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The Thai cleaning lady facing prison for 'I see'

bbc.com

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Re: The Thai cleaning lady facing prison for 'I see'

#11

Post by hackerboos »

kordless wrote: post #5
ck2 wrote: post #2

WTF 56 years? This makes China and Saudi Arabia look almost sane. First sign of weak rulers is when they make insulting them a prison term (same goes for religions).

> She responded to comments the police say are defamatory with the Thai word "ja", which translates as "I see", or "ok". The police say she should have condemned the comments. The definition of a dictatorship is they dictate what you should say. That's how they keep control.

These laws have been on the books well before the junta seized power.

It's a criminal offense to criticize monarchs both living and dead in Thailand. A lot of people found guilty are pardoned, but a lot are not.

Re: The Thai cleaning lady facing prison for 'I see'

#13

Post by PeterisP »

hackerboos wrote: post #11
kordless wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> She responded to comments the police say are defamatory with the Thai word "ja", which translates as "I see", or "ok". The police say she should have condemned the comments. The definition of a dictatorship is they dictate what you should say. That's how they keep control.

These laws have been on the books well before the junta seized power. It's a criminal offense to criticize monarchs both living and dead in Thailand. A lot of people found guilty are pardoned, but a lot are not.

This event seems not to fall under these laws - it has not been shown that she has criticized the monarch, and "should have condemned the criticism" is an entirely different issue, these laws do not state that failing to condemn criticism is a criminal offense.

Re: The Thai cleaning lady facing prison for 'I see'

#14

Post by powera »

hackerboos wrote: post #11
kordless wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> She responded to comments the police say are defamatory with the Thai word "ja", which translates as "I see", or "ok". The police say she should have condemned the comments. The definition of a dictatorship is they dictate what you should say. That's how they keep control.

These laws have been on the books well before the junta seized power. It's a criminal offense to criticize monarchs both living and dead in Thailand. A lot of people found guilty are pardoned, but a lot are not.

Except this isn't "criticizing the monarch". This is making a case out of basically nothing against the mother of a "student activist".

Re: The Thai cleaning lady facing prison for 'I see'

#15

Post by hackerboos »

Thailand's technically a constitutional monarchy but the royalty is much more than just a figurehead like those in Western Europe.

The actively interfere in elections and are on record supporting the various coups that have happened over the decades.

Cables leaked more recently had the King backing the army during the massacre in Thammasat University.

People should really read "The King Never Smiles" to get an idea of how this came to be.

Re: The Thai cleaning lady facing prison for 'I see'

#16

Post by hackerboos »

PeterisP wrote: post #13
hackerboos wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These laws have been on the books well before the junta seized power. It's a criminal offense to criticize monarchs both living and dead in Thailand. A lot of people found guilty are pardoned, but a lot are not.

This event seems not to fall under these laws - it has not been shown that she has criticized the monarch, and "should have condemned the criticism" is an entirely different issue, these laws do not state that failing to condemn criticism is a criminal offense.

From the article: "She is accused of insulting the monarchy - a charge that can lead to jail sentences of up to 15 years."

Re: The Thai cleaning lady facing prison for 'I see'

#17

Post by dave2000 »

kristianc wrote: post #8

I was in Thailand in December, and the political situation there is really not great at the moment. The 90-year old King, whom Thais regard on the whole with a great deal of respect, is dying. He is in hospital for much of the time, there are rumours that he now barely speaks, and he is hardly seen in public at all anymore. The military is nervous about what happens when the King dies, as his son is not held in anywh…

> I left the country fascinated by the experience of a > population living under authoritarian military rule,

It's not as simple as that. They are a democracy, with regular elections. They're just punctuated with military coups. There'll be tanks in the street and the military will have to, after a few days, try and stop people from dancing on/near the tanks. There'll be as many people in favour of the coup as against it. The military situation has nothing to do with the respect for the king; the coups don't happen without the king's blessing. Absent the monarchy in Thailand I don't think the situation regarding democracy would be any different at all.

Re: The Thai cleaning lady facing prison for 'I see'

#18

Post by Bromskloss »

Explanation of the title:

> So what did Patnaree do to get charged? According to her lawyer, the only evidence the police have produced is an exchange on Facebook between her and a political activist, in which she responded to comments the police say are defamatory with the Thai word "ja", which translates as "I see", or "ok".

Re: The Thai cleaning lady facing prison for 'I see'

#19

Post by JadeNB »

curiousgal wrote: post #9

There's an Arabic saying that goes لا تسأل الطغاة لماذا طغوا , بل اسأل العبيد لماذا ركعوا Do not ask the tyrants why they tyrannised, but ask the slaves why they knelt.

Maybe I'm misreading you, but this seems disrespectful—to victims of tyrants in general, and to the victim of this possible prison sentence in particular—and I can't see what it adds to the discussion.

Re: The Thai cleaning lady facing prison for 'I see'

#20

Post by JadeNB »

powera wrote: post #14
hackerboos wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These laws have been on the books well before the junta seized power. It's a criminal offense to criticize monarchs both living and dead in Thailand. A lot of people found guilty are pardoned, but a lot are not.

Except this isn't "criticizing the monarch". This is making a case out of basically nothing against the mother of a "student activist".

I think that this point is easy to miss, since it's practically a throwaway remark in the article: this does not appear to be in any direct sense about the woman's Facebook comment; rather, it is an intentionally overzealous application of a law to a situation where it applies only tenuously at best, in order to silence someone else's dissenting voice.
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