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Thai Gov't Sets Up Site For Snitching On Royals' Critics
Posted by
timothy
on Sun Apr 05, 2009 09:41 PM
from the yes-yes-the-king-is-good dept.
from the yes-yes-the-king-is-good dept.
An anonymous reader writes "In a move that would make the old eastern German Stasi green with envy, the Thai government has modernized a system that allows citizens to snitch on fellow citizens. 'Internet users are being urged to show their loyalty to the king by contributing to a new website called protecttheking.net, which has been set up by a parliamentary committee. On the site's front page it is described as a means for Thai people to show their loyalty to the king by protecting him from what it calls misunderstandings about him. It calls on all citizens to inform on anyone suspected of insulting or criticising the monarchy.'
An large unknown population of political prisoners are currently being held for 3 to 15 years in Thai prisons for being interpreted as insulting the monarchy."
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An anonymous reader writes "Thailand is ramping up their media wide censorship of anything that remotely offends Thai royalty. In the last three weeks, another 2,300 websites have been blocked. Another ~4,000 are soon expected.
And not just websites, but books as well as the Economist have been blocked. And anyone caught publishing such material, including foreigners, will get 3 to 15 years in a Thai prison. You don't want to be in a Thai prison!"
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writeinjackthompson (Score:4, Funny)
Sorry, had to be said.
Re:writeinjackthompson (Score:4, Insightful)
I was thinking of writing in myself. Anonymously, of course.
"I am here to report myself, who frequently claims that the king has inappropriate sexual relations with monkeys. My name is Anonymous."
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:writeinjackthompson (Score:4, Interesting)
Worst case scenario: you get detained for a couple of days, get international exposure from human rights groups and major media outlets, and sell a book deal on the whole charade. I'd do it myself, but frankly I'm too busy with other pursuits.
Parent
Ants (Score:5, Informative)
Those people really are nothing but ants.
That, and their king has a fugly wife and a really dumb-looking hat.
Re:Ants (Score:5, Funny)
I would inform them of your insults, but apparently their site is slashdotted.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Only on slashdot would such a post be modded insightful. Not that I disagree.
Slashdotted? (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Would the site respond at all in that case? I just get read errors after a while.
But maybe it is for the best as I have it on good authority that His Majesty isn't actually quite "the Great" at all, that most of his $35 billion fortune is in fact Monopoly money, that he molests dead farm animals in the pale moonlight while "Twilight Time" by The Platters plays gently on his Zune, and that the queen is a whore and the prince holds the money. LÃse majesté crimes are fun!
So... (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
me [4chan.org]
Fair enough (Score:5, Interesting)
Report every government official (from diplomats to police), every relative of a government official, and everyone related to the king.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
If enough people make false reports, they'll have to set up a site to report people who report people.
Their country, their loss! (Score:5, Insightful)
Their government try to sell the country as a tourist destination. Well you know what, if I have tourist dollars to spend you can bet I won't be visiting a country where I can go to jail just for criticising someone.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Their country, their loss! (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Not as barbaric as a country that kills kids? (Score:5, Informative)
Only two countries in the World refuse to sign up to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and declare their right to execute children as part of their legal processes:
1. Somalia
2. United States of America
Careful who you are calling barbaric, some people might also call executing kids a pretty primitive practice.
Parent
Re:Not as barbaric as a country that kills kids? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Their country, their loss! (Score:5, Insightful)
If you take visitors into your country and jail them for speaking their minds, you probably deserve whatever it is they said about you.
Parent
Re:Their country, their loss! (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Their country, their loss! (Score:5, Interesting)
"Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest."
- Denis Diderot
Parent
Hey Thai Gov't (Score:5, Funny)
Thai King, you suck.
(ok i am coward hiding in US somewhere, anyway.)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
No, you're not, Maxhrk.
But, I am.
Submit some good names (Score:5, Insightful)
Either spam it full of garbage or some important people close to the king.
No way this could be used (Score:3, Funny)
The Thai King (Score:5, Insightful)
In some ways, the Thai Gov't kinda reminds me of an unpatched Windows Machine that needs lots of reboots and eventually a disk-wipe to get working again -- but talking about the gov't structure itself doesn't really explain why insulting the King is a big deal.
