There is much to do in Chiangmai about a complaint that the governor of Chiangmai has made against a publication by the editor-in-chief of the magazine Chiangmai Citylife, the British-Thai Pim Kemasingki.
She had protested in an article against the annually recurring air pollution, when harvest waste, forests and shrubs are burned at the end of the dry season and cause a lot of particulate matter that is hazardous to health. According to measurements done now, Chiangmai would be the 7th most polluted city in the world in terms of air quality after cities like Lahore, Delhi, Bombay.
She had illustrated her article with a drawing of the three kings, a statue of which stands in the main square of Chiangmai, wearing a mask and she had called for a demonstration against air pollution.
Governor Pawin Chamniprasart is furious and charges her with blasphemy, incitement to unrest and for giving Chiangmai a bad reputation and is sentenced to 5 years in prison. Pim has already apologized.
Submitted by Niek – Photo: A thick layer of smog hangs over Chiang Mai (March 20, 2018)
In principle, this editor-in-chief has not written anything other than what most people have known for a long time, and the ignorant will immediately notice with his first attempt at airing.
An attempt to conceal this harmful fact from the still ignorant tourists should at least be punished sooner.
The truth isn't always nice. And if you don't like it then you just call it blasphemy. But that does not make reality/truth disappear.
The governor will throw it on the face masks / masks for the three kings. A sort of lèse-majeste…….
The governor would be better off focusing on the real problem of air pollution.
I think it is a good thing that abuses that damage health are exposed and that does not alter the fact that careful reporting is required. Chiang Mai's bad reputation is already covered in a cloud of particulate matter,
It's a pity I didn't save the cartoon from The Nation from a week ago. In that print you see the same group of three kings with a mouth mask, all three pointing angrily at the governor and accusing him that the air is so bad and that he should not blame the messenger ('kill the messenger') , who wants to do something about it and that is Pim Kemasingki. In the print, the governor is depicted very small in the bottom right corner with splashes of anger around his head. Very witty!
Hopefully she won't be charged with lèse majesté that carries a 15-year prison sentence, but anything is possible in Thailand.
I think the governor took the opportunity to tackle Pim, because she dares to be very critical in her editorials about a number of things in Thailand.
I wish Pim a lot of strength and 'chook dii'.
Could someone perhaps dig up that witty cartoon of Stephff in The Nation from about a week ago? It's really worth it! I can't.
That governor is not following along, the smog is widely known, but it is good that the people and the press keep hammering where the government falls short. The people have every interest in transparency, open debate and criticism. Especially criticism that draws attention to problems (extra?) in a creative or playful way.
There was a cartoon about this item in The Nation last week:
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/cartoon/20295
Thanks Rob V;, this is that conscious cartoon, in which the artist stands up for Pim and the actions against environmental pollution. Only here the kings don't have a mouth mask, as I mistakenly mentioned above, but they do in Pim's drawing and the governor thinks that's blasphemy.
I don't have that drawing.
For the 'blasphemy' drawing see:
http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/crimecourtscalamity/2018/04/01/governor-wants-website-prosecuted-for-mocking-dead-kings/
Thanks again Rob V., this is the drawing in question that is causing so much fuss; the three kings with a mouth mask drawn by children and published by Pim and about which an angry governor has filed a blasphemy suit against Pim.
Instead of spending his energy on the legal prosecution of Pim Kemasingki, he would better spend it on the fight against air pollution in Chianmai and surroundings
After the rain last week, I could see the roof of Thailand's Doi Ithanon in the distance again for months, as well as the Doi Suthep.
It was so bad this year that when I stood on the veranda of our guest house I could see the tops of the logan trees within a few hundred meters in a light blue haze.
And I live about 50 km south of CM .
Nothing has changed , it even seems that it only gets worse every year .
I don't think it's a good idea to come here as a tourist around this time.
My Thai stepdaughter went on holiday for a week in the north of Vietnam with her husband and son and she loved it there.
Jan Beute.
I think freedom of expression and the importance of combating air pollution are great rights and this is certainly to be welcomed. The way in which this is currently happening, a face mask on images of Kings is disrespectful to a large group of Thai people. It may also be punishable, but that will have to be determined in a criminal case. Protesting and drawing attention can be done in many ways, this is an ill-considered choice that can have a negative effect and that is not what the protest is about.
You are very concerned with the sensitivity of the Thai soul, in my eyes. Given the attention it generates, it doesn't seem like a bad approach at all.
We have established a number of matters as follows.
1. The air pollution is wrong and takes place from the end of February to the end of March. When it starts to rain again, which it has done 3 times in the meantime, it's over.
2. We did a trip during that fire period from Chiang Mai to Hua Hin via Lampang, Kamphaeng Phet, Ratchaburi and Chaam to Hua Hin. Pollution stopped near Suphan Buri. Coming near Bangkok it was at least as bad as in Chiang Mai. On the way back via Nakhon Sawan to Sukothai via road 117 and 12, we saw many burned fields and also saw it burning.
3. Today we drove from Chiang Mai to Phrao and return via Chang Dao on road 107, normally known as heavy polluters. This time we neither saw nor smelled anything and since we were on the bike that should have been noticed. Not only no burnt fields where the rice stubble was present, nor the water drainage ditches on the side of the road nor parts of the forest. No indication of burning.
4. Our Thai neighbor told us that the following has been introduced: Those who want to burn must report it to the police and when they are ready, so too. That gives hope and partly because of what we have seen along the way today that could well be right.
If that works, we in the province of Chiang Mai have apparently overcome the leak, let's hope so.
Burning, as harsh as it is for certain groups, should be banned and controlled.
Even if people would be prepared to report this to the police here and there, this will not improve the air in any way.
Below is a link where one can see that even after the rain of the last days, this afternoon 10.04. at 13 p.m. was still unhealthy.
http://aqicn.org/city/chiang-mai/m/
Report to the police if you start setting a fire and again if you stop. What will that help?
It only helps if:
1. a permit is required in advance and
2. this is also checked or fined if one burns down without a permit and
3. compensation if fire spreads to the surrounding area.
Just reporting this is bullshit.
The governor must – when he is done with the blasphemy game – take REAL measures and strictly ban burning. But yes, that obviously takes a bit more courage than trying to tackle a journalist.