Only in Thailand: When Your Job Title Means Nothing

This is for anybody who still wonders why no one takes Thailand seriously.

Bangkok Post reports:

The Siam Samakkhi Group on Tuesday filed two complaints alleging lese majeste with Dusit police against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and two other people.

The complaints were lodged on behalf of the group by senators Somchai Sawaengkarn and Warin Thiamjarat, Gen Somchet Boonthanom, former chief of the secretariat of the Council for National Security, and Lt-Gen Nanthadet Meksawat, former deputy chief of the national intelligence coordination centre.

Somchai Sawaengkarn is an ardent critic of Thaksin, and in this sense alone it is not surprising to see him file an LM complaint against the fugitive former PM. But Somchai is also a Senator, and more importantly he chairs the Senate committee on human rights (see here and here). Yes, a human rights committee, whose job is supposedly to protect and advance freedom of expression, free speech, civil liberties and such.

Apparently, whatever Somchai’s understanding of human rights is, it is completely different from what the rest of the world think.

h/t to a Facebook friend

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3. Coup Maker to Enter Politics… the Proper Way
4. Prof Borwornsak: “Lèse-Majesté Law Consistent with Human Rights Principle”