It's what patriots do

re: "Court to rule on detention of Samran Rat rioters on Friday" (BP, May 11, 2023) 

Dear editor,

Pol Maj Gen Nakharin Sukhonthawit, commander of the Metropolitan Police Division 6, is perfectly correct to point out, when speaking of the acts resulting from their extreme frustration of a group who "caused significant damage by breaking a glass door and splashing splashing and spraying paint on walls, passages and stairs at the [Samran Rat Police] Station," that "such an incident should not have happened." He is completely wrong as to why it should not have happened. 

It was reckless to have smashed a glass door and spilt some paint, however unreasonably provoked. It won't send Thailand bankrupt. There are perhaps more reckless wastes of tax payers' money in the Royal Thai Police and like institutions than that spent replacing a glass door. The incident should not have happened because a 15-year-old patriot should never have been arrested. No one is disputing that, as  the chief apologists of such abuses in full accord with it love to insist, the law is the law. It is indeed. That legality is the shameful problem. 

Yes, the patriotic young Thanalop “Yok” Phalanchai may well have broken a law or two when she was 14 years old. She is, specifically, alleged to have broken the notorious lèse majesté law, section 112 of the Criminal Code. She likely did so knowingly. Like all patriots who suffer unjust law, the admirable Thanalop followed the courageous example of other peacefully protesting young Thais who have been similarly abused by unjust law that was created and is executed with intent to intimidate the nation into opaque silence on matters of national concern that legitimately concern the nation. Opposing such blatantly undemocratic law is the act of a patriot. Opposing law that defiles justice and violates the nation is what patriots do. 

As the election nears, people who value justice, good people one might say, will vote for parties that have committed to reforming law that locks up citizens, even 15-year-olds, for nothing more than the peaceful expression of views that may well be majority opinion. (Does anyone have opinion poll results to the contrary?) The existence, let alone the persistent use, of such laws is an affront to decency and to decent people. 

There is no sound defence of such unjust laws. There is only shame in enforcing them or by shameful silence allowing them to be enforced. That they are traditional is no defence at all, proving only that they should have been reformed long ago. That they are popular, if even true (opinion poll statistics?), is no defence, proving only that many have been deluded by defective arguments.

But perhaps I am mistaken. If any can suggest a sound reason that would justify such laws as those that persistently shame Thailand's legal system and its institutions, please present it for discussion. If we hope to deepen our understanding and correct inherited errors, including our own, open discussion is a necessary condition, which of course requires respect for free speech, thereby proving that Thanalop “Yok” Phalanchai and her friends in patriotism have already won the debate.  

 Felix Qui 

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The above letter to the editor is the text as submitted by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post.

The text as edited was published in PostBag on May 13, 2023, under the title "It's what patriots do" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2569592/grim-path-to-peace