Amphon's death challenges both red shirts and the govt - prachatai.com
Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation
The death of lese majeste detainee Amphon "Akong" Tangnoppakul, also
known as "Uncle SMS", inside Bangkok Remand Prison Hospital on Monday
has re-ignited hopes of amending the draconian lese majeste law.
Some 300 people attended the controversial placing of his body in
front of the Bangkok Criminal Court on Wednesday and vented their anger
against the law they perceived as an obstacle preventing them from
attaining a basic right to freedom of expression.
Well-known red-shirt writer Wat Wayangoon asked the gathering if
Thais were not being treated like humans when it came to freedom of
expression about anything critical of the monarchy.
At the same venue, red-shirt Pheu Thai MP Jaruphan Kuldiloke talked
about legally protected rights in England and how Thailand has yet to
achieve anything similar. And political scientist Paungthong Pawakapan, a
key member of the Public Campaign Committee to Amend the lese majeste
law, announced in front of Amphon's body that enough signatures had been
collected to push the proposed amendment before Parliament.
It must not be forgotten, however, that Prime Minister Yingluck
Shinawatra has insisted repeatedly her administration will not touch the
lese majeste law.
Even Jaruphan was soft, almost apologetic on Wednesday, in front of
the crowd of angry mourners wondering why this government was not doing
anything - meekly suggesting they should try again to convince
government MPs.
It's no secret a large percentage of the red-shirt movement is
opposed to the draconian law, ever since the military coup on September
19, 2006, which ousted Thaksin Shinawatra. Many Thaksin supporters who
subsequently became red shirts question the role of Privy Council
President General Prem Tinsulanond in the coup, and more.
In private conversations, some-red shirt leaders try to defend
Yingluck's position that the government won't touch the law - saying the
government can't start a war on too many fronts, or by saying the
government doesn't really have the power to push for such change and it
could risk a military coup by insisting on it.
In public,however, there's a visible attempt to forge a truce between the old and new elites as well.
Nevertheless, yesterday, the red-shirt movement, the Democratic
Alliance Against Dictatorship, sponsored the first night of the funeral
rite for Amphon at Wat Dan Samrong in Samut Prakarn province. And at
least two key red-shirt members, Somyos Prueksakasemsuk and Surachai
Sae-Dan, remain in prison under the lese majeste law.
The continued vocal opposition to the law by a small but significant
and active section of the red-shirt movement could be used by the
Yingluck administration to remind the established elites that some form
of accommodation might be needed.
But if the government will not touch the law, the loyalty of
progressive red shirts to Yingluck (and Thaksin) - and the loyalty of
Yingluck and Thaksin to these red shirts - will be severely tested.
The government cannot indefinitely buy time and expect no backlash or
a meltdown in trust and expectation among the so-called progressive
reds who oppose the law.
If no progress is seen in the near future, the time will come when
these progressive red shirts must choose whether to continue to
accommodate a government which does nothing to make the law less
draconian.
Many reds will face the question whether they continue to support a
government that allowed to Amphon die under their watch, a government
privately telling them it would have loved to do more but just simply
couldn't afford to.
With prisoners of conscience like Somyos and Surachai still in jail
and the Public Campaign to Amend the law seemingly ready, that time is
approaching sooner than later. And if the death of Amphon cannot make a
difference, nothing will.
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