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© 2021 AFPThai woman handed record 43-year jail term for lese majeste
By Jack TAYLOR BANGKOK©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
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Sal Affist
43 years in a Thai jail is the equivalent of a death sentence.
Mr Kipling
Thailand.... Ah...The land of FAKE smiles.
Runtu DaHilz
A monarch who cannot take criticism is a tyrant. (highchair tyrant with a rattle for a scepter)
tooheysnew
Respect for The Thai royal family died with the previous King.
The current King is nothing but a playboy who is spending Thai taxpayer money on a extravagant lifestyle of 5-star hotels, beautiful women, & lavish shopping sprees. He spends a majority of the year out of the country.
Little wonder the people have had enough
Doranku
Don't know much about Thailand, but living in a constitutional monarchy where the monarch has no power and only must sign laws and do P.R. stuff, the local "lèse majesté" laws were there for a reason: the monarch cannot defend itself. So laws are needed to give the state power of act in the name of the monarch.
One of the good things 2020 brought me was that these laws were repealed. The sad thing is the awful monarchy is still there, violating the separation of state and religion since all the laws signed have the preamble "We [insert monarch name], by the grace of God, .[insert list of titles] ..." gives credence to a very spefic god claim, and most citizens/subjects are okay with this sham.
But whatever the intent of these laws in Thailand are, they are totally disproportional and archaic.
Sceptical
The strict laws of lese-majeste in Thailand is not new. Thai people do not tolerate anyone who criticizes the monarchy, especially from foreigners.
In 1860's, there was a king, King Mongkut who is known to be misogynistic and brutal man, and a widow, Anna Leonowens, from the UK who travelled to Siam to work as an English teacher. In the 1940's and 1950's, two very popular Musicals, The King and I and Anna and the King were produced based of the book Anna aqnd the King in 1944. Both musicals and books were banned in Thailand because of lese-majeste law.
Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera!
ulysses
Thai laws are just backward.
My sympathies with Anchan and hope she is able to appeal the sentence.
theFu
Thai people don't tolerate it because they are afraid of 43 year sentences.
My trips to Thailand have been enjoyable and surprising. These were pre-current King. Perhaps the people are faking their smiles, but that isn't the impression I've gotten.
Desert Tortoise
Well, not everyone in Thailand loves their monarchy. Support for the monarchy is centered mainly in their major cities where the royal money is spent. In the rural areas that receive no help from the Thai government and remain desperately poor the monarchy is reviled. It isn't expressed openly due to the harsh punishments meted out as in this case but do not assume that all of the Thai people like their monarch. Most actually detest them but are afraid to say so.
Desert Tortoise
It would be a more accurate statement to say the Thai government and their military do not tolerate anyone who criticizes the monarchy.
Strangerland
Thailand has done a great job in creating an image of a fun place. And it is, but it hides some really gross stuff that happens underneath, and the Lese Majest laws are part of that.
This imprisonment is a violation of this woman's human rights.
Sceptical
The way we see the current situation in Thailand your point of view is without a question.
"Such open criticism of Thailand's monarch by non-elites at a public place within Thailand - with the police simply standing by - is the first of its kind in Thai history," said Paul Chambers, who teaches international affairs at Thailand's Naresuan University.