Student activists campaign against judges at Thai universities

[webfact]

Student activists at Thammasat and Chulalongkorn universities launched campaigns targeting two Constitutional Court judges who also serve as guest lecturers at their institutions. This action follows the court’s recent ruling that led to the disbandment of the Move Forward Party (MFP).

 

Thammasat University Student Council Rangsit Campus and the committee of students from the Faculty of Law posted an open letter on Facebook on Saturday, August 10, urging law students to sign a petition to have Udom Rathamarit, a Constitutional Court judge, removed as a special lecturer.

 

These student groups accused the judge of failing to set a good example and embarrassing the legal community with his interpretation of the constitution in the MFP ruling, which they claim did not align with his teachings.

The groups plan to submit the collected signatures to the dean of Thammasat’s Faculty of Law tomorrow.

At Chulalongkorn University, the Student Council has invited Jiraniti Havanon, another Constitutional Court judge and special lecturer for Chulalongkorn’s Faculty of Law, to a meeting to discuss the controversial ruling. Scheduled for 1pm tomorrow, August 14, the meeting will be broadcast live on the council’s Facebook page, allowing anyone to watch and ask questions.

The council’s invitation expressed concerns that the Constitutional Court judges did not adequately address the Election Commission’s (EC) failure to follow proper court-mandated procedures. They also accused the judges of not adhering to the core principle that party dissolution should be a measure of last resort.

 

Education standards

 

In their statement, the student council argued that the ruling violated the principles of the Legal State and the Rule of Law, potentially harming the education standards for current and future law students at Chulalongkorn.

 

Nakarin Mektrairat, President of the Constitutional Court, declined to comment on the students’ actions against the court’s judges on Monday. He also refrained from commenting on the court’s anticipated ruling regarding Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s fate, expected tomorrow.

 

In a related incident, Warner Music Thailand issued a public apology on Sunday night for a post that appeared on its official Facebook page the previous day. The post featured a doctored image of the Constitutional Court judges with portraits of the King and King Rama IX in the background, which was deemed inappropriate and potentially contemptuous of the court, as well as a violation of the lese majeste law, reported Bangkok Post

Following a social media backlash, the doctored image was replaced with an apology note. Warner Music Thailand stated that the employee responsible for creating and posting the image did so without permission and would face a disciplinary hearing for actions that contravened the company’s rules and professional standards.

 

by Bob Scott Bob 
Picture courtesy of Bangkok Post

 

Source: The Thaiger 2024-08-13

 

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[JoePai]

Good for them, hope they keep up the pressure

[ikke1959]

All over the world reforms always start with students.. I admire their courage to challenge the judges..

[spidermike007]

An excellent start, the students are likely to be the ones who have the courage and moral conviction to begin pushing back against a spectacularly corrupt and morally bankrupt leadership. It has to start somewhere, and there's no doubt that judiciary here is either completely corrupt or highly compromised, and cannot be trusted, and should not be trusted.

 

There are good reasons why this administration, the highly toxic army, and Srettha in particular are disliked to the extent that they are. They are doing nothing for the people, and all they are doing is enforcing the will of a few elites and some people who are morally bent, that are in positions of great power. 

 

 

[Joshy]

The students should be crushed and brought to heel! Young people are notoriously naive, and idealistic. Most of them will have been totally corrupted by the absolute drivel they consume from Western (American) media. The Thai government should make an example out of these folks.

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

These student groups accused the judge of failing to set a good example and embarrassing the legal community with his interