A rape is an act of plunder, abuse, despoliation and violation. Rape is about power and control.
Anyone can file a police complaint of lèse majesté in Thailand. If arrested bail is routinely denied thus also denying those accused of adequately being able to defend themselves.
They are often detained in jail for several years awaiting trial. This lengthy incarceration is a form of pressure to force the detainees to plead guilty. They are repeatedly offered deals to do so and if they don’t plead guilty, then the authorities drag out the case so that the accused simply languishes in jail.
A charge of lèse majesté carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison. And with each charge, multiple counts are added, increasing prison sentences exponentially.
Trials for lèse majesté are traditionally held in secret, for reasons of 'national security.’ Closed secret trials translate to mock trials. According to some sources, conviction rates in lèse majesté cases are at around 98%.
Justice has been raped!
By its very nature lèse majesté represents a gross and vicious attack on freedom of speech and freedom of expression. It is used as a potent political weapon. Royalists in the military, the bureaucracy, and the Democrat Party have used it to crush dissent. Many people are in prison in Thailand for merely expressing their beliefs in a peaceful way.
The climate of fear that lèse majesté causes has fueled increases in censorship of all types, as well as self-censorship in the print and online media in Thailand.
Thai Chamber of Commerce chairman Dusit Nontanakorn passed away earlier this month but the battle he spent his professional life fighting against corruption is one Thailand cannot afford to abandon ...
Here's the gist of a speech he gave about conditions in 2010:
"When government concessions are offered to the private sector there is often an under the table payment of 30%. He estimated that added up to two trillion baht per year and the trend is on the upswing - it could soon reach 50%."
"The Thailand Information Centre for Civil Rights and Investigative Journalism last week released a study which showed that 317 MPs were found to have become richer than they were when they took office on Jan 22, 2008.
Of those, seven MPs saw their bank accounts swell by 100 million baht in their three years in office, 10 had become 50 to 100 million baht richer, the wealth of 54 grew by to 10 to 50 million baht, and 61 were between five and 10 million baht richer. The wealth of the rest only grew five million baht each. Overall, it was a 4.3 billion baht increase in wealth.
The study, however, stated that this new found fortune was through investments made by spouses and family members and other ''legal'' means. The average monthly salary of an MP is about 100,000 baht."
In the US, crossed fingers behind your back means that there is a nullification of whatever statement or promise you’re making.
This act exercises the supposed “promise nullification loophole” but there must be a different tradition for Thai politicians when they make promises to stop corruption. The breaking of a promise to stop corruption is so big that they actually cross their entire arms. And it is so well known publicly that they go ahead and cross them in the open instead of behind their backs.
Thailand opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, front left, anti-corruption network Chairman Phongsak Assakul, front center, and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, front right, use the Thai promise nullification loophole at an anti-corruption campaign in Bangkok, Thailand Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011.
In the words of the great American philosopher, Popeye the Sailor Man, “I've had all I can stand, I can't stands no more!”
That is the gist of an email I received earlier in the week from the president of the organization I am associated with: the Agents of the Free. The American Orange Shirts are finally doing something as an organization about a tragedy of justice and requested my help in publicizing our latest campaign.
I enthusiastically accept the request.
American citizen Joe Gordon has been in jail four long months since Thailand’s Department of Special Investigations arrested him for the bogus offense of lese majeste. Accused of lese majeste, an offense that is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, Joe has been denied bail on eight different occasions. He maintains his innocence but is unable to help plan a defense because he is in jail.
Joe will be prosecuted as a Thai national although he lived in the United States at the time the police say he, among other things, posted a link on a web log in 2007 to the book “The King Never Smiles.”
DSI Deputy Director General and jack booted sourpuss thug Yanaphon Youngyuen said that it does not matter which country Gordon lived in.
Evil vs Good: DSI Deputy Director General Yanaphon Youngyuen (left), a Statue Symbolizing Justice (right)
He also said that the Internet comes into Thailand and can be seen because it is in cyberspace. He says cyberspace has no boundary or country but has an impact on Thailand’s national security. He says it is clearly defined in Thai law.
