Pro-democracy activists mistreated
In recent months, three activists have already been attacked and seriously assaulted several times. Last Friday, Ja New was the latest victim. He's in bad shape.
On Friday, June 28, Sirawith Serithiwat, better known by his nickname Ja New, was seriously assaulted by four men in broad daylight. Four helmeted and masked men on two unregistered scooters were waiting for him at the entrance of 109 Soi Ram Intra near his house when he arrived there by motorbike taxi. Witnesses stated that the attackers first hit him on the head with clubs and then also worked his body when he fell down. He sustained serious brain damage and is unconscious in intensive care (Photo, see here: /bit.ly/2RPfnMi). CCTV cameras captured the attack. He was also attacked earlier in the month of June.
In recent years, Ja New has campaigned against the junta and for more democracy. He was about to travel to India to continue his studies there.
Similarly, men have already attacked another activist, Ekachai Hongkangwan, seven times in the past two years. The last time this happened before the court in Bangkok at half past eight in the morning on May 13. His car was set on fire twice.
Apart from the conviction of a man who punched him in the face in 2018, no one has been arrested for these attacks.
Photo: Anurak Jeantawanich/FacebookEkachai has previously been convicted of lèse-majeste charges and has campaigned against the junta many times. After his last attack he said 'I'm not giving up, I have to keep going'.
Another well-known democracy campaigner, Anurak Jeantawanicha, nicknamed 'Ford', suffered an early morning attack on May 25, following an earlier attack in late March. He was slightly injured.
The Bangkok Post writes on June 30 in an editorial titled: 'Attacks against activists go unpunished', and I quote:
'…..The government's failure to take security measures to protect activists like Sirawith and Ekachai sparked public outcry….Police and security officials are failing to apprehend the guilty after more than 15 attacks in the past 18 months… ..It is deeply concerning that these attacks and the lack of an adequate response come amid increasing polarization and expressions of hatred despite the regime's promise to bring about reconciliation….”
It is very saddening to read on some social media that it is 'their own fault, that the attacks were staged to arouse pity' and more.
Dear Tino, thank you for bringing these very sad events to our attention, especially for the victims. The perpetrators of this latest dastardly attack on Ja New will most likely never be tracked down and their clients will also escape punishment. Tragic that a young life now seems to have been nipped in the bud because of the desire for and campaigning for democracy. Of course I hope that Ja New recovers as far as possible.
Dear Leo Th,
Yes New is recovering happily. I saw a picture of him eating on his hospital bed. But his eye socket would be quite damaged.
Good to read that Tino, of course not that his eye socket is seriously damaged, but that he has awakened from his coma and hopefully he does not suffer from permanent brain damage.
It is simply sad and shocking that this kind of hatred and senseless violence is unleashed on people who express a non-violent opinion or vision that some do not like. The state is also partly to blame for this, think of General Apirat who tells people to listen to 'nak pen din' (scum of the earth, burden of the earth). That does not demonstrate de-escalation, while reconciliation was the core value of the junta...
Time and again we see the well-known nonsense: members and supporters of, for example, Future Forward or the pro-democracy NGOs are said to secretly harbor communist ideas, and of course have nefarious plans for a republic and anti-monarchist plans. Crazy but it stirs up fear and hatred.
I read some comments on social media about the attack on Ja New, it gives you goosebumps. dirty communist, red buffalo, get the hell out of our country, it's a shame that the job hasn't been completed, just go and whine about democracy from hell where you belong, etc. Parina Kraikupta MP on behalf of the pro-junta Phalang Pracharat party is taking it a step further on top: the attack was staged by Future Forward to win souls...
*sigh*
Reconciliation? As long as pro-democracy activists are portrayed as evil figures who threaten the country, that will not happen.
I actually wish that the major media companies would publicly condemn this action(s). Let it be known that these types of actions go against the core values of the country and are therefore un-Thai and un-Buddhist. That if anyone here does not love his country, it is the perpetrators of this kind of violence.
But that's not going to happen as long as people are labeled un-Thai if they hold ideas other than what the dinosaurs in the country's elite families are proclaiming left and right.
Thai Pbs and Voice TV pay a lot of attention to these issues and other abuses in Thai society every day.
But they are still alive! Other 'dissidents', a nice word for people who do maintain an independent spirit, have been murdered in Laos and dumped in the Mekong with concrete in their bellies. And a few are missing too…..
It is all about the fact that the governments in the region have agreed to send each other's dissidents back; Vietnam extradited it to Thailand, and a Vietnamese dissident in Thailand disappeared and turned up 'spontaneously' in a cell in Hanoi. This is called good neighbourliness.
We once talked about the USSR 'paradise' and their Gulag archipelago, but North Korea, China and other countries in that part of the world are no better! And that is not of this time; the unsolved disappearance of human rights lawyer Somchai, the deaths in the mosque and the pick-up murders of Tak Bai have never been solved, let alone that perpetrators are punished.
Those who don't walk in line in Thailand will be punished; or worse.
Why do you care about political matters. The land belongs to the Thai and only they can bring about change. You don't think they're going to listen to a bunch of elderly farangs, do you?
For me, only the annual extension at immigration counts, plus whether the beer is cold. I have no opinion about the rest.
What drives me is called empathy, I sympathize with people who are beaten half or completely to death because they have a different (but peaceful) opinion. Now I'm far from old, and no, no one will listen to the opinion of a few. My one vote isn't going to change the world. But these atrocities should not be ignored. Whether you are Dutch, Thai, both or something else, this kind of violence is frowned upon by many. And only if people express their disgust in large numbers is there a chance that something will be done about it. That is of course up to the people themselves.
One of those mistreated men is called Anurak. My son's name is also Anurak. He is also active in politics, for the progressive Future Forward Party, a party that has been viciously attacked all the time. And I shouldn't worry about that? Come drink your beer and look the other way when someone is being beaten up next to you…..
Piet de Vries, Amnesty International regularly organizes signature actions for the release of citizens worldwide who have been kept in cells for years because of their political beliefs and have often been abused. Their actions are often successful and dissidents are released, partly thanks to my signature as an elderly person, as you wish to put me away. It therefore makes sense for Tino Kuis to address such abuses, even though it may seem like a drop of water in a desert. Of course, it doesn't matter to you what I am or am not concerned about. If the only thing that matters to you is the one-year extension at immigration, then in my opinion you are pretty stupid, but that's up to you. By the way, I don't care one bit about whether your beer is cold or not.
Piet de Vries, you are right. Feel free to bury your head in the sand. Beer and stamps determine your life, I read. Close your eyes to injustice. I hope you have fun in Thailand!
But don't forget to lock your mouth and hands in addition to your eyes; ONE wrong move with head, mouth or hand will put you in jail for 15 years and then .. the world is too small and Thailand is rotten. Have fun here!
Although Piet de Vries is right that TH doesn't listen to elderly farang, it is true that if you don't want to have anything to do with the developments in TH, you better deal with beer. Beer lubricates the mind, it makes you wonderfully confused, and in the long run you are sure that you are saying the right thing. After all, isn't there an NL saying that indicates that children and drunkards preach the truth?
In TH, the police, judiciary and politicians should make a firm commitment to these kinds of undemocratic events. That is the only way in which TH becomes aware that threats/abuses from a political context must end. In that respect, Bangkok Post, among others, is doing well and offers a counterweight to what is being raised on social media.
Whether you are listened to in Thailand has nothing to do with whether you are old and/or farang, but whether you have the right networks and deploy them in the right way and at the right time.
For that you really have to do much more than go to Immigration once a year and drink beer every day.