[Tlc] T-Samak's denial

[justinm at ucr.edu]

Forwarded from Dr. Charnvit Kasetsiri.
Thank you,
justin

Thailand-Forgotten History, 2nd Ld-Writethru,0920
By AMBIKA AHUJA
Associated Press Writer
 
Feb 28, 2008
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ When Samak Sundaravej became Thailand
's prime minister on Feb. 6, pundits wondered how long it
would take the right-wing firebrand to put his foot in his mouth.
 
Not long at all it turns out.
For the past two weeks, the 72-year-old Samak has turned the
spotlight on his past with comments that have shocked Thailand
and focused heated debate on a massacre of student protesters
three decades ago.
 
The pugnacious prime minister publicly denied any role in the
carnage of Oct. 6, 1976, and told CNN in a recent interview
only "one unlucky guy" was killed that day _ even though
historical records show almost 50 perished.
 
"No deaths, one unlucky guy being beaten and being burned,"
Samak said of the death toll when asked about the incident.
"Only one guy died that day."
 
Violence was unleashed that day on leftist student
demonstrators gathered to protest the return of ousted Prime
Minister Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn, one of the
so-called "Three Tyrants" _ national leaders who were ousted
by a student-led uprising in 1973.
 
Photographs and video footage from the time shows security
forces and right-wing paramilitary troops firing weapons into
the campus of Bangkok 's Thammasat University . Protesters
were shot, beaten, hung, and set ablaze. Bodies were publicly
mutilated. Some were dragged around the university's football
field.
 
According to the official record, 46 people were killed and
hundreds more were injured. Some human rights groups and
witnesses suggest the death toll was in the hundreds.
 
Samak's dismissal of one of the country's most traumatic
events sparked outrage among the public, academics and
relatives of the victims. It also prompted intense
soul-searching in a country where talk of the 1976 massacre is
all but taboo, partly because of the failure of any
authorities to intervene to stop the brutal spectacle of Thais
killing Thais.
 
Newspapers have seized on the incident to criticize Samak,
academics have organized lectures to discuss the rarely
mentioned subject, and Samak's remarks have been brought up
repeatedly during parliamentary policy debate last week.
 
Samak should be "ashamed" of "his insensitive, inflammatory
and plainly inaccurate comments," the Bangkok Post, one of the
country's main English-language newspapers, said in a Feb. 13
editorial. Samak "knows very well what went on because he
played a key role."
 
Critics have said Samak's anti-communist rhetoric on radio and
at rallies at the time helped stoke sentiment that prompted
the lynching of students. Samak _ like others in the Thai
establishment then _ subscribed to a motto of the extreme
right wing, "It's no sin to kill communists."
 
As interior minister following the incident, critics said
Samak had hundreds of "leftists" arrested in a witch hunt
reminiscent of the anti-communist persecution spearheaded by
U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s.
 
But Samak has repeatedly denied any involvement in the
incident, which came at a time when Indochina had fallen under
communist rule and Thailand was deeply polarized between right
and left.
 
"Why did a murderer with blood on his hand receive more than a
million votes?" Samak asked rhetorically during parliamentary
debate this week, referring to his landslide election victory
for Bangkok governor in 2000.
 
Analysts said Samak's controversial remarks so early in his
tenure could undermine his premiership, threatening to turn
even his allies against him.
"It has become a hot issue that might be a rallying point,
bringing his current political allies and his opposition
together," said Kanokrat Lertchoesakul, a professor at
Chulalongkorn University . "It's an emotional issue for many
people across today's political spectrum."
 
Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee and Chaturon Chaisaeng _
allies of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and now
supporters of Samak _ are among many contemporary politicians
who were leftist student leaders in 1976.
On Saturday, Chaturon said Samak "should gather accurate
information before speaking" about the incident.
 
Charnvit Kasetsiri, a former rector of Thammasat University
and a historian, said Samak's clumsy remarks could provide the
opportunity to re-examine "a traumatic history that hasn't
healed," and force others who took part to answer for what
happened.
 
After the incident, an amnesty was issued that prevented any
of those responsible for the massacre from being brought to
justice.
"How many people in Thailand actually know about what happened
then? It's not even in the history textbooks in our school
curriculum," Charnvit said. "The ruling elite want it
forgotten because it goes against mainstream conservatism that
is preferred in Thailand . But it reopened the wounds of many
people who were there."
 
 
 


Charnvit Kasetsiri, Ph.D.

Senior Adviser and Lecturer
Southeast Asian Studies Program
Thammasat University
Bangkok 10200, Siam (not Thailand)
 
Secretary
Social Sciences and Humanities Textbook Foundation
413/38 Arun-Amarin Rd.,
Bangkok 10700, Siam 
handphone 089-476-0505
e-mail: charnvitkasetsiri at yahoo.com; 
h-pages: http://textbooksproject.com/HOME.html,
http://www.tu.ac.th/org/arts/seas;
662-424-5768, fax. 662-433-8713

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