From today’s Sydney Morning Herald:
The medieval price an author pays for insulting Thailand’s monarchy
From the hell of his Bangkok prison cell, the writer Harry Nicolaides reveals the horror of his daily battle to survive.
We are woken at 6 and counted in the cell. Mine is 12 metres long and just over four metres wide, holding 50 or 60 prisoners, mostly Thais, mostly murderers and rapists. The cell has one toilet, which is a hole in the ground, and poor ventilation. I sleep in a face mask because tuberculosis and pneumonia are common. I’ve been in this jail for five months, since my arrest in September.
My book, Verisimilitude, was a rather clumsy first attempt at fiction – only 50 copies were printed and seven sold. I love Thailand and respect the royal family. It was never my intention to offend anyone.
For breakfast I have soy milk and a biscuit. The prisoners wash and shave around troughs covered in grime. The water is changed once a week. Then there’s assembly. We stand to attention as the Thai flag is raised. We’re asked to pray to a large gold Buddha. I use the time to collect my thoughts and think about my loved ones.
The guards make long speeches in Thai. I imagine they’re about prison etiquette. I’m then taken upstairs with other foreigners to clean another cell block. After that we’re at leisure for a while. I used to walk around, but I can’t help but encounter the weak and the feeble – such as men with TB, languishing on benches. It deadens me. So I try to spend my time replying to the many letters I receive. Letters keep me alive.
We are allowed one 30-minute visit a day, but not on weekends or holidays. The hardest part is returning to my cell after a visit from family or friends. I break down when I think how they’re suffering.
At 12 the lunch bell rings. The food is mostly fish bones in hot water, extremely spicy, with rice. I’ve tried it and felt unwell. I can’t afford to fall sick – the mental strain is enough – so my family send me some chicken and a salad every day. There are 20 or 25 cats that run into the mess hall before the prisoners. Some men put cigarettes in the cats’ mouths or do other unspeakable things to them. I am barefoot most of my day. It is partly a security measure so we can’t climb the electrified, barbed-wire fence, and partly custom. But the floors are covered with fish bones, saliva and cat vomit, so my feet are black.
I am led to court in shackles and chains. It’s positively medieval. They’re degrading and they bruise and lacerate the ankles. They make you feel you’re guilty.
They say that it is easy to get to someone in a prison like this, so I am always on the alert. I have met some colourful characters, like Viktor Bout, the suspected Russian arms dealer. He’s an unassuming, softly spoken man. He gave me some garlic the other day – and a manuscript of his life story to edit. I haven’t looked at it yet. Lots of people give me manuscripts about their lives and cases. They seem to think I’m a BBC journalist, of all things.
At 4pm we’re locked up until 6am. My patch is about a foot wide, the length of my body. I cannot move to the left or right without pressing on another person. I cannot stretch out my legs without kicking someone.
On the king’s 81st birthday I saw fireworks in the distance. Some prisoners had tears in their eyes, praising a man they regard not just as their king but their father. I may not be Thai, but I am a son, and I know what it means to love a father. I am applying for a royal pardon. I pray the king learns of my plight so I might enjoy his grace.
When I’ve finished my chicken, Thais beg for my scraps.
The fluorescent lights stay on at night, so I sleep with a box over my head. I toss and turn on a thin mat on the hard floor. And this, too, shall pass, other foreigners tell me. It’s an old adage and true. But time passes very slowly here.
(As told to Andrew Marshall)
16 responses so far ↓
1 Ty // Feb 7, 2009 at 5:54 pm
My heart goes out to Harry and his family. I hope he receives the amnesty he deserves soon. This sort of thing can’t be good for Thailand or the monarchy.
2 Chris // Feb 7, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Is there any truth to the rumor that some groups in Australia are planning to mount a tourist boycott of Thailand on behalf of Harry? I wonder if that would really be plausible, are there enough Australians willing to holiday elsewhere and what would the overall effect be on Thailand’s tourist industry?
3 Teeranai Charuvastra // Feb 8, 2009 at 12:39 am
I’m sorry to say to you, Nicolaides, that there’s nothing I can do for you. If I had what I wished, sure, I would have stormed that prison with Special Forces and get you out of there. But for the moment, all I can console you is that I will make sure your name will go down even in schoolchildren’s Thai history textbooks to remind them what kind of unforgivable evil their grandfathers have collectively committed.
4 Michael // Feb 8, 2009 at 1:06 am
One of the very first things people learn when they move to Thailand is to never talk about the royal family in a manner that may cast them in a negative light. Certainly Harry would have discovered this very quickly. Unfortunately, many western nationals believe that because they come from “free” countries that they are somehow above this standard set by the kingdom. When in Thailand, I am very careful of how I speak about the Monarchy, as I am aware of how sensitive of an issue that it is. Everyone knows this, including Harry. Hopefully, his predicament will wise people up who may think of daring to test this protocol, especially in print. In the meantime, Australians need to bring this chap home. Thailand has made its point, move on, send Harry home.
5 Frank G Anderson // Feb 8, 2009 at 1:28 am
I’d hate to be the one advocating boycotts of Thailand, but the country has worked for decades to incite boycotts for human rights violations, unjust disproportionate imprisonment like Harry’s, and flippant disregard for its own laws, much less international conventions that it should be abiding by.
6 Ralph Kramden // Feb 8, 2009 at 5:33 am
Is there any truth to the rumour that a group of well-known names in Thailand are preparing a petition for lese majeste to be scrapped? Would they dare? Anyone heard about this?
7 Jesse // Feb 12, 2009 at 11:46 am
Every country, there are rules that we do not agree, however, you must follow the law in the particular country you are in.
