  Well, neither do we!

FREE JOE GORDON!

Frogs and Boobs Under Coconut Shells

There's a famous southeast Asian proverb about a frog which lives underneath a coconut shell.  A coconut shell is not transparent but most probably the frog doesn't know this. It believes everything in the shell is his entire world, with no conception of what goes on outside. The frog’s world is defined by what it sees. It lives contently within the shell, ignorant of the outside world, yet happy, since it knows nothing of what it is missing.

So, those who are like the frog underneath the coconut shell will have no knowledge of people, events, and places outside their 'world'.  They refuse to venture out into the world and they remain ignorant but are happy with it.

They also will get very upset if someone tries to help improve their plight by “removing the shell” and showing them a broader, better world.

However, there are some “frogs” which enjoy their shell being removed.  They will sit on top of their shell viewing and experiencing a greater world, full of differences and infinite possibilities.

And in time they’ll come to resent those who put the shell over them in the first place.

And some will be really, really angry.

Now, this is a relatively simple analogy about royalists and anti-royalists but it doesn’t include everyone. There are those ultra-royalists like Tul Sitthisomwong and Chaiwat Sinsuwong.

Tul Sitthisomwong and Chaiwat Sinsuwong

Those two ultra-royalists can be thought of as being underneath coconut shells – but they aren’t frogs.  They’re really just a couple of boobs!

The Elitist Entitlement Mentality

What has happened and is currently happening in Thailand can be described as an enslavement of the population through the imposition of old-fashioned tyranny. The people are treated like sheep, a herd animal. Individuality and rights are constantly trampled upon.  

All this is true, and it deserves our constant attention.  But let’s shift the focus to the other side of the equation.  In order to work, tyranny needs not only to cultivate the sheep.  It also needs to foster a population of controlling bureaucrats, the shepherds of the system.  And this brings us to an entitlement mentality that threatens true democracy in Thailand:  A class of people which feels entitled to rule over everybody else.

They are the true enemies of democracy. They believe that they have a natural right to decide the fate of the country and its people it does not matter what the majority of the people want or not. Basically, they believe that there are some people who have a higher value and more rights than others.  Their thinking shows resemblance to royalist/fascists theories of some kind of superior people that have the right and even the duty to be rulers and to defend their rule by all means, even if it means the death of more than 90 people and 2000 people being injured as what happened 2 years ago.

This mentality is not solely a Thai Democrat trait, although it is mostly prevalent in that party.  It also affects — or infects — “Thailand’s political leaders of all parties,” hence the intractability of the problem.  While most voters view an unresponsive government as the problem, those who feel entitled to rule over everybody else see the voters as the problem.  And that’s the real crisis facing Thailand today.  The elitist class wants to govern like it’s the European Dark Ages, a time when kings were kings, they did what they pleased, ignoring the plight of the citizens, because consent of the governed didn’t matter.”

Our job is to remind them, as vividly as possible, that it matters quite a lot.

And just to remind us all what the European Dark Ages were like…

Inquests Begin in Some Pro-Democracy Protest Deaths

Finally, Thailand is holding inquests into at least some of the deaths of the people killed during a crackdown on "Red Shirt" anti-government protests two years ago.  

More than 90 people, mostly civilians, were killed and nearly 1,900 wounded during the 2010 pro-democracy rallies, which ended in a bloody military operation under then military-installed premier Abhisit Vejjajiva, who is now opposition leader.

Under Section 150 of Thailand's Criminal Procedure Code, prosecutors have the power to submit for inquest any deaths believed related to or involving the authorities.  Initially the inquest is focused on 16 deaths identified as likely to have been caused by the security forces' operation, Thai prosecutor Varidsanee Manyawut said earlier this week.  

The first case to go to inquest will be that of Channarong Polsrila. Channarong was shot dead near a Shell gas station on Soi Rang Nam near Victory Monument in Bangkok at the height of the anti-government protests on May 15, 2010.  He was shot in his stomach and right arm by high-velocity weapons according to reports.

Channarong Polsrila 

The Criminal Court on Ratchadaphisek Road opened the inquest into the death of Channarong in Black Case Number Or Chor 1/2012, The court will hear evidence and decide on the identity of the deceased, the place of death, the cause and its circumstances, and whether the death was caused by an action of a particular person.  An initial hearing was held on Monday. It was attended by about 70 red shirt supporters, including the UDD chairwoman Thida Tawornseth, Deputy Transport Minister Chatt Kuldiloke, three army officers, and a representative of the Truth for Reconciliation Commission.  

The court agreed to the prosecutor's request to have 41 witnesses examined, and for the deceased's relatives to have 15 witnesses examined.  The hearing of witnesses will begin on June 18, when Channarong's wife and two foreign journalists, Bangkok-based Nick Nostitz and Thilo Thielke from Der Spiegel, will testify.

Nick Nostitz wrote about witnessing Channarong’s death…

"I heard a soldier giving orders to come out or be shot dead. At first I thought he meant me, but I saw his head over the wall shouting at the man in the pool (Channarong). I decided that I should make myself known, and shouted that I am a foreign journalist, and to please not shoot me. I shouted several times before the soldier seemed to take notice. I showed my open hands, he ordered me out. I walked towards him, and explained that the man in the water had a gut shot, and a bad shot in the arm. He floated in the pool, his face and stomach barely above the waterline.

The soldier ordered me to pull him out. Another soldier has also jumped over the wall, a third soldier secured from above the wall. While I tried to pull the man out of the water he pleaded, with a weak voice, that he just can’t take it anymore. He was too heavy. I asked one of the soldiers to help me, please. While roughly pulling at the man, he screamed that he should be dead, and because if he isn’t then they have to take him to the hospital, and that he should die. He walked off.

The injured man slipped back into the pool. The second soldier helped me pull him out, while the first kept on screaming. The soldier on the wall ordered me to take care of the man. I said that I have no idea how – he has a bad gut shot, and lifted the man’s shirt to show the small hole in the stomach. I just knelt down. The man asked me to lift his mangled arm and to turn him on his side as he can’t breathe anymore. I did so, while the man grunted with pain.”

The full account from Nick Nostitz can be found here in English and here in Thai.

Another three inquests were scheduled, for March 19 (Private Narongrit Sala), April 23 (Phan Kamkorn), and May 28 (Kunakorn Srisuwan). Kunakorn was a 14-year-old boy from an orphans' home in the Ramkhamhaeng area.

Last year, in an attempt to protect those responsible, the Department of Special Investigation initially concluded that of the 91 people killed during the crackdown, 13 cases might be the result of authorities’ operations.”  When the democratically elected Puea Thai government took power in August, they put the investigation files into police hands and inquest procedures have been accelerated with three more cases from the Wat Pathum Wanaram shootings being included.

It is a start.