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Clinton will stop in Bangkok, then go to Phuket as head of the U.S. delegation to the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference and the ASEAN Regional Forum.
The Washington press corps asked Kelley if the issue of North Korea would be discussed at the conference. But none of them had questions related to Thailand's current sociopolitical imbroglio.
As it happens, the same day Clinton arrives a public forum is scheduled at Chulalongkorn University called “International Perceptions of Thailand’s Crisis.” The forum was announced on the Prachatai website, whose founder, Jon Ungpakorn, remains in Thailand as his brother Giles has fled to Great Britain to escape political repression.
As the forum title implies, there are multiple viewpoints as to what constitutes Thailand’s current crisis. Slightly more than three years ago a formerly inert military was thought to have tired of coups and taking over elected governments. Then on Sept. 19, 2006, the elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, still now widely regarded as a great reformer and benefactor of the poor, was ousted. Since then confusion has reigned.
The Thai governments that have followed Thaksin – all four of them by now – have worked hard to reassure you and me that things are either normal or are returning to normal. Then someone like translator Laksana Kornsilpa rises up from the masses to lay “lese majeste” charges against the entire board of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand. And before her, Suwicha Thakhor was given ten years in prison for Internet-based insults to the monarch of Thailand; and before that, people were actually arrested and charged for not standing in theaters while the royal anthem was played.
The Royal Thai Police are often criticized over alleged corruption. The police are also the ones taking down frivolous “lese majeste” complaints, working with army spies to monitor citizen behavior to make sure there are no insults to the Thai royal family.
On Thursday, an anti-police demonstration was held by the People’s Alliance for Democracy to protest members of the group’s leadership being charged with terrorism, as well as property damage and incitement to violence, over airport seizures last year. Lest we forget recent history, in 2008 anti-Thaksin PAD demonstrators occupied parts of Thailand’s two main international airports; in April this year PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul was gunned down in the middle of Bangkok during an emergency decree. He was lucky enough to survive.
The most prominent of those charged in the violence is Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, who defended the airport closings. Next week Kasit must respond to the police charges. Then he will go to Phuket to open the ASEAN meetings. Thus, the forum on “International Perceptions of Thailand’s Crisis” is likely to ponder how a top diplomatic figure can open a major international conference while facing charges of terrorism.
Speakers at the July 21 forum will include representatives from the Foreign Correspondents Club, the American Chamber of Commerce, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Australian Broadcasting Corporation correspondent Karen Percy and Ambassador of Argentina Felipe Frydman. It will be interesting to hear how these people perceive Thailand’s crisis, and what they think the international community can and should do about it.
Over the short term, people in Thailand, Thais and foreigners, are suffering from a legitimate fear of being charged with “lese majeste” by xenophobic zealots. Certainly foreign parties who have commercial and other financial interests in Thailand will do their best to keep a low profile while this storm blows.
They may discover, however, that it is much more than a storm; it is more likely a change in political climate in the kingdom. It may well be a change for the worse, as indicated by parallels between Thailand’s military-influenced society and government and those of neighboring Burma.
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(Frank G. Anderson is the Thailand representative of American Citizens Abroad. He was a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer to Thailand from 1965-67, working in community development. A freelance writer and founder of northeast Thailand's first local English language newspaper, the Korat Post – www.thekoratpost.com – he has spent over eight years in Thailand "embedded" with the local media. He has an MBA in information management and an associate degree in construction technology. ©Copyright Frank G. Anderson.)
