STEVE PIECZENIK TALKS

To Live And Die In Bangkok: Sin City-- But Beware!

As the lyrics of the song blast out in the Tsunami of Perversity: ”One night in Bangkok and your life is an oyster.”

But what happened to a prominent civil/labor rights activist and former magazine editor, Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, a 51 year old ?

All he did was to oversee the writing of two articles as the editor of the magazine, “The Voice Of Taksin”, written by Jakrapob Penkair, a former Thai Government spokesman who fled to Cambodia in order seek his freedom.

  So what did these two Thai gentlemen do? 

Rob a bank? No!

Steal state secrets? No!

Rape a Woman or a Man [both of which is de jure permissible in Bangkok]? No!

Download files from M.I.T and JSTOR? No!

Then what was so horrendous in a city that reeks of sin, vice, perversion, torture, human slave trade, drugs and just polymorphous human travesty?

Sokyot dared to challenge an ersatz antiquated,  atavistic French Law called “Lese majeste”. 

What is it? 

It is the Law of Thailand which makes it a crime of violating majesty. 

Yes, that beautiful halcyon picture of Siam [recall the movie “The King And I”] , Chang Mai, Phuket, or even Bangkok are all really under the jurisdiction of a King, Queen, and their royal family.

  What the law says since the 2007 Constitution:

 “The king shall be enthroned in a position of revered worship and shall not be violated. No person shall expose the King to any sort of accusation or action”. 

It goes on to state the following: Thai Criminal Code elaborated Article 112:

“Whoever defames, insults, or threatens the King, Queen, the heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to fifteen years.”
Missing from the law ...what exactly the definition of ‘defamation’ or ‘insult’ is.

In effect, the courageous Somyot,  has been according to that wonderful organization which should be supported all over the world—Amnesty International: “Somyot has been found guilty simply for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression and should be released IMMEDIATELY [my emphasis].” 

What makes this case and others particularly paradoxical is the following statement,  by His Royal Highness King Bhumibol Adulyadej who himself said the following on his birthday speech of 2005:

“Actually,  I must also be criticized.  I am not afraid if the criticism concerns what I do wrong, because then I know.  Because if you say the king CANNOT [my emphasis] BE CRITICIZED, it means that the king is not HUMAN [my emphasis].” 

So what is going here? 

  There is this antiquated law that prohibits any one, especially ordinary Thai citizens from criticizing the King or his Royal family and at the same time, His Royal Highness has encouraged his citizenry to criticize him. 

  Confusing? 

Remember the axiom: those in power remain in power by any and all means [my axiom –no one should remember it, because I just created it; you see how easy it is to create an axiom or law]?

The answer to the perplexing conundrum lies not at the foot of the “King and I” but under the heels of those miscreants who co-opt the Lese Majeste .

  And who are they? 

  The Thai military!
Especially the generals of the Thai Military Coup of 2006,  Premier Thaksin Shinawatra and Royal Activist Sondhi Limthongkul. 

They used the law to arrest, prosecute and torture over thousands of innocent Thais and foreigners. 

  And one of those foreigners, is YOURS TRULY.

I am interested in this particular case -- not only for the importance that it highlights the essential liberty of ‘FREE SPEECH” all over the world against REPRESSIVE REGIMES-- whatever they call themselves—but, I too, was almost arrested under the same nonsensical law. 

Here’s what happened ONE NIGHT IN BANGKOK:

  I was in transit from Myanmar [a beautiful country] to Cambodia when I had asked at the Thai International Airport for an upgrade on Thai Airlines.

One thing lead to another, and I found myself repeatedly requesting back my passport which Thai Intelligence had been ‘processing’. 

  I informed the Thai Personnel that I had to catch the plane to Cambodia explaining as ‘politely’ as I could that I had worked with the King’s military in 1991 in order to bring peace to Cambodia. 

Before I knew it, I was surrounded by Army Generals, local Thai police.  They wanted me to apologize. 

I said that I would not apologize for having said nothing against anyone. 

Their insistence to make me apologize made me more furious. They then threatened me on the spot with 7 years in prison. 

  As most of you have guessed by now,  I don’t like to be intimidated by anyone, least of all, the Thai Military or Thai Airlines. 

  Personally, I had nothing against the King because he was really an American born at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts on December 5 , 1927. 

Yes folks, what we got here is an “Old Yankee” from Taxachusetts!

His father trained where I had trained at Harvard Medical School. And then the king went on to get an extensive education in Switzerland [where they also threw me out of school].  So, as far, as I was concerned there was nothing personal about it. 

  And accordingly, when I explained the problem to my friends in Cambodia and elsewhere, this is what happened:

  One week later,  two Thai Airline Offices were bombed at night—no one was hurt.  Then the King’s picture was placed on the internet with a boot across his face. 

  Of course, there was nothing personal, as far as I was concerned…. 

  It was just one  “THE QUIET AMERICAN” who, as an American Citizen,  refused to bow down to the whims of a foreign country, irrespective of their internal laws. 

The moral: Don’t Mess with Anyone’s Freedom of Speech Anywhere Around the World. 

Mal Y Soit Qui Mal Y Pense!

Bad things happen to people who think BAD THOUGHTS. 

Release Mr SOMYOT ASAP!   

Pretty Please, Your Excellencies…