[Tlc] T-freedom of press

[justinm at ucr.edu]

Forwarded from Dr. Charnvit Kasetsiri.
Thanks,
justin

>From October 14th to October 6th to Bloody May:
The Unlearned Lessons of Our History
Report on the Seminar and Personal Reminiscences, Thammasat
University
CJ Hinke, Coordinator
Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT)
http://facthai.wordpress.com
email: facthai at gmail.com

I was fresh to Thailand in 1989 and attended the democracy
demonstrations at Sanam Luang against a Thai Army general
self-appointed to Prime Minister, Suchinda Krapayoon, in May
1992. Although many people saw Chamlong Srimuang as their
leader, I only ever saw him as a political opportunist.  I saw
Chamlong arrested to safety with his followers at Phanfa
Bridge. This was when I sent my Thai family home.

An interesting point raised at today's seminar was that
Chamlong was identified disguised in sunglasses among the
Village Scouts who were party to the lynchings and atrocities
at Thammasat in 1976; politicians, particularly those coming
from the police or military, are rarely completely clean. Did
he take part in the bloodshed?More...

We shared water and fruit with the soldiers through the razor
wire. Firing from automatic weapons began in the air. Then the
guns in Ratchadamnoen were were levelled at us. The soldiers
were all so young and all from upcountry. They were told the
demonstrators were c/Communists--sound famiilar?

In various situations, I was in groups of people who were
fired upon five times. I managed to crawl and run to safety,
my clothing stained with the blood of the fallen. I was alone
in a Banglampoo side-street with soldiers closing from both
ends. Several foreign onlookers from Khao San were killed and
I might have joined them had not a shophouse grate been slid
back and a local resident hauled me literally by the neck to
safety until they had passed; there would have been no witnesses.

I saw the fallen heaved onto canvas covered army trucks (dead,
wounded? dead now) just past Phanfa Bridge. Three lorries and
one waiting, dozens of bodies certainly, perhaps more than
100. I saw the Ratchadamnoen Nok police station and the
Lottery Bldg set ablaze. From the safety of the Rattanakosin
Hotel, we saw loaded hijacked buses attempt to breach the
lines--all aboard were shot dead. Even a petrol truck, which
didn't go off.

Having medical training, I helped Sirira Hospitalj and Mahidol
medical volunteers tend the wounded. A Thai photog friend on
the next balcony was killed by a shot to the head, probably
occasioned by his flash. Perhaps the most horrifying for me
were the courageous and stupid young people marching up
Ratchadamnoen carrying the Thai flag and pictures of the king
and queen; they were shot and killed by soldiers through these
symbols of the Thai nation. Their blood was on the Thai flag
and the Thai monarchs.

We tried to hide about 20 people in our bathroom but the
searches were too thorough and we saw them kicked and
rifle-butted down the stairs to be arrested. I need to honour
compatriots and longtime journos Bertil Lintner and Philip
Blenkinsop for their determination on this.

I don't believe the official dead and missing figures; they
just don't tally with what I saw with my own eyes. Black May
was the catalyst when I decided I was committed to this
country because Thai people could be counted upon to defend
their freedom. Pretty simplistic, eh, but I still seem to hold
a lot of hope for this country, though to no apparent reason.

The conclusions of today's Thammasat seminar is that Oct 14
and Oct 6 live on (thanks to Uncle Samak!) because these were
mass movements formed from the educated classes. The
perception is that Black May was a movement of the common
people; that was not my experience: I think that most May 1992
demonstrators were middle-class Bangkok. In fact, Black May
was propagated by mobile phones; this was not an assembly of
poor people. Most people think the lessons and sacrifices of
Black May have been forgotten; unfortunately, I think this is
a true statement, with the possible exception of those of us
who lived it.

Today's seminar was attended by several hundred veterans of
1973, 1976 and 1992 and, after all the intervening years, many
of us were still moved to tears. Many of my friends and
colleagues over the years had been gaoled, exiled overseas or
fled to the Isaan and Southern jungles. I, certainly, lost
several good friends in 1992 and some of myself, too.

It took more than 30 years for the October Memorial on
Ratchadamnoen to become a reality because government does not
want to acknowledge its shame. This signifies a basic lack of
recognition for historical truth. Writing history is a
political struggle to which the power elite will never yield.
Thai people, and people everywhere, need access to their
history without distortion or censorship.

Rather, politicians seek to reinvent history by deluding a
gullible public. Most politicians try to spin their roles in
important historical events as greater than they may have
been. In Thailand, our Prime Minister is trying to convince us
that history never happened. Such statements trivialise the
struggle for social justice in Thailand by relying on propaganda.

If the PM saw the death of "one unlucky guy", it puts him at
the scene of the massacre. He has eyes to see and ears to hear
so he could hardly be unaware of the firing of heavy weapons
into the Tha Prachan campus. He saw, he heard and he did made
absolutely no attempt to stop the violence.

Here are the numbers. In the October 14, 1973 period, 77
people were killed and 857 wounded. On October 6, 1976, around
500 were killed and 11,000 arrested. These figures come from
Phuket resident Nicholas Bennett, a member of the Coordinating
Group for Religious Studies in Society. CGRS had become the
first indigenous human rights organisation in Thailand and
completed its report.

Not only do these lies eliminate the Prime Minister's chances
for effective leadership of Thailand, but they poison any
aspirations he may have for appointment to His Majesty's Privy
Council. It takes a big man to retreat from a lie, to say he
was wrong, to apologise to the Thai people, the Royal Family
and Buddhism. It would befit his position for the Prime
Minister to do so.

When I lectured at Peking University in the summer following
Black May, my students took me to quiet places to talk about
Ratchadamnoen.  The world, of course, remembers only Tiananmen
and the young man who stopped a tank. Our Ratchadamnoen was at
least 100 times worse and no one remembers but us who were there.

General Suchinda, guilty of mass murder under the standards of
international law, is occasionally seen in the news, attending
weddings , playing golf. He has never been charged or even
censured. This is a deep affront to the families of those
slain by his hand.

Why does this foreigner care what happens in Thailand? Because
my heart is Thai and this is where I take a stand.  Because I
care about the future of my country.

There are October heroes and there are May heroes. I shall
never forget the young man gunned down before Democracy
Monument, his blood soaking through our country's flag.

We need to thank Uncle Samak for reminding us how important
our freedom is, and that Thai means free. When history is
censored, our future is predicated on a lie.

Addenda. This is a link to the original CNN interview:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/18/talkasia.samak/index.html
This is a link to the Prime Minister's further comments to
Al-Jazeera on the massacre at Tak Bai in Patani:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuoqLiLSgnI&feature=related
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FCFBA8C6-4B98-4913-84F6-9C8DA2E7B273.htm


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