Fiji’s military-appointed PM seems to be reading from a familiar script. The Sydney Morning Herald reports:
Dr Senilagakali said the new government would bring “joy and peace” to the people of Fiji, saying the island nation needed a new form of democracy. “Democracy might be all right for Australia and New Zealand but certainly not all right for Fiji, I can tell you that,” he said. “I think in Fiji we need a different type of democracy.”
23 responses so far ↓
1 fall // Dec 7, 2006 at 11:27 pm
I almost laugh myself out of my chair with that title.
Other country follow Thailand as role model, wander should we be proud? Sufficient and moral-lead Fiji coming soon. If this is not a wake up call, well…
2 thanakarn // Dec 8, 2006 at 2:58 am
I thought the most unusual Democracy specie was Thaksin’s version which no one in Thailand understood except Thaksin, Fall and Andrew Walker.
3 Republican // Dec 8, 2006 at 4:06 pm
Well now the proponents of the Thai-style democracy argument finally have another country they can compare themselves to, Fiji! Forget comparing yourself to the developed countries of the world, Thailand’s royalist dictatorship has placed itself in a league of failed states.
4 Suvimol // Dec 9, 2006 at 3:04 am
There was one other unusual democracy in Asia: SINGAPORE. Singaporeans can vote but there was only one party to choose from. The Lee dynasty was sacred and criticisms of the Lees or the government can get a Singaporean locked up by the Internal Security Apparatus. The Singaporean democracy is as close to a police state as any.
I still cannot understand what Republican complains about. Without our Thai King, Thaksin could have easily succeeded to divide the country.
Thailand does not have to copy any other country’s political system . . and our Thai style of democracy, coups and royal whispers et al suit our ideals and limitations nicely. In the far future we may or may not have a monarch as head of state. But that will be decided by futurre generations and not by mine.
5 Bystander // Dec 9, 2006 at 5:41 am
“In the far future we may or may not have a monarch as head of state. But that will be decided by futurre generations and not by mine.”
Well said, Suvimol. If this is what the older generations think, then all the more reasons for younger people to retire them the sooner.
6 Suvimol // Dec 10, 2006 at 2:56 am
Retire me sooner? I am not even 40 yet. If you had watched TV coverage of the yellow shirts waving to the King on his 79th birthday, you’d have noticed how young (about my age group) they were.
7 Republican // Dec 10, 2006 at 9:12 pm
Well let’s get one thing straight, Singapore is not a “democracy”, unusual or otherwise. Yes, the Lees are above criticism – just like the royal family in Thailand. Yes, one can be locked up under the ISA law, just as in Thailand one can be locked up under lese majeste. Singapore is a police-state, large parts of Thailand remain under martial law. So where is the difference?
You say Thailand “does not have to copy any other country’s political system”. Where on earth do you think Thailand’s monarchical system came from? Yes, this is a foreign (Indian / Khmer/ Buddhist) institution whose value to the country in this era Thais should consider very carefully.
You talk about all the yellow shirts. We talk about the 14 million white ballot papers that elected a government in April. If you are so sure of the support for the monarchy then why is the monarchy so afraid of elections and elected politicians? Why does it need the military and the lese majeste law to protect it? What is it afraid of?
8 Vichai N. // Dec 10, 2006 at 9:23 pm
Has anyone ever been locked up for lese majeste? That I like to know.
9 polo // Dec 11, 2006 at 2:12 am
Drunk Swiss faces Thai wrath for King grafitti Fri Dec 8,
BANGKOK (Reuters) – A drunk Swiss has been arrested for defacing portraits of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej on the revered monarch’s birthday and faces up to 15 years in jail, a newspaper and police said on Friday.
Police in Chiang Mai identified the man as Oliver Rudolf Jufer, a long-term resident of the northern province, but declined to give details, citing the sensitivity that surrounds any alleged disrespect to the king, whom many Thais regard as semi-divine.
“I can’t tell you anything because it is a lese majeste case,” Chiang Mai city police chief Colonel Yutachai Puaprasert told Reuters.
The southeast Asian nation’s lese majeste laws carry a penalty of between three and 15 years in jail for anybody found guilty of slandering or defaming a member of the royal family.
10 Vichai N // Dec 11, 2006 at 3:26 am
Let me rephrase my question: Has any Thai citizen been sentenced to jail for lese majeste? If yes when or how long ago?
11 patiwat // Dec 11, 2006 at 7:34 am
The politician Veera Musikapong went to jail for several years for making comments about the crown prince. He not only went to jail, he was banned from politics for several years after being released.
I forgot when, but it was some time in the late 1980’s, when Prem was still Premier.
12 Vichai N. // Dec 11, 2006 at 7:18 pm
Yes there was Veera sentenced to six years (did he serve his full sentence?) in 1987. Then I checked and there were two other Pattani insurgent muslims jailed in early 1990s. Social critic Sulak I believe also had been threatened (but has he ever been jailed?)many times with lese majeste.
But I agree with you people, lese majeste is an anomaly. Only Thailand and Brunei I estimate are the two remaining countries in SEA keeping this outdated law.
I want it scrapped. Patiwat wants it scrapped. Many million other educated Thais would want to scrap this law that serves only the military. Even the King himself make fun of himself as being above criticism. Now that our revered King Bhumibhol has reached 79 and with maybe only a few years left to rule, there is a sense of urgency that lese majeste no longer serve Thailand’s political development or our democratic aspirations.
13 patiwat // Dec 12, 2006 at 8:10 am
Vichai, finally, it seems we agree on something! Let’s celebrate the small victories
But let me ask you this then. You’ve often repeated the junta’s accusation that Thaksin insulted the King. That was one of their reasons for the coup.
So are you saying that it’s wrong to put a man in jail for 6 years for insulting the King, but it’s OK for the military to abrogate the constitution and seize power for the same reason?
That’s a hypothetical question – don’t think of the other reasons why Thaksin-in-particular justified a coup. What would happen if lese majesty were removed from the legal code (not that I ever expect that to ever happen – it’s too useful a tool for the establishment). So anybody could criticize or insult the King.
If a government politician insulted the King or the Crown Prince (which is exactly what Veera did), and it weren’t illegal, would that alone justify a coup?
p.s., I believe that in the future (after “you know what”), a lese majesty law will be more useful than it is right now.
14 Republican // Dec 13, 2006 at 3:48 am
Scapping lese majeste would destroy the monarchy, which is why they will never do it, at least in this reign. Because this would gve a green light to investigations into too many debilitating scandals for the monarchy, foremost among them the death of the king’s elder brother in 1946, which started it all.
15 nganadeeleg // Dec 13, 2006 at 6:23 am
It happened over 60 years ago…..I’m not sure what an investigation now would come up with as most of the evidence would be long gone.
Despite, the lese majeste laws, I would have thought what really happened would have been exposed by now (if it is known).
I also think you place too much emphasis on the lese majeste laws as the major reason the monarchy continues, because there are still plenty of rumours/whispers (and who is getting sent to jail?)
16 polo // Dec 13, 2006 at 6:32 am
Singapore effectively has a lese majeste policy with regard to the family of Lee Kwan Yew and his princes. nepal had one but it was ineffective.
17 patiwat // Dec 13, 2006 at 8:28 am
I agree with Nganadirek. Further investigations wont uncover anything. Chaleo, But, and Chit were executed, Pridi is dead, Por is dead, the King’s mother is dead, Phraya Anurak is dead.
The one living man who might know anything secret will probably take whatever secrets he has to the grave, so to speak.
18 Vichai N // Dec 13, 2006 at 12:32 pm
A most ridiculous law lese majeste. Every Thai gossips about the monarchy and there are lots to gossip about. My customers at the shop . . wives of policemen, wives of generals, ladies-in-waiting for the monarchs never stop gossiping, mostly negative particularly about the prince.
Who would do a coup with lese majeste as the excuse. Thaksin was ousted for many many outrages against the Thai people and Kingdom . . not the King in particular. Patiwat merely wants to pick one item here and there, but altogether, to justify his argument that the coup was uncalled for. Patiwat you should go back to ‘Politics is Boring’ it is all there, all the many reasons, and some reasons by themselves were enough to put Thaksin in jail.
19 Vichai N // Dec 13, 2006 at 12:57 pm
Patiwat (no.13) let’s celebrate if when the lese majeste law has been scrapped, not before. Hopefully we’ll that law scrapped during our lifetime.
20 Republican // Dec 13, 2006 at 1:43 pm
I wonder whether the families of Chaleo, But and Chit would agree. And I wonder if you would be so sanguine if it was a member of your own family who had gone to their death for a crime they did not commit.
Surely the point is not whether an investigation would uncover new information, but in the hypothetical situation that lese majeste were lifted (as I say, impossible) it would allow certain questions to be asked, and certain things to be said, that are currently impossible to ask or say because they would by definition be acts of lese majeste.
21 patiwat // Dec 13, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Vichai, when Sonthi explained the coup on his TV broadcast the morning of the 20th, he cited many reasons, including lese majeste. You can’t ignore it.
Specifically, he claimed Thaksin caused 1) a rift in society, 2) corruption, 3) nepotism, 4) interference in government agencies, and 5) lese majeste.
Many other reasons were later cited, but lese majeste remains one of the key reasons the junta overthrew Thaksin.
22 Vichai N. // Dec 14, 2006 at 2:46 am
Patiwat we’ll have to remember then that soldiers do and will protect their Kings and country. Maybe Patiwat we won’t get to see lese majeste scrapped during our lifetimes after all.
I told you before Patiwat that Thaksin was a fool. Maybe i was wrong . . . maybe Thaksin was just too desperate. Just too many skeletons in the closet . . and that conflicted Temasek-Shin deal just one of the many Thaksin wanted to protect from any judicial inquiry . . so the man Thaksin truly intended to cling on to power indefinitely a-la Ferdinand Marcos.
By ‘causing rift in society’ , condition 1 raised by General Sonthi, was enough reason from a soldier’s creed to do a patriotic coup. Those others that followed: tax evasions, conflicted family deals, extrajudicial killings in anti-drugs, the Somchai disappearance case, and the most recent Muslim prisoner torture and execution were the very skeletons Thaksin was protecting from being uncovered and investigated . . He thus intentionally rabble-roused his villagers to create disharmony, distrust and division. That was diversionary and that was dangerous and that provoked a most righteous coup in my personal view.
Money can’t buy everything Thaksin will learn the hard way. Money can buy love (or votes) but the ardor and passion is usually fleeting because bought love (or votes) is feigned. Money will also buy temporary freedom but in the end the long arm of the law, they say, will eventually catch the thief or the criminal.
I am betting Thaksin’s money won’t help him escape justice and jail sentence because too many crimes, too many murdered, too many Thais outraged.
23 Republican // Dec 14, 2006 at 9:21 pm
Another 60th Anniversary. A propos of the question whether lifting lese majeste would lead to a revision of the case of the death of R. 8 in 1946 – or at least a public pardoning of the three innocent people executed, and an investigation into why they were framed for the crime – see Somsak’s article written on the 50th anniversary of their execution last year: “๕๐ ปีการประหารชีวิต ๑๗ กุมภาพันธ์ ๒๔๙๘” at http://somsakwork.blogspot.com/2006/06/blog-post.html
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