http://www.thairedsweden.com/2011/04/real-issue-this-songkran-and-how-it.html

The Real Issue this Songkran and how it relates to lèse majesté

http://www.thairedsweden.com/2011/04/real-issue-this-songkran-and-how-it.html Giles Ji Ungpakorn While various Thai conservatives, including so-called “feminist” NGOs, are foaming at the mouth in disgust at the topless dancing in Silom Road this Sonkran, the real issue which people should be addressing is the number of deaths and injuries on the roads. This year at least 190 people have died and this is something that happens every year. The reason for these deaths is the poor state of public transport. Rail networks are extremely under-funded, roads are not repaired and the safety standards of long distance buses, is appalling. The poor state of public transport, coupled with the short holidays that most poor employees receive, means that the Songkran festival becomes a mad scramble to travel away from Bangkok and a mad rush to pack enjoyment and drinking into a very short time. For years conservative governments have ignored investment in social infrastructure, whether it be health care, transport, housing or education. The 2006 coup was partly prompted by the elite’s distaste for a modernising government. There is the money for real investment, but to use it for the right purposes the military budget must be slashed and the rich must be taxed at a “super” rate, and that includes the royal family and the fabulously rich businessmen. Those that bang-on about a “lack of decent traditional Thai morals” among the young revellers during Songkran, conveniently forget that Thai traditional values includes killing unarmed civilians, making people crawl on the ground in front of royalty and total impunity for the rich and powerful. In reality mainstream Thai society became prudish as a result of adopting “Victorian” moral values from the West about a hundred years ago. Before that men and women were normally bare-chested. When Supensri Pungkoksoong, from Friends of Women, criticises “inappropriate behaviour” among a handful of topless members of the public dancing along Silom Road, we have to ask why Friends of Women remained silent while women and men were gunned down in cold blood by the Military around this time last year. Why did Friends of Women not protect the rights of Red Shirt women? When the Ministry of Social Development, in a government with blood on its hands, joins Friends of Women in denouncing the topless revellers, we must also ask why these organisations remain silent over the fact that the Crown Prince and future King of Thailand forces his wives and women to pose completely naked for photographs and videos which are deliberately distributed over the internet? The Prince’s women are real victims and his behaviour shows a total lack of respect for the rights of women. Yet no one can say anything because of the lèse majesté law. This is the kind of double standards and hypocrisy which has infected Thai society. The result is that military coups and the killing of pro-democracy civilians is done in the name of the King and those responsible are untouchable. Meanwhile Red Shirt leaders are being threatened with lèse majesté by the Military for merely making pro-democracy speeches and Prime Minister Abhisit supports all this. And the conservative royalists are getting their knickers in a twist over a bit of high-spirited topless dancing in the street.

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