New Mandala

I have seen two responses prepared by Thai diplomats to the international campaign for reform of the lese majeste law. Neither was addressed to me, so I am not in a position to provide them here on New Mandala.
The basic argument in both responses is similar, and some of the phrasing used is identical, suggesting [...]

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Since the launch of the international campaign for reform of lese majeste, more than 120 additional scholars and public intellectuals have signed onto the letter to be sent to Prime Minister Abhisit (now with a total of over 170 names).  I have placed the list of additional signatories in my original post about the campaign.

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Those who are following the campaign calling for the reform of Thailand’s lese majeste law will appreciate this update from Professor Thongchai Winichakul.

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Today we have an article about lese majeste in The Sydney Morning Herald.  We conclude that:
The monarchy has played a role in [Thailand's] recent political turmoil. At this time of great national uncertainty, nearing the end of the king’s long reign, many Thais want a free and frank discussion about political futures.
Lese-majeste marks a path [...]

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Prachatai continues to update its stream of reports on yesterday’s police raid.  You can read all about it in Thai or in English.  According to Prachatai founder, former Senator Jon Ungpakorn:
I don’t know if there was any order to shut down Prachatai.  There are many other websites that contains offensive comments.  Prachatai is an independent [...]

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UPDATES: an image from The Nation:

Statement from the Asian Human Rights Commission is here.
BBC report is here.
Reports from Prachatai are here and here.
Original post:
I have received this brief statement from Ji Ungpakorn. Emails from Bangkok have also mentioned the raid on Prachatai.
At around 3pm today 2 van loads of police raided Prachatai (the independent website [...]

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Here are some further reports on this week’s press conference about the reform of Thailand’s lese majeste law:

Nirmal Ghosh, “Appeal to reform lese majeste”, The Straits Times, 5 March 2009.
“Academics call for Thai monarchy law reform”, ABC News (Australia), 5 March 2009.
“ปฏิรูปกม.หมิ่นพระบรมเดชานุภาพ”, Khao Sod, 5 March 2009.
“Thai PM to study monarchy law reform”, The Age, [...]

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“If I ever hear or see a farang speak bad about the Thai Monarchy I will put him in the hospital.”
- A comment by dave9988 over at Thai Visa’s thread on the recent call to reform the lese majeste law.
Thai Visa is usually so cautious about these types of matters I wonder if this potentially [...]

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Here is an article from The Nation by Thanong Khanthong. Bangkok Pundit provides useful commentary on some of the arguments.
On Wednesday a group of academics led by Thongchai Winichakul of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Andrew Walker of the Australian National University, Jim Glassman of the University of British Columbia, Larry Lohmann of the UK, and Adadol [...]

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New Mandala readers who were not able to attend yesterday’s press conference in Bangkok on reform of the lese majeste law will be pleased to know that there are now a number of reports on the event.
They include:

“Scholars: Reform law on criticism of Thai monarchy”, The International Herald Tribune, 4 March 2009 (Associated Press).
“Overseas scholars call [...]

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