Soldiers' protest against media a threat to freedom
Sun, 13/01/2013 - 17:48 | by prachatai
The show of strength by some 50 disgruntled Army officers on Friday and again yesterday in front of the yellow-shirt mouthpiece ASTV Manager Daily newspaper, after its condemned Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha as "lousy" over his handling of the Preah Vihear Temple dispute, is another low for freedom of expression in Thailand.
General Prayuth himself initially gave the blessing by saying his men were not defending him but the position of Army chief. He later told his men to restrain themselves.
It is undemocratic for soldiers to be gathering in uniform to pressure anyone, particularly the media, in order to prevent criticism of their boss. For the Army chief to give his blessing means he doesn't know that the military in a democratic country must submit itself to media scrutiny and criticism.
Back in the 1950s and 1960s, Thai generals were pretty much untouchable. Things have changed over the decades. The move could be construed as an attempt to again make the position of Army chief beyond 'reproof'.
The Army has its spokesperson. If it is unhappy about a certain media portrayal of its chief, it can resort to defending the Army chief and countering the media through a press conference. In a way, the lack of discipline and awareness about the appropriate role and behaviour of Army officers is not new as some officers still believe the Army has a duty to stage a military coup to "save" the country from corrupt politicians and defend the monarchy.
On the other hand, some red shirts who claim to be fighting for democracy have expressed satisfaction and a sense of "sweet revenge" on social media sites that now ASTV, the media they regard as being full of lies and deception, was on the receiving end of the military's attention.
But what about freedom of expression?
Press freedom and freedom of expression is not something to be applied selectively to those on your side only. If the red shirts take satisfaction from such a military threat against ASTV, they not only fail to defend press freedom, but are unknowingly assisting the revival and strengthening of military power over politics and society. Not that the Army today has no extra-legal clout. As it is, the Army owns two out of six free television stations and 60 per cent of the radio airwaves.
Regardless of whether you agree with ASTV or not, whether you think it's a propaganda tool or not, society cannot defend freedom of the press as well as freedom of expression if its citizens do not defend the right of those with whom they disagree or oppose.
Principles cannot be applied selectively - otherwise they cannot be regarded as principles.
The soldiers' threat to ASTV is another symptom of Army indiscipline. The red shirts' failure to speak out and defend the rights of ASTV is also a proof of how the basic principle of press freedom and freedom of expression cannot be expected to be defended, whatever the political affiliation.
Source: http://nationmultimedia.com/politics/Soldiers-protest-against-media-a-threat-to-freedom-30197808.html
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The problem seems to me to be
The problem seems to me to be the vacuum at the center ... where the elected government is supposed to be.
Yingluck could have had a field day with this ... PPT had Sondhi teasing Prayuth with some girlie-boy taunts ... perfect opening for Yingluck.. "Now, now boys ... teasing leads to tussling and tussling leads to fighting ... "
She then could have sequed from "gently" chiding the little fellows to actually solving the problems in question ....
"I've asked the Thai people who live in the villages closest to Preah Vihar to convene a meeting with their counterparts in villages on the Cambodian side to sort out this misunderstanding and present us in Bangkok and the government in Phnom Phenh with their solution. I'm sure they'll be very practical and do so to everyone's satisfaction ..."
Then on to the South ...
"In that same vein, I've asked the Nitirat's advice on just how best to incorporate home-rule for all the provinces of Thailand, not just those in the South although the need is most acute there. People involved are the only ones capable of making a lasting solution for their own problems."
But instead ... the field is abandoned to the boys. And teasing leads to tussling and tussling leads to fighting. The real problems are left to fester. And, as we are all too well aware, these little boys have been issued real guns.
Is this message supposed to
Is this message supposed to turn Prachatai readers on? "teasing leads to tussling and tussling" Ooh, OOOOH! Aaaah! Yesssss! Tease me! Let's tussle little boy! Yeah! Gimme your vacuum.
Somehow you never get the tone of your writing right.
I agree with the basic
I agree with the basic message of this article. Democracy in Thailand appears to little more than a stick with which to clobber your political rivals, even if that means damaging democracy itself.
I'm not sure that the UDD leadership are sincere about promoting democratic values in Thai society, especially when they remain silent on issues like this.
Is this what they teach Thai Red Shirts in their "political schools"? Win at any cost?
I sense this is the end of
I sense this is the end of the PAD-army alliance.
I agree with the author that we should defend ASTV's right to free speech, including in this most recent situation. But 50 soldiers protesting for an hour isn't a violation of speech rights. What the army did to the red shirt media, however, was.
More garbage from Pravit I'm
More garbage from Pravit I'm afraid.
Most of the time he is extolling his "freedom of speech" is sacrosanct line - that there should be absolutely no regulation of free speech of any kind - to suddenly attacking a soldier's right to peacefully protest against ASTV.
