I have received this via email:
Two core leaders of the Student Federation of Thailand have just been issued summons to the CRES headquarters at the 11th Infantry Regiment for 10am Sunday morning. The summons were hand-delivered by a group of policemen who arrived on their doorsteps at 6pm. I have just spoken to one of them on the phone, and got the impression that she didn’t really know what she was in for (as they told her nothing of reasons, but inquired as to whether she used the internet often. They also took her photo and some photos of her apartment.)
an open letter has been issued calling on all pro-democracy students to gather at Rab11 HQ where Abhisit and his band of not-so-merry men are gathered to see what is going to happen…we will know later today
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It really does seem that Abhsiti and co are treading the path towards authoritarianism, and I’m sure we all know on whose behalf and at whose behest they are treading it.
Almost every day there is new evidence that they simply want to stifle or crush all dissent, and I am not at all sure how this squares with Abhisit’s refrain about having democratic credentials.
This is getting seriously unpleasant, way beyond anything that Thaksin dared to do in his day.
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numbers of people turning up is very important
best of luck!
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This shows truly that Thailand is now governed by a dictatorship government. No freedom in expression, no freedom in speeches and no freedom even in reading articles in a website. The government blocked every existing websites that criticized them. I think this government is the most terrifying government in the history of Thailand.
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For a few more details (including guess as to reason the female activist mentioned in this post is summoned), see (sorry in Thai):
http://www.thailiberal.org/index.php?showtopic=47415
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This is extremely worrying.
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@david
Current government bad, but not even close to worst. That’s the scary part, they have quite far to sink yet, and given the direction they’ve taken…
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Great twisted logic to again call the govt, and anyone who disagrees with red intolerance and intimidation, the perpetrators of anti democratic values. Let the reds come and run Andrew’s country’s democracy.
Perhaps the master manipulator wannabe president for life Thaksin is staying out of the bloody, nasty limelight to keep the SFT from coming out against him as they have in the past.
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“Truth” Today …
wrong way round… we identified the anti-democratic behaviour and then discovered that it is the government that is behaving this way
the test of democracy is whether the government is willing to go to the people for decision in free, fair and equal election
the Abhisit government cannot call an election because the real rulers, the military, will not allow it, therefore the government cannot claim to be democratic
Full franchise democratic elections are a direct threat to the military
because they take the power of choice of MPs from them and worse,
elected governments can claim the authority of the people and introduce controls on the military.
After he was elected Thaksin was foolish and brave enough to introduce some controls, there were calls that he was “interfering with the military promotions and reshuffle” (which a democratic government has a duty to do) and “threatening the monarchy” which he wasnt, but the military always falls back on this to secure their power.
It is the challenge for every government to try to bring the military
under control. Abhisit cannnot because he cannot claim the mandate of the people.
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“Great twisted logic to again call the govt, and anyone who disagrees with red intolerance and intimidation, the perpetrators of anti democratic values. Let the reds come and run Andrew’s country’s democracy.
Perhaps the master manipulator wannabe president for life Thaksin is staying out of the bloody, nasty limelight to keep the SFT from coming out against him as they have in the past.”
And the propaganda sausage machine grinds another one out…
Interesting things about sausages (and computers) – gigo
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soon these students will be arrested and police will find bombs, grenades and most dangerous than all, criticism of His Majesty in their rooms.
pity those who live in this so special and unique thai-style democracy where the only legal political view is ‘long live the King’
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Here was the Facebook page of the “Event” at the 11th Infantry to support to the two students who were summoned to the CRES:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115444675157133
I pray for the safety and continued bravery of these two young students.
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Could this be the turning point and politicise the students in Thailand? So far i have the impressions most of them don’t care too much and are a bit lethargic, i read interviews where they described the current events as “boring”, more in a sense of “annoying”. Of course that might not be true, but thats my impression of what you (don’t) see from them.
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The CRES said it summoned the student leaders to inquire about the reasons the student leaders displayed a poster of “a dinosaur embezzles a diamond” in front of the United Nations building last year.
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There was also a strange press release of the “world thai student association”, an organization you can’t find any informations about on the web, except for this release. Was this organization just started to support the government?