He is well awared of the consequences and yet he chose to do it. No matter how many copies the book’d sold, he still broke the law in the kingdom of Thailand !
8 nganadeeleg // Feb 12, 2009 at 3:55 pm
OK Jesse, even if your ‘when in Rome‘ argument made sense, what are your feelings about Thai’s being nonsensically charged under this law for political purposes?
9 Coss // Feb 15, 2009 at 9:20 pm
I believe he will receive a pardon from the king soon….
I am Thai and I also hate to see this law still being used in this country… we will never be a free country….
I love my king.. but I love my freedom just more…
Many Thai groups are about to protest in this use of law…and we shall Win… it’s inevitable…
10 Nero Hansen // Feb 18, 2009 at 10:04 am
nganadeeleg, but what is a foreigner’s point to write about the monarchy. especially, when he knew how sensitive that issue actually is. true, there are many people of your opinion and i am keeping my fingers crossed that Harry gets pardoned. as foreigners we should respect these thai sentiments and accept “roman” rules of the game, even if like them or not.
but some general question: what’s Thailand’s gain from democracy? corruption, vote-buying, populism? how about societal progress which actually came from wise monarchs such as Mongkut or Chulalongkorn? why is it mr. handley’s job criticize royal projects which “only worked out in propaganda”? did anybody blame mother teresa for the souls she didn’t save?
11 Vox Populi // Feb 18, 2009 at 11:40 am
Nero & Jesse:
Your argument seeems to be ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do.’ Which sounds reasonable, but is in fact absolute rubbish in this case.
In ancient Rome, ‘do as the Romans do’ would have meant keeping slaves, burning Christians, and raping children. Or perhaps we could phrase it as ‘When in Berlin, do as the Germans do’, and we all know where that leads. (Just broken Godwin’s law, but there you go . . . )
The point is that of course local traditions and customs should be respected by visitors, but equally obviously, there are just laws and unjust laws. And any law that places a person in jail for a three year sentence for one paragraph in a novel is unjust. Punishments must fit the crime, and in this case they patently do not.
12 Frank G Anderson // Feb 18, 2009 at 11:57 am
The old “If we are foreigners we have no business commenting on foreign affairs” argument! It never seems to fade away, even with wisdom.
These so-called sentiments, or sensitivities about the monarchy and over-emphasis on human rights and democracy and freedom of speech, these sentiments are not just sentiments. If they were, that would be fine. But the sentiments are translated into action, into harassment, into incitement, into criminal prosecution, into imprisonment, sometimes into death. They cease being sentiments when they are transformed into action – individual, group or collective, that removes inalienable rights of life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, free speech and that democracy that many people are these days fond of blaming for the world’s ills.
Just because I am not married to my neighbor’s wife when he starts beating her to death does not mean I am not obligated to call the police.
Here in Thailand, the country and its agencies are, and have long been, covered by international human rights and free speech protections that are generally not safeguarded, promoted, permitted or recognized. this Thai Rome that some are wishful thinkers and apologists for wrongdoers are so fond of is not a Rome where people are, or should be, entitled to do what they want how they want. This is a global issue, and because it happens here in Thailand to involve a small group of Thais who share the same interests wiht foreigners, does not mean that the cause is wrong, unjust or should not be fought. Many Thais would like to be free to speak, to act, but many end up dead because of ’sentiments.’
13 James Quilty // Feb 18, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Has someone re-published what he wrote? I feel as I always do in these cases, totally blind. How can you judge someone if you don’t know what his crime is – what he actually wrote? And who decides what is offensive? And how do you know it’s offensive if no one talks or writes about it?
14 nganadeeleg // Feb 18, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Nero: I haven’t got much to add to what Vox & Frank have already said above, and I think I am just about the last person on here to be asked to argue for the merits of democracy.
You asked: ‘what is a foreigner’s point to write about the monarchy?‘
If you are referring to Harry, then I don’t think one or two sentences in a few hundred page book really counts as writing about the monarchy – have you read the alleged offending sentence?
On the other hand, if you are referring to Handley’s TKNS, then I think one of the reasons Handley gave for writing the book was because no-one had done it before – I’m sure we all would have liked to have seen Thai’s be allowed to write such a book.
(but are they even allowed to read it?)
15 Nick Nostitz // Feb 18, 2009 at 3:14 pm
“Nero Hansen”:
I am getting very tired of the “when in Rome…” phrase. This can easily be turned around. As Thailand aspires to be part of the global community there are also certain universal rights, such as freedom of speech and thought.
The increasing sophism with which the draconian punishments for Lese Majeste are explained draw not just criticism from western countries, but from the Thai population as well.
There are no absolutes here, and Thailand is no more “special case” than any other country in the world is. A compromise between the national interest and the demands of the global community has to be worked out here. Punishments from 3 to 15 years jail for this offense, i am sorry, are no compromise.
The romanticism of absolute monarchy is completely unrealistic. Corruption happens in such systems as much as in any other system. In a democracy at least people have the opportunity to vote their representatives out of office. And there is the hope than one day a society of equal opportunities is created, under which excessive corruption will decrease.
There was more than a bit of criticism against Mother Theresa, by the way, for example her strong stand against birth control in a country that has a massive problem with overpopulation.
16 Nero Hansen // Feb 18, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Everybody who opens his/her Lonely Planet will know about the “sentiment”. Honestly, I don’t believe a novel might contribute to the establishment/improvement of the human rights at all. As far as I read did the author lived in Thailand for quite a while. I don’t judge it it terms of “this is what happens” but in terms of “something to deny oneself” while being a guest or expat in the Kingdom of Thailand. Using the law to extinguish opposition is a completely different topic. PS: Great webiste by the way, thumbs up!
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