Of course the Army should not be anywhere near ASTV but then, in my view, almost no democracy on earth would tolerate ASTV's hate and racist filled output that stalks young women and distributes genocidal language.
What's weird is that Pravit uses this piece to defend the fascistic ASTV, to attack the ordinary soldiers' freedom of expression and then, somehow, blames it all on the Red Shirts - a group that had its members murdered by some of those same soldiers whilst being cheered on by ASTV.
The hypocrisy, lack of principle, lack of understanding, lack of proper context, distortion of history and complete denial of reality are all present not only in this piece but in the entirety of Pravit's oeuvre. Without his minor-elite background and Abhisit-esque grandstanding of his education (check out his twitter profile) Pravit wouldn't be given time of day.
"Principles cannot be applied
"Principles cannot be applied selectively - otherwise they cannot be regarded as principles."
Besides Andrew's poignant points, soliciting universality of principles as a maxim is faulty in the extreme. Principles cannot be applied universally. Not only has such insistent application been tried and failed time and time again, but principles themselves have been "massaged" or put to the test under many unique and often repeated situations. They are often then recognized as falling short for very valid reasons, and this is not to say that various dictators and oppressors have valid points to make - yet they sometimes do but shroud any reasonable discussion in mad panoply of the extreme never-fail principle of preserving national security.
Pravit's article has valid points, but again his assertions - the last that freedom of expression cannot expect to be defended - rather says that Thailand is filled with - and encourages development of - cowards. I would hate to think this is the truth.
"Principles cannot be applied
"Principles cannot be applied selectively - otherwise they cannot be regarded as principles."
Yet, in the confines of this piece Pravit himself very obviously applies his own principles selectively.
The fascistic, malicious, racist ASTV media group, an organisation that uses genocidal language to provoke violence when it sees fit, uses its immense power to stalk vulnerable young women, actively supports the lese majeste law and which campaigns endlessly to create a climate of genuine fear in Thailand,has its right to do all that "defended" by the dubious Pravit.
Yet, suddenly, and believing his readers to be as stupid and as routinely devoid of suitable analysis as he is, Pravit denies his non-negotiable principle of "freedom of expression" to ordinary soldiers. A genuine "what the f**k" moment.
And finally, as if to cement his utterly bogus progressive credentials and complete lack of basic empathy or understanding of the human condition, Pravit conjures up from his monologue on "principles" a form of blame that, as if by some cheap store-bought magic trick, he attempts to attach to the Red Shirts - those very people who resolutely defended the principle of democracy with their lives, who had their "freedom of expression" blown out by Army snipers' bullets onto Bangkok's streets whilst ASTV celebrated their murder from sidelines and posh boy Pravit hid out with his rich, elite pals in a Bangkok mansion, only to re-appear a couple of years later and sneer at their suffering like some Hanoverian caricature.
Just like his phoney, non-existent lese majeste charge, Pravit extols phoney, non-existent and tissue thin principles backed up by the kind of non-sequitir arguments a child would laugh at.
In short, Pravit is fast becoming the Walter Mitty of the "progressive" English language Thai commentariat.
Do you have a crush on
Do you have a crush on Pravit? Or is it simply some form of inferiority complex? :)
Nah, I just have a penchant
Nah, I just have a penchant for exposing frauds. Sorry if your fanboy bubble gets burst en route.
;-)
I also don't get or
I also don't get or understand why Pravit is attacking some Red Shirts' freedom of expression in this piece.
Surely if freedom of expression is such a sacred principle why does he have a problem with some Red Shirts expressing their pleasure in ASTV having to endure a small, entirely peaceful, protest by soldiers outside their HQ?
Surely the principle of freedom of expression cannot be applied selectively?
You'd think Pravit would be out in front defending the Red Shirts expression of pleasure as much as he defends ASTV's racism and fascism.
My view is that Pravit has more common ground with ASTV than he'd care to admit. Hence his protective arm for them - something he has done repeatedly - and his slap for the Red Shirts.
PPT points to Saksith
PPT points to Saksith Saiyasombat's coverage of the incident.
Noting that it is a stretch to label ASTV/The Manager a journalistic operation Saksith is clear in noting that the the Royal Thai Army has no business marching around intimidating anyone, anywhere. As well he calls the TJA for wringing its hands over the mistreatment of the 'poor' PAD... where were the TJA when ...
The only thing that Prayuth does seem to be really good at is reminding the Thai public and world at large at just how overbearing and out of place the RTA is in Thai politics, so perhaps we have Sondhi to thank for that.
Not forgetting that the program idiot Sondhi and his PAD themselves are pushing for is war against Cambodia.
This whole episode seems to be a case of a has-been taking on a never-was in trying to make a come-back.