Boy, what a big steaming pile of crap the DSI comes out with.
Four months in jail for an abominable law is four months too long.Please join with the American Orange Shirts in their campaign to free Joe Gordon by participating in our “Write A Letter For Joe” campaign.
After failing miserably as Prime Minister and embarrassingly losing that post which was handed to him by the Thai military, Abhisit Vejjajiva will step down as leader of the Democrat party after a leadership contest in October. This leaves the amart/military nexus scrambling to replace Abhisit in their puppet political party.
However, there have been rumors that the next leader of the Democrat Party should be The Grim Reaper.
Both the amart and the military see the political viability of the “Angel of Death.” Clearly he is popular with the Democrat Party base. He’s got all the qualifications they’re looking for: he’s almost as old as Prem Tinsulanonda, he doesn’t have dark skin like the prai, he’s packing a weapon, he’s got an incredible war record, and, believe me, no one wants to get rid of government sponsored health care for the poor more than this guy.
He’s also well recognized, appearing in many of Sakda Sae-aew’s Thai Rath Political Cartoons.
Plus, he was a close second to the Thai military in sniper victims last year and is close friends with Suthep Thaugsuban. Evidently they use palm oil to power the flames in hell.
I recently spent time in Washington DC, and whenever I go there I enjoy visiting the National Mall. I was especially thrilled to see the recently unveiled monument honoring the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of my personal heroes. It is certainly fitting that we finally have a monument there to the man who reminded an entire nation that the words of Jefferson and Lincoln must carry the full faith and credit of the United States. Otherwise, we are bankrupt. He reminded us that we are a nation whose deeds have their genesis in ideals and words – often beautifully articulated.
He’s not only been to the mountaintop, he’s been glued to it.
But there is some controversy around this memorial and not just because the sculptor made him white.
It is over a quotation from Dr. King inscribed on the memorial which is from a sermon in 1968. King was preaching against the lead-the-parade instinct of self-importance and superiority. He said, “If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter.”
Let’s hear it from the man himself:
Stirring, humble and, according to the memorial committee, a little wordy. Which is why, on the monument it was paraphrased so that it would fit on the north side of the statue. The memorial version reads “I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness.”
There you have it; short, pithy, and to the point – but not particularly Dr. King’s point. Evidently the memorial’s committee believes in the age old saying, "Brevity is the soul of saving money on chiseling fees."
C’mon!!! Why the need to edit? Across the mall, every word of Lincoln’s second inaugural address is carved in stone without so much as an ellipsis to mar its poetry.
I realize that capturing the essence of a human being in stone is a flawed enterprise anyway. To make poetry jump out of fountains or from a narrative carved in granite is next to impossible. And even though its surely possible to paraphrase a quote in such a way that it’s not stripped of its original meaning and intent… it’s so improbable the result will be an improvement that there’s little to recommend it, and no reason at all when the very point is to memorialize the content of an individual’s or group of individual’s character.
However there are exceptions to this rule with regards to some Thai monuments. Thais, like Americans, are a monument-building people. However a few of their monuments would be tremendously improved if we could paraphrase – even only a little bit.
For instance, one of the relief sculptures at the base of Thailand’s most famous monument, the Democracy Monument in Bangkok, shows a heroic and united armed forces doing battle (it is not clear against whom).
This panel is entitled: "Soldiers Fighting for Democracy" but by cutting the fat out and making it to be just “Soldiers Fighting Democracy” allows a more historically accurate description of Thailand’s military. I mean since when in history did the Thai military ever fight FOR democracy? On the other hand, there are many instances where they have been shown to be directly opposing it; the 18 coups in 80 years, the violent and deadly repression of democracy movements (1973, 1992 and 2010), the interference in politics, and, of course, their own admittance that their role is to protect their monarchy.
Ironically, this October 14th marks the 38th anniversary of the deadliest massacre of innocent Thai citizens peacefully protesting for democracy by the Thai military. Two days after this anniversary, on October 16th, Dr. Martin Luther King’s memorial will be officially dedicated.
