Union of Thai-Americans for Democracy

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2011/02/blindsided_in_bahrain.html **** Union of Thai-Americans for Democracy P.O. Box 4293 Inglewood, CA 90309 18th February 2011 Dear President Obama, We wish to introduce ourselves as a union of some 10,000 socially concerned professional Thai-Americans working in many fields all across the country. We write to urge You to stop supporting the monarcho-military establishment in Thailand and it’s puppet government headed by Abhisit Vejjajiva of the so-called Democrat Party. U.S. foreign policy toward Thailand is not working anymore and must be changed. During the Vietnam and Cold War era, the U.S. government feared communism and was willing to use every available means to suppress its expansion, even if that meant supporting military dictators or tyrannical monarchs. That was then. Thai people today are better informed than ever before, and the majority crave for a true democracy, as we Thai-Americans enjoy our great democracy here. Thai people admire our way of life and our political system whereby government is of the people by the people and for the people. Thai people long for the democracy we have and the freedom of expression we cherish so dearly. On the other hand Thais are confused, like many, by continued U.S. support for tyrants and dictators around the world and in Thailand. What we want is for our brothers and sisters back home to live in peace in a truly democratic society, without constant fear of vicious reprisals for saying what they think. In Thailand people are prohibited by the fearful, draconian laws of lèse majesté from criticizing or commenting the Monarchy, even when such comments are based on plain truth and fully justified. The penalty for lèse majesté (insulting the power of the King) is 3 - 15 years for each and every offence. Under constant threat of closure and sentencing, Thai media is forced to adopt nothing less than absolutely positive tone with regard to the Monarchy. According to the current Thai Constitution, Thai Monarch is Head of State, Supreme Commander of the Arms Forces and he appoints all the judges. He is also head of the largest business conglomerate in Thailand and, personally, the top investor in the Stock Exchange of Thailand. None of this may be commented critically by Thai people without real risk of victimisation and imprisonment. We want that everybody in Thailand, not just the Bangkok elite, have equal opportunity to obtain good education for their children and have equal access to health care. When former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted by a military Coup d'Étât in 2006, - that was ordered and endorsed by the Monarchy’s top advisers, the people rose in protest against the blatant injustice. Thaksin’s political party was ordered to be dissolved by the Constitutional Court for highly spurious reasons. His supporters immediately formed a new political party to compete in the General Election. Once again the new party won a landslide victory. Less than a year later, with the urging of the Palace, charges were levelled against the PM. Again the Constitutional Court dissolved the pro-Thaksin party on charges of “campaign irregularities.” Again Thaksin’s supporters formed a new party and won another landslide victory at the polls. Again, although the new PM was a staunch monarchist, the royalists still felt threatened by the scale of Thaksin’s popularity and,facing baseless charges, for the third time the Constitution Court ordered the dissolution of the pro-Thaksin party and removal of the PM. In December 2008, with the open support of the Palace, the Eton and Oxford royalist leader of the so-called Democrat Party, Mr Abhisit Vejjajiva, became the new Prime Minister - without a General Election. Thaksin was a self-made billionaire, no different to other successful businessmen in Thailand. What distinguished him from the rest of Thailand’s privileged class was that he cared about the welfare of the ordinary, grass root people of Thailand. That is why he has remained in the hearts and minds of the majority, who are the poor. Sick of all the gross political injustice and manipulation, in the spring of 2010 the Red Shirt Movement came out in protest, demanding the dissolution of the illegitimate Abhisit government and a new and fair General Election. They did not ask more, but what they got was live bullets from snipers of the Royal Guard. More than 90 civilians were shot dead or posted missing and several thousands were seriously wounded or injured. No government that employs snipers against the people can be permitted to govern. While presenting itself to the world as Thailand’s latest back-to-normal set-up in search of reconciliation and new aid, the regime is secretly sponsoring para-military hid-squads to hunt down out-spoken Red Shirts all across the country. Many of the Red Shirt leaders that surrendered to end the bloodshed during the Government’s May 2010 massacre were denied bail and remain in jail, many others are in hiding. The killing of unarmed civilian protestors last April and May 2010 is a telling testimony to the world that the current regime is illegitimate, brutal and will stop at nothing to stay in power. Their continued brutality can only breed defiance. The Abhisit regime may have guns and snipers, but the people's power will prevail in the end. Please learn from our past mistakes. United States government support for General Augusto Pinochet and the Shah of Iran turned the people against the United States. We don’t want to see this repeated in Thailand. The Red Shirts today number about 45 million. They are absolutely not communists or terrorists, they are ordinary freedom-loving Thai, people just like us - the American people, people struggling - like the people of Tunisia or Egypt - for their most basic rights. It is very wrong that US-trained Thai snipers are using our M16 rifles to kill unarmed civilians. In summation, we urge You to re-assess U.S. policy in Thailand in light of the new and rapidly changing political climate there. We urge You to stop all military aid to Thailand until there a strict condition in place to guarantee that the Thai military cannot use U.S. weapons against peaceful demonstrators. We urge You to issue a formal request for the immediate release all Red Shirt leaders, all political and lèse majesté prisoners, and for the dismissal of all pending lèse majesté cases. We request that You remove Thailand from our list of Most Favored Nations if the above requests are denied. If the above objectives are achieved, the USA will remain forever in the hearts and minds of all Thai people who value democracy - in Thailand and all over the world. With our deepest sincerity, We Thank You. Union of Thai-Americans for Democracy (UTAD) Email: utad2011@gmail.com