The magnitude of the public furore surrounding the dispute between famed cartoonist Chai Rachawat of mass-circulation daily newspaper Thai Rath and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is unbelievably great.
In her speech at the 7th Ministerial Conference on the International Democracies in Mongolia on April 29, Yingluck, the country's first female leader - who has been at the helm for more than two years now - gave what many observers believe is her best speech to date in terms of substance, denouncing the 2006 coup and attacking Thailand's independent organisations.
Yingluck's speech would not have attracted this huge interest had she not spoken on the international stage.
Less than a week after the speech, Chai, whose real name is Somchai Katanyutanan, posted on his Facebook page photographs of Yingluck delivering the speech in Mongolia with the caption: "Please understand that whores are not bad women. Whores only sell their body, but a bad woman has been wandering around trying to sell the country."
Overnight, his post went viral on social media networks, drawing responses from supporters and opponents that reflect the country's political divide. Many supporters of Chai may back him silently, but in an article published in the online edition of Naew Na newspaper, noted Prof Dr Khien Theerawit presented 13 reasons to support Chai's comment. He explained what Chai meant by "selling the country" - distorting the country's internal affairs in order to win praise, while defaming the country. Travelling on taxpayers' money, Khien said, the PM must speak for the country's interests and not for the gain of herself and her own group. The article said that the PM spoke a one-sided truth, saying that her brother's government was brought down by a coup and his parties were dissolved by independent agencies, but without saying why.
Khien defended Chai, saying that as a Thai citizen, the cartoonist has the right to do a great service to the country by protecting the country's name and interests. Chai's comment about prostitutes was not made to intentionally insult women as a whole, Khien said, adding that the cartoonist wanted to make an analogy and got carried away by the concept of "selling the country".
The Democrat Party, which was an implicit target of the PM's speech, issued an open letter to Mongolia and other countries, in which it tried to explain the reasons and political circumstances that led to the military's toppling of the Thaksin government, which Yingluck chose to omit from her speech.
The opposition reasoned that corruption was rife during the Thaksin regime. It said that Thaksin altered laws to benefit his business interests and interfered in the work of independent agencies tasked with performing a checks-and-balances role.
Chai has refused to apologise, as demanded by the PM, who has decided to take him to court for libel on three counts. The Pheu Thai Party has demanded that Thai Rath and the Thai Journalists Association take action against Chai, saying his message was in violation of women's rights. The party also said it would file a complaint with Human Rights Watch.
Chai's supporters have offered him not only moral support for sticking to his stance, but also donations to help him find the best lawyer to fight the case.
The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, meanwhile, has threatened to shut down websites that carry allegedly defamatory remarks against Yingluck by Chai. Persons responsible for defamation prosecuted under Article 326 of the Criminal Act face one year in prison and a fine of Bt20,000.
But rights groups warn that such threats are a violation of the basic rights of Thai citizens and that the right to criticise is a foundation of democracy.
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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2013/05/10/cartoonist-revealed-pms-half-truths/
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