Thailand's coup leaders said Saturday that they would keep former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Cabinet members and anti-government protest leaders detained for up to a week to give them "time to think" and to keep the country calm. Outspoken academics were also summoned to report to the junta ....
One of those on the list, Kyoto University professor of Southeast Asian studies Pavin Chachavalpongpun, said by phone from Japan that he would not turn himself in. He said the summons meant the junta felt insecure.
"The military claiming to be a mediator in the Thai conflict, that is all just nonsense," he said. "This is not about paving the way for reform and democratization. We are really going back to the crudest form of authoritarianism."
It looks like this guy might have good reason to avoid going back to Thailand beyond the current situation given his opinion on Thailand's lèse-majesté law.
Someone apparently wants to harm Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a former Thai diplomat who is now an associate professor at Kyoto University and a regular contributor to Asia Sentinel.
For months, Pavin, who teaches at the University’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies has led a campaign from outside the country to modify Thailand’s draconian lèse-majesté law, which has been used with increasing frequency against critics of the repressive government, and in particular to attempt to free the late political prisoner, Amphon Tangnoppakul, known in Bangkok as Akong.
Akong died of stomach cancer in detention on May 9 after being sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of defaming the Thai monarchy. The 62-year-old retired truck driver was accused of sending four text messages despite the fact that he said he didn’t even know how to use the SMS function on his cellphone.
At the root of the controversy is Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code, which states: "Whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to fifteen years." It is the most stringent lèse-majesté law on the planet, and it has been used with increasing frequency against critics of the repressive Thai government. The law contains no definition of what constitutes "defamation" or "insult" and charges can be filed by anyone who believes another party has insulted the royalty.
On June 12, Pavin received two anonymous phone calls to his cell phone from someone calling from Thailand. The calls were particularly unsettling because the caller somehow was able to obtain Pavin’s number in Japan ....
Pavin believes he has become an apparent target of the hyper-royalists, which he suspects may involve personalities within the Thai army, which is known to enjoy intimate ties with the royal institution.
