[Tlc] patrick jory in response to m. jerryson

[justinm at ucr.edu]

Essentially the regime that has replaced Thaksin's is a
royalist dictatorship. Voices of the deposed
democratically-elected government have now been almost totally
silenced. It is therefore necessary to point out the
hyprocrisy that allows the investigation of Thaksin's
corruption, yet is silent on the issue of the monarchy's
economic interests. If there is going to an investigation into
Thaksin's business interests, then let there be a full and
open discussion of the financial dealings of the monarchy and
in particular the Crown Property Bureau, and of those
politicians and businessmen who are associated with it. The
question should also be asked why there is not a full public
disclosure of the financing of the 2000 "Royal Projects",
including an independent evaluation of the success or failure
of these projects. If one condemns the former Thaksin
government's attempts to control the media, then let the
monarchy's much more insidious and long-lasting control over
the media also be condemned. If the Thaksin government's human
rights record is going to be assessed, then the record of the
monarchy in this area must also, at last, be examined, in
particular the implication of the monarchy in the massacre of
students at Thammasat University by royalist paramilitaries -
30 years ago this month. These questions are difficult to
answer (let alone ask) in Thailand because of the lese majeste
law, which is the political weapon par excellence of the
royalist forces. But lese majeste does not apply to scholars
outside Thailand. Discussion of these questions would truly be
of great benefit to the academic community and the Thai people
generally, who are prevented from knowing the full extent of
the monarchy's political and economic control of the country
because of the prohibition on discussion of the monarchy.

Patrick Jory..

______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
2617 Humanities Building
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu