[Tlc] T-lese majeste

[justinm at ucr.edu]

Nopporn Wong-Anan (nopporn.wong-anan at reuters.com) has sent you this article.

Fri May 30 10:44:56 UTC 2008

By Nopporn Wong-Anan BANGKOK, May 30 (Reuters) - A Thai cabinet minister accused by police of making offensive remarks against the king in 2007 resigned on Friday in a bid to stem mounting anti-government protests that have ignited fears of a military coup.
Jakrapob Penkair, Minister to the Prime Minister's Office, said his resignation was meant to head off more protests, that are eerily similar to the campaign against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra before his removal in a 2006 putsch.
"My resignation should end talk of another coup and a bid by those people who are using me as an excuse for their campaign," Jakrapob told a news conference at Government House.
His decision came after a chorus of calls to quit from Thaksin's opponents -- the royalist establishment, the army, and the street campaign leaders who mustered 100,000 protesters at one point in their 2006 campaign against Thaksin.
"If I were him, I would quit today," Supreme Commander Boonsrang Niumpradit told reporters on Thursday, voicing the "deep concern" of the military at Jakrapob's comments, which were made at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand in August.
The opposition Democrat Party this month made it a major political issue in a country where insulting the monarch can be punished by up to 15 years in jail and any criticism is taboo.
His comments about King Bhumibol Adulyadej at a panel discussion about democracy and patronage are difficult enough to understand in the original English, let alone when translated into Thai for the benefit of the police.
The most serious sentence, which has been published in Thai newspapers and the Government House website www.thaigov.go.th, appears to be: "His being in Thailand has been promoted to the state of myth."
The saga is part of a wider campaign by the anti-Thaksin People's Alliance for Democracy and Democrat Party to paint Thaksin and acolytes such as Jakrapob as republicans who want to end the country's 76-year-old constitutional monarchy.
Thaksin and Jakrapob have vehemently denied any such desire.
Jakrapob said he would report to police next week to face a possible lese majeste charge.
"I did nothing wrong and I am ready to prove myself in the justice system," the 41-year-old, U.S.-educated minister who was chief spokesman for the pre-coup Thaksin government said.
A BBC correspondent based in Bangkok has also been accused of lese majeste for comments made while moderating another panel discussion on the Thai monarchy last year.
Minor scuffles broke out between pro- and anti-Thaksin protesters on Sunday, stoking fears that the army might seize the chance of social unrest to storm back into the political fray, analysts said.
Stock investors reacted positively to Jakrapob's resignation, with the main index <.SETI> closing up 0.4 percent after four days of falls due to political uncertainty.
Use of lese majeste accusations by political opponents is not new in Thailand's 76-year-old, on-off democracy.
In October 1976, dozens of anti-government students were killed at Bangkok's Thammasat University after they were accused of insulting the Crown Prince in a play.
"It has proved to be an effective tool to get rid of political opponents in the past and it will continue to be so," said Thammasat historian Charnvit Kasetsiri. 

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Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
3046 INTN
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu