UK-based Thai democracy activist Rungrat Pothitappa has received a court summons via Facebook Messenger. It is almost identical to the document I received last week. It's clear by now that sending these documents via social media is official policy.
The latest edition of #SecretSiam is out now! Stories include the palace openly attacking Prayut's regime, King Vajiralongkorn reappearing but trying to hide the giant plane in his garden, and a bribery scandal causing panic among senior judges.
Royal rebuke for the Thai government over vaccine shambles
Also
in this edition: The king reappears, but is trying to hide the giant
Boeing 737 in his garden, and a new scandal engulfs the Thai judiciary
Palace signals its anger over coronavirus debacle
The regime’s disastrously inept handling of the coronavirus crisis is going from bad to worse. Last week the government suddenly suspended plans to allow people to register to be vaccinated via the Mor Prom online platform.
According to several sources, this led to a furious row between prime
minister Prayut Chan-ocha and public health minister Anutin Charnvirakul
in which they had to be held apart by aides to prevent them hitting
each other.
Relations between the pair are now at their lowest point ever, threatening the stability of the ruling coalition.
Yesterday
there was more confusion after the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration
announced that public parks, museums, spas and beauty salons could
reopen, only for the government to veto the plan
later the same day and order them to remain closed for another 14 days.
The continued closure of Bangkok’s parks has caused particular
disappointment because there is little evidence that covid-19 can be
easily transmitted outdoors.
This has led to chaos in the
coalition. Commenting on yesterday’s disarray, Bhumjai Thai Party
spokesman Paradorn Prisnanantakul told Thai Enquirer:
It’s not that they are even miscommunicating, it’s obvious that they have not been talking to each other at all.
The most significant development of the week was a surprise late-night Royal Gazette edict last Wednesday granting
an institution controlled by Vajiralongkorn’s sister, the Chulabhorn
Royal Academy, the power to import vaccines independently of the
government. It was another sign of where real power lies in Thailand —
at the stroke of a pen, the palace can override government policy and do
whatever it pleases.
The
move was a clear attempt by the royals to win some propaganda points by
appearing to be helping get Thais vaccinated as quickly as possible. As
I have been reporting for months,
since the start of the coronavirus crisis the palace has been seeking
to use the pandemic to boost its prestige by trying to play a central
role in the kingdom’s vaccination strategy.
But the plan to rely
on royal company Siam Bioscience for most of the country’s vaccine needs
under a deal with AstraZeneca has been a disaster. It meant that
Thailand was left woefully short of vaccines this year as a virulent
third wave spread through the country, and the situation is only going
to get worse — it is clear by now that production is behind schedule and Siam Bioscience is not going to be able to supply the doses it promised this month.
A
plan that was supposed to glorify the monarchy has instead become a
debacle, and now the royals are scrambling to extricate themselves from
the mess.
It’s inconceivable that Princess Chulabhorn would have
intervened without the blessing of her brother, and the main
significance of last week’s announcement is that the palace is now
openly undermining Prayut’s government to try to salvage royal prestige.
the
royal move, exercised in this manner however well-intentioned, calls
into question the political legitimacy of the government and its
authority in the management of the crisis. It is a no-confidence censure
and a royal rebuke of both Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and
Minister of Health Anutin Charnvirakul.
Chulalongkorn University professor Thitinan Pongsudhirak also observed that:
this
vaccine bombshell could be perceived as a snub to the government of
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, particularly Public Health Minister
Anutin Charnvirakul.
The Chulabhorn Royal Academy
says it will import another vaccine, Sinopharm from China, to make up
for the shortfall in government stocks.
Faced with the worsening
crisis, the palace is clearly willing to openly humiliate Prayut and his
government to try to protect royal prestige. There is open warfare in
the coalition and the royals are now signalling they don’t have
confidence in the government. Prayut Chan-ocha is suddenly looking very
lonely indeed.
The royals return
After weeks of feverish speculation about his health,
Vajiralongkorn finally reappeared last Tuesday at a ceremony in the
Amphorn Sathan throne hall to receive an oath from the decrepit Kasem
Chankaew, a new member of the privy council. It was the first time that
the king, queen and “noble consort” Sineenat Wongvajirabhakdi had been
seen since the beginning of May.
