The Fallout for Chiding the Royals in Thailand
For most of his 17-year career, Somsak Jeamteerasakul wrote about the Thai monarchy from what seemed to be the haven of a Bangkok university campus. On Wednesday, Mr. Somsak answered a summons at a police station and was met by 50 riot police officers and a determined gaggle of supporters yelling, “Fight! Fight!”
He was presented with charges lodged by the powerful Thai military that he had violated a law that forbids anyone from defaming, insulting or threatening leading members of the royal family, a serious offense that carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years. His case is a symbol of a major cultural shift under way in Thailand, with the absolute reverence Thais extended the royal family apparently modulating, and some daring to question the news media’s adulatory coverage and the royals’ relationship with the military. It comes at a time when Thailand is already rattled by fractured politics, a more assertive military and anxiety over the declining health of the paramount symbol of national unity, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 83.
Mr. Somsak, a professor at Thammasat University, one of the country’s most prestigious, last year wrote something akin to Martin Luther’s 95 Theses challenging Thailand’s current form of constitutional monarchy. Mr. Somsak’s supporters say they are outraged that it was the military that brought the charges against him, and they say that the accusations are a form of political intimidation just as campaigning begins for national elections on July 3. The military casts a long shadow in Thailand, where disgruntled generals have instigated 18 coups, including a takeover five years ago.
Now, senior generals are flexing their muscle again. In addition to lodging the charges against Mr. Somsak, the army has staged exercises with heavy weaponry outside its barracks three times in the past month in what the Thai news media described as a “show of force.” And it is leading a $8 million campaign, provided for in the most recent Thai government budget, to “protect the monarchy.” The political consensus cultivated by the king during his more than six decades on the throne is fraying in the twilight of his reign.