The governor of Thailand’s Chiang Mai Province has sued a local magazine for posting a “blasphemous” painting on Facebook of ancient kings wearing pollution masks as part of a campaign to protest against the city’s hazardous smog.
All matters touching on the monarchy are highly sensitive in Thailand, a country where kings have been worshipped as near-deities and are protected by one of the world’s harshest royal defamation laws.
The broadly interpreted crime of lese majeste — which can carry decades-long sentences — has cemented a culture of self-censorship across the kingdom’s academic, media and arts circles when it comes to royal affairs.
The risks of testing those boundaries were on display Friday when an English-language magazine faced legal action for posting an image on social media of three statues of ancient kings — a Chiang Mai landmark — in pollution masks.
The painting, which was the work of a local high-school student, was posted on the Chiang Mai Citylife monthly’s Facebook page to promote a rally urging authorities to tackle a toxic haze that plagues the northern city annually.
The Chiang Mai Governor Pawin Chamniprasat called the illustration a “blasphemous act” and dispatched an official to file charges against the outlet under Thailand’s Computer Crime Act.
The cybercrime law, which carries up to five years in prison for uploading false content to the Internet, is routinely used against perceived critics of the monarchy on social media, although it is not as harsh as the lese majeste law, which carries up to 15 years per offence.
“I assigned my official to file a complaint with police yesterday that the picture may have violated the Computer Crime Act as it’s inappropriate,” Chiang Mai governor Pawin Chamniprasart told reporters yesterday. “The statues of three kings are very sacred and respected by Chiang Mai residents, they were our ancestors.”
In an official letter to police, the governor said the painting “may affect Chiang Mai’s image and its tourism, causing the city economic instability.”
Chiang Mai is one of Thailand’s largest cities and a major hub for travelers exploring the country’s lush and mountainous north. However, it also struggles with dangerous levels of air pollution during crop-burning season.
Police confirmed that they were investigating the case, while the magazine announced that its “Right to Breathe” protest has been canceled.
In a Facebook post, the teenage artist behind the painting said it was “a shame that people are hurt by a picture and not the polluted air that they are breathing in.”
Freedom of expression has been severely restricted in Thailand ever since a 2014 coup installed an ultra-royalist junta that has stamped out dissent and hounded monarchy critics. Prosecutions under lese majeste and Computer Crime Act have shot up under is rule, often netting social media users.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was