Again, like I said... the King is a "moral authority". In many ways, he's the Thai equivalent to the Pope although more in the moral sense than religious sense -- he is a man who is loved by the people and is wished to be seen as "good" by most Thai's. Insulting the King (or Queen) is a personal insult to many Thai people and is one of the few things the Thai in general do not tolerate well overall. Insulting the King in Thailand is the equivalent of bad-mouthing the Pope while visiting the Vatican.
That said, I'd rather visit Thailand again anyday than the many countries in the world that are significantly less tolerant [timesonline.co.uk].
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:The Thai King (Score:4, Insightful)
Or shitting on the star spangled banner in front of the white house.
See? Now some of you might get it - a corrupt republic is no better than a monarchy if all you've done is replace the monarch with a flag.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Perhaps he's popular precisely because he doesn't have real power. It's the pricks that do meddle in peoples lives that become unpopular.
The peculiar thing about the USA is that it invents it's own royalty. What else could explain political families like the Bushes, Kennedys etc?
Re:The Thai King (Score:5, Insightful)
If you think there is an obvious American opinion to this matter, you are a moron. Travel a bit. Open your mind and your eyes.
The Thai people do love him, which is why it is such a problem to criticize him. They personally hate it when the king is insulted (I speak from experience, having lived and worked in Thailand for over a year). The government constantly use this popular love to pass laws that favour themselves and not the king because they can use such legislation to lock people up on the slightest context.
The king him disfavours the lese majeste laws, and wishes aloud for their abolition.
Parent
Jailed author back on Australian soil - Feb 09 (Score:5, Interesting)
If you think they aren't serious, check out the following recent story about a lucky Aussie who supposedly criticised the Thai Royal Family. I say lucky because, after much protest and legal fighting, he was deported after he'd been jailed for 6 years !
http://www.theage.com.au/national/jailed-author-back-on-australian-soil-20090221-8dx7.html [theage.com.au]
Re:Jailed author back on Australian soil - Feb 09 (Score:4, Informative)
He was sentenced to either 3 or 6 years in prison (the article you linked to gave both numbers). He spent about six months in prison. Still way bad enough.
Parent
Re:Jailed author back on Australian soil - Feb 09 (Score:5, Informative)
As a quick correction to your post, he was actually jailed for six months. He had been sentenced to six years, but that was reduced to three years because of his guilty plea. He was pardoned about a month after his guilty plea, having spent a total of six months in prison.
Of course, it's still absolutely ridiculous!
(Source [wikipedia.org])
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Lesson? Don't go be a dumb ass in a foreign country and get yo ass thrown in the jail.
Thai king's mama so fat she spills over to Australia in Google map.
View the Site's contents (Score:3, Informative)
It contains, in part, this: How To Report Tips
Tips â" This link provides a couple of methods on how to report tips in. One method is to mail to P.O. Box 999, Bangkok . Another indicated is to email directly to protecttheking@parliament.go.th As well, there is an in-page form in Thai for users to complete.
Law & Punishment
This page has five separate links under this title, numbered as shown for convenience. The unnumbered links are:
1. Article 2 - Use of Criminal Law
This section is a verbatim lift from Thai Criminal Code Chapter 2, Articles no. 4-7.
Article 6 - Principals and Supporters [of cr= iminal acts, i.e., lÃse majesté]
This section is a verbatim lift from Thai Criminal Code Chapter 6, Articles no. 83-89.
3. Article 7 â" Concurrence of Offenses
This section is a verbati= m lift from Thai Criminal Code Chapter 7, Concurrence of Offenses, Articles no. 90-91.
4. Article 9 â" Statute of Limitations
This section is a verbati= m lift from Thai Criminal Code Chapter 9, Prescription (statute of limitations.), Articles no. 95-101.
5. Part 2 â" Offenses Related to National Security; Article 2, Offenses Against the king, queen, heir to the throne or regent. [Translatorâ(TM)s note: This section is a verbatim lift from the = Thai Criminal Code Book II, Specific Offenses, Title 1, Offenses Relating to The Security of the Kingdom, Articles no. 107-112.
Re:View the Site's contents (Score:4, Informative)
Under the infamous PM Thaksin, the "War on Drugs" gave Thai police the authority to execute drug dealers in the north on the spot with no trial. It became simply a way to consolodate the drug business and/or get rid of trouble makers. The police (corrupt and involved in drug trafficking themselves) killed whomever they wished and planted drugs on the body after.
Now that was a war on drugs. This new affair will end similarly.
Parent
Report (Score:3, Funny)
Report: My neighbor was spreading rumors that the King was paranoid and an evil oppressive dictator imprisoning anyone who questioned or insulted him.
-
Awesome - (Score:3, Informative)
I clicked the link for the snitching website - but it didn't work right away - so to be sure - I just clicked the link again - over and over and over and over - but it still didn't work ...
Not what they intended... (Score:5, Funny)
i think the russians and french had the right idea (Score:3, Insightful)
monarchies are a ridiculous anachronism
uk, thailand, japan: follow nepal please, lose your bullshit historical baggage
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepalese_monarchy [wikipedia.org]
A Quick Lesson in Thai politics. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:A Quick Lesson in Thai politics. (Score:5, Informative)
You think Monarchy that locks up anyone who criticizes it, in any way is... a 'good example' of a monarchy?
Perhaps you missed the part where the OP wrote, "King Bhumibol Adulyadej is actually against the lèse majesté law"? It's the government that's at fault here, not the King. And notice that he's not grabbing power from the government to abolish the law himself, either; he's only stating his wishes and hoping that the true seat of power (the government) listens to him.
Parent
Thailand's king isn't as backwards as you think (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, it looks like it is time to sink the boot into Thais again, and their over-the-top laws in relation to Lese Majesty (criticising the royals).
I agree that people should be free to criticise anyone in a free society, and that locking people up for up to 15 years for something as minor as criticising a royal is ludicrous, here are some facts you may not be aware of:
1. Thailand's king Bhumibol Adulyadej said a few years ago in a birthday speech that the law of lese majesty was outdated and he would pardon anyone found guilty of the crime. He has since kept his word.
2. The crime of lese majesty came about in Thailand because under their constitution it is illegal for the royal family (who are supposed to be above the rest of society) to comment on the day-to-day running of society. They cannot respond to political attacks, nor can they react if people personally attack their character.
3. Because the Thai royals cannot respond to attacks, and take legal action or comment at any defamatory comments about them, the crime of lese majesty was inserted into the country's constitution, as a safeguard against political attacks on the royals.
4. Every time there is a general election the parliament has to vote on whether to can the lese majesty laws. Despite the king saying the laws no longer need to be in existence, the Thai people revere the king, and would vote out of office any politician who voted to abandon the lese majesty laws, hence the laws remain.
People in Thailand do not have the same freedom of speech rights that people in the west do, but to portray the king as some sort of evil ogre who is so sensitive to criticms that he cannot deal with an insult is just ridiculous.
This website will no doubt create a bureaucratic headache for the king, but should not be seen as evidence that Thailand is a dictatorial state.
Re:The Thai King is a... (Score:5, Funny)
His mother was a hamster and his father smelt of elderberries!
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Silly Thais (Score:4, Informative)
This isn't coming from the Palace, it is coming from the military. It's the Thai version going after the opposition for not being sufficiently patriotic. I've read that the King actually doesn't approve of harassing people for lese majeste.
Parent
Re:The Thai King is a spoiled child. (Score:5, Informative)
This king has (to my knowledge) always pardoned people who were convicted of this crime and he has also tried to get rid of this law.
Parent
Re:Idiots! (Score:5, Insightful)
The king of Thailand is protected by a set of old laws called Lese Majeste, which essentially means it is a crime to injure the king in any way (including verbally).You may not agree with it, and in fact, the Thai king himself is against these laws, but this is their way.
And in some parts of Africa a female child may have her clitoris excised to save her from sexual temptation later in life. Now in some less-enlightened quarters, this is considered a bad idea. But hey, what do I know, I'm just an ugly American imposing my cultural views on the world, right?
Cultural relativism is as harmful a mind virus as religion. Some things in the world are broken, and sticking your fingers in your ears and pretending otherwise does not make you morally superior.
Parent
Re:Idiots! (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, when it comes to improper use of blades, America is not all that enlightened either... (see sig below)
Parent