(Hong Kong, July 23, 2007) An online petition has been launched in support of a Thai lecturer who has been accused of insulting the monarchy through the questions asked in a university examination paper.
Boonsong Chaisinghanon, who teaches philosophy at Silpakorn University, has been asked by its administration to hand copies of his examination papers over to the police “to be used in the preparation of evidence for lèse majesté charges”.
Students had also reportedly been told to hand over their notes from the course, Thai Civilization, without being told how they would be used.
According to the Bangkok-based Prachatai news service, Boonsong has refused to give the papers and has protested that answer papers of students should not have already been sent to the investigators without first consulting him.
The questions over which he is being investigated include, “Do you think the monarchy is necessary for Thai society…? How should it be adapted to a democratic system?” and “How should we combat the culture of militarism and feudalism in Thai society?”
The online petition, launched by members of the Midnight University group, calls the investigation of Boonsong “an unprecedented… threat to academic freedom”.
“Such an action also indicates that attempts to use lèse majesté charge as a tool to impede freedom of expression among Thai people still exist, and now they have encroached into the academic realm,” it reads.
Under the penal code of Thailand, causing insult to the monarchy is a criminal offence carrying a penalty of three to 15 years in jail.
The full text of the petition is given below. It can be signed online at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/4bs2007/petition.html
Basil Fernando, executive director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, expressed his support for the embattled lecturer.
“It appears from this that a good teacher who was simply provoking his students to ask sensible and important questions about their society and form of government has been slapped over the head with an archaic law by persons with exactly the sort of feudal thinking that he was questioning in his classes,” Fernando said.
“It bodes ill for Thailand at a bad time for the country, when there are strenuous efforts to roll back all sorts of modern thinking and institutions in favour of those that serve only the interests of its elite,” he observed.
The head of the Hong-Kong based regional rights group was the 202nd person to add his name to the petition on Monday.
“We are encouraged by Assistant Professor Boonsong’s determination to not be bullied and strongly support calls to end this pointless criminal investigation,” Fernando wrote.
“There are, besides, many other things that the police in Thailand could and should be investigating,” he remarked.
Further details on the case can be found on the Prachatai website: http://www.prachatai.com/english/news.php?id=115
ONLINE PETITION: PLEASE SUPPORT ASST. PROF. BOONSONG CHAISINGHANON, AND OPPOSE THE THREAT TO ACADEMIC FREEDOM
Dear Friends of Thailand,
Asst. Prof. Boonsong Chaisinghanon, a philosophy lecturer of the Faculty of Arts, Silpakorn University is reported to have received a letter from Asst. Prof. Maneepin Promsudhirak, Acting Dean of the Faculty, requesting the answer sheets and score details in Thai Civilization courses that Asst. Prof. Boonsong teaches. The letter reads;
“A request has been made by investigating officers of Muang District Provincial Police Station, Nakhon Pathom, for the answer sheets and scores given to students who sat the examinations for the Thai Civilization courses from the years of 2005 until the present. The documents will be used in the preparation of evidence for lèse majesté charges. Please send the said materials to the Faculty by 20 July 2007 for onward submission to the investigating officers.”
We the undersigned deem the move made by the investigating officers and the university administration an unprecedented gravest threat to academic freedom. Such an action also indicates that attempts to use lèse majesté charge as a tool to impede freedom of expression among Thai people still exist, and now they have encroached into the academic realm.
We the undersigned would like to send our moral support to Asst. Prof. Boonsong Chaisinghanon and demand that all attempts to severe academic freedom be immediately halted.
