1 reply to this topic

[Garcia]

"A philosophy lecturer at Silpakorn University is under investigation for possible lese majeste after writing strong questions regarding the monarchy for an examination.

Boonsong Chaisingkananond, 46, denies having defamed the monarchy, insisting his intention was only to help his students develop critical thinking skills. The two exam questions at the heart of the investigation by Nakhon Pathom police deal with the yellow-shirt phenomenon and the relevance and role of the monarchy in today's world. The questions were given on separate occasions in 2004 and 2005 to about 600 students, mostly first-year students in the "Thai Civilisation" class which Boonsong taught.

One of his colleagues filed a lese-majeste complaint against him.

Boonsong insisted he had been unfairly charged by the colleague, with whom he had some work conflict. "I was surprised because I believe there's academic freedom within the university, which is the freedom to allow students to exercise their own reasoning. But one day, a fellow lecturer filed this charge against me.

"I didn't defame and I never criticised the monarchy. Actually I reminded the students to pay respect to the head of state, as a cultural head, but not as the head of government," he said, adding that his task was to enable students to learn about conflict of power.

"Students can answer any way they like but I will look into whether they have solid reasoning to back it up or not. Whether they cite any information or evidence or not. If they write with emotion their scores will be reduced, that's all."

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/search/pag...amp;id=30041651

[Hedda]

The questions were given on separate occasions in 2004 and 2005 to about 600 students, mostly first-year students in the "Thai Civilisation" class which Boonsong taught. One of his colleagues filed a lese-majeste complaint against him.

One wonders what a university colleague is doing filing such charges, especially on a matter that happened 2-3 years ago. Quite deplorable, in my opinion, especially in a matter involving the teaching of "Thai civilization."

I didn't originate the thought, but I agree with the observation that the lese majeste laws here make studying the real political history of Thailand as difficult as studying the history of Rome would be, if one were forbidden to examine the critical role of the caesars. For example, in this case, the newspaper article reporting the alleged lese majests is carefully written so as not to repeat the two exam questions alleged to constitute lese majeste, since publishing them would presumably expose the paper to the same charges. That's an absurd situation which can only lead to chill the exercise of free speech.

One of the great weaknesses of any society is its inability to learn from its mistakes. Thai society today finds itself with a political system that is unable to mature and learn from its failures, because the lessons of history cannot be learned and absorbed when huge gaps in explaining the course of events are off-limits to discussion and scrutiny.