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-438405
Anyone knows something about this organization? It’s not mentioned on the wikipage of the Thai Student Association
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_Student_Association
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From: http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-438405
We announce standpoint in protecting the nation, the religion, and the monarchy, which are the 3 main institutions of the society which the Thai people cherish.
Mmm. Sound familiar? This tired mantra has been around for ever.
It’s a Psych-Ops set up.
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The “world thai student association” is in fact a propaganda instrument of the MICT
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@JohnH:
“We announce standpoint in protecting the nation, the religion, and the monarchy, which are the 3 main institutions of the society which the Thai people cherish.
Mmm. Sound familiar? This tired mantra has been around for ever.
It’s a Psych-Ops set up.”
Of course it is, set up courtesy of good ole Uncle Sam and his loyal CI. Of course the elites were quick to recognise its potential and built on those foundations, so now *shazaam*, we have – well, the propagandised nightmare that Thailand is now.
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Updates please ?
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in the end, there’re 3 students summonded yesterday, the Students Federation’s secretary, a female 4th year student of Faculty of Letters, Chula and a male student at a vocational school. More than 50 people turned up to give them moral support, including several university lecturers. But only the three were allowed to pass the main gates. They entered the militarty compounds around 11 am and came out only about 4-5 p.m. The reason of so many hours was there were so many people summoned including motorcycle riders, hire caravan operators, etc.
While there are certain ‘rationale’ for summoning the Students Federation secretary, the other two that were summoned are definitely the result of very bad government intelligence! The female student was accused of belonging to the Red Siam group, she’s NEVER was. (In fact, hardly anyone who’s still in the country can belong to this group!). The other male student was accused of being leader of a group called ‘Seri Panyachon’ (Free Intellectuals), he isn’t either!
There were 3 ’rounds’ of interview that everyone summoned had to pass through, including these three students. Altogether all the interviews lasted about one-and a half to two hours. The first round was the police interview. It’s the same kind of interrogation anyone would face if going to or is called to any police station. There were questions and answered, typed into official interrogation form (as in any police station). Then there was a kind of ‘talk’, in which military intelligence personals would ‘chat’ about the political situation, the views of those summoned. The atmosphere this round was ‘informal’ and a bit ‘relaxed’. There’s no typing into official form, but there appeared to be tape recording, and one of the two officers present, would take some notes. Finally, there was a kind of ‘psychological advice’ to those summoned. The person conducted this round of interview appeared to be a ‘psychologist’ (female นักจิตวิทยา). She would ‘lecture’ those summoned on ‘correct’ political, social attitudes, etc.
The whole thing, in modern political terms, is just a total waste of tax-payers’ money, to say the least.
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thanxs Khun Somsak , appreciate your time .
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Khun Somsak – 21 Thank you for your report.
”Finally, there was a kind of ‘psychological advice’ to those summoned. The person conducted this round of interview appeared to be a ‘psychologist’ (female นักจิตวิทยา). She would ‘lecture’ those summoned on ‘correct’ political, social attitudes, etc.”
Thought Crime – Thought Police.
I despair.
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It is a clear breach of human rights and needs to be documented for action: people are sent two notices and third time arrest warrant issued if they fail to turn up at the barracks (Abhisit’s hideout). there is no explanation given for why they have to turn up for interrogation; they are not told of their rights; cross-examined using various psych-op methods to try and implicate the Nor Por Chor leaders (e.g. “why one of the leaders is the most extreme in terms of wanting to abolish the monarchy”?); the young and vulnerable stuents are told not to take a lawyer with them; questiined as to how they got involved and what information they have…& etc. It is deplorable.
see
http://www.prachatai.net/journal/2010/05/29279?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+prachatai+(%E0%B8%9B%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B0%E0%B8%8A%E0%B8%B2%E0%B9%84%E0%B8%97+Prachatai.com)
and English version: http://www.prachatai.org/english/node/1783?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+prachataienglish+%28Prachatai+in+English%29
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”Finally, there was a kind of ‘psychological advice’ to those summoned. The person conducted this round of interview appeared to be a ‘psychologist’ (female นักจิตวิทยา). She would ‘lecture’ those summoned on ‘correct’ political, social attitudes, etc.”
What are they the Gestapo?? now Thailand has to resort to “Political Re-Education” ???
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Acharn Somsak, were you one of the lecturers who went to give moral support to the students?
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