Are we here in Thailand paying attention?
In Charlottesville earlier this month, Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old paralegal who was killed after an accused white supremacist drove a car into her, has made people pay attention to the deadly spectre of hate and racism.
Heyer left a final post on her Facebook: "If you are not outraged, you are not paying attention," before joining a protest to oppose the white nationalist rally. Her message has since become a reminder of the need to fight for equality and liberty for all, regardless of skin colour, ideology or social background. A failure to do that, to feel outraged against injustice and oppose intolerance, could allow prejudice, whether based on race, religion or political affiliation, to flourish into extremism and hate, the kind that made someone drive into a crowd, the kind that kills.
Atiya Achakulwisut is a columnist, Bangkok Post.
Are we paying attention? It can be argued that unlike the United States, Thailand has not experienced such severe racism or a civil war. The politics that led to the horrific violence at Charlottesville are also US-centric, having to do with neo-Nazis, the alt-right movement and are probably not applicable to us here in Thailand.
But can we really say that we are free from the politics of hate? Despite differences in details and historical background, can we Thais assert with confidence that we are not suffering from intolerance, injustice and social divisions? It's sad to see how some people gloated and ridiculed activist Jatupat "Pai Dao Din'' Boonpattararaksa after he pleaded guilty to lese majeste and cyber crime despite maintaining his innocence for more than eight months.
Jatupat, who was awarded the prestigious 2017 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights while being imprisoned with no bail, was sentenced to five years in jail, commuted by half to two years and six months because he confessed. The activist will remain in prison for almost two more years, until June 2019, as his jail sentence counts from the day he was imprisoned on Dec 22, 2016. Jatupat is no doubt against the military regime as he has fought for freedom and liberty, values the dictators suppressed. He is no darling to big business either, as he is also a lead protester against a mine in Loei.
But should someone pay attention to the fact that he was the only person charged with lese majeste and violating the computer crime law for sharing a BBC Thai online article concerning the monarchy when around 2,800 other people also shared it? While Jatupat was sentenced to two and half years in jail for sharing the story, BBC Thai, which published the item, has not been accused of wrongdoing.
Journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk may have earned some disapproval from conservatives for his liberal stance but his being charged for sedition for Facebook posts criticising the regime and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha should have been a cause for concern.
Compared to the hoopla over an alleged "intervention" by government spokesman Lt Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd who tried to steer journalists to cover ministers during the mobile cabinet in Nakhon Ratchasima which started yesterday, the cases against Pravit have been met with indifference. The Khao Sod English columnist faces a possibility of up to 20 years in jail as he was accused of sedition and cyber crime over five Facebook posts.
According to Pravit, one post was critical of the regime-sponsored constitution while another criticised Gen Prayut's handling of the floods and the trial of ousted former premier Yingluck Shinawatra. How the criticism may qualify as acts of sedition sound like something that should stir public curiosity, if not anger from the press.
Are we paying attention to the fact that senior academic Chayan Vadhanaphuti, who heads the Regional Centre for Social Science and Sustainable Development at Chiang Mai University, was summoned to meet the police for breaking the junta's order banning gatherings of more than five people for political purposes because he chaired the International Thai Studies Conference last month? Shouldn't that enrage people in this society who would want to be treated fairly, who want their freedom and liberty protected?
Do we pay heed to the fact that the junta has committed to spend over 70 billion baht buying submarines, armoured vehicles, helicopters and jet fighters but let the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority use some cheap stickers to modify public buses that need serious overhauls? Is anyone furious we have heard so much about reform but nothing is getting any better? Are we paying attention?