The
palace also released another of Vajiralongkorn’s cartoons to mark
Visakha Bucha Day card, telling people to follow the principles of
sufficiency economy — despite the fact that the king is notoriously
profligate and spends money hand over fist.
In another odd incident, the “We Love Sineenat”
Facebook fan page, which appears to have links to the consort, later
published photographs showing Vajiralongkorn and Koi wearing tracksuits
at a religious event on May 19, and then suddenly announced it was
closing down. The page has now disappeared from Facebook.
Publication
of the images failed to stop speculation about Vajiralongkorn’s health.
In an extraordinary sign of the widespread lack of trust in the palace,
social media was abuzz with claims that the photographs were old and
had been released to try to trick people into believing the king is
fine.
There is no evidence that this is true — whatever the
reasons for his disappearance, it’s clear Vajiralongkorn is not facing a
health crisis right now.
So not only does the king
have a 737 with a fake registration in his garden, but he now appears to
be trying to conceal it, which just makes the whole thing even more
pointless.
In another eccentric edict last month the palace issued new rules
limiting traffic speed and noise around part of the huge swathe of
territory Vajiralongkorn has claimed for himself in central Bangkok. In
the area around the old Royal Turf Club, which the king has reclaimed
and reportedly wants to turn into a park honouring his father Bhumibol,
speed is restricted to 50 km per hour, and loud noise has been
forbidden.
The edict referred to the area as “901 Land” — a
reference to the number that police and military used to denote
Bhumibol. Vajiralongkorn is 904.
In trouble again
Checking
my Facebook Messenger junk mail folder a week ago, I found an
interesting document — a fake profile had sent me a summons to a court
hearing on May 27 at which the Criminal Court would rule on whether to
endorse a request from the digital economy ministry to demand that
Facebook blocks my page within Thailand.
The story was covered by BBC Thai and Prachatai who confirmed that the summons was indeed genuine.
We
don’t yet know what the ruling of the judges was, but obviously there
is no chance they would have decided to overrule the government, so we
can assume that Facebook has now been ordered to block my page in
Thailand.
However, Facebook is not obliged to do what the Thai
regime orders, and has rejected efforts to geoblock my page in the past.
We’ll probably know within a couple of months what they decided to do
this time.
Judges exposed
There is uproar
among the Thai judiciary after news broke that US authorities are
investigating Toyota for allegedly bribing senior judges.
The
report says Toyota paid $18 million to the Annanon Law Office to bribe
former Supreme Court of Thailand President Direk Ingkaninan and Supreme
Court senior advisor Chaiyasit Trachutham to use their influence to
persuade Supreme Court president Slaikate Wattanapan to rule in Toyota’s
favour.
The report also names three attorneys at Toyota Motors
Thailand who organised the bribery plan and then left the company in the
middle of an internal corruption probe to set up a boutique law firm —
Wichien Hirunmahapol, Sathit Tungjitpreechatai and Pornchai
Saetachantana.
Direk and Chaiyasit have made outraged denials and have lodged a police complaint against
Law360, journalist Frank Runyeon, and Toyota, claiming that they have
been defamed. This is a common tactic in Thailand for people who know
they are guilty but want to silence the accusations against them.
In
fact, nobody has defamed them — the US authorities are investigating
very serious charges against them, and they have no credible defence so
are resorting to threats.
Further reading
A quick roundup of the other main things from the past week to be aware of:
Protest
leaders Arnon Nampha, Panupong “Mike” Jadnok and Chukiat “Justin”
Sangwong were at last granted bail today. Their release had been delayed
by the fact they caught coronavirus as the pandemic swept through Thai
jails last month.
Leading activist Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak, released from jail a couple of weeks ago after months on hunger strike, has come out as LGBT.
Three Chinese amphibious tanks costing 398 million baht arrived in Bangkok today, the latest pointless purchase by the regime in the middle of a pandemic.
The government wants to force social media accounts to be linked to ID cards,
to prevent anyone anonymously criticising them. The plan is unlikely to
succeed but it is more evidence of their war on freedom of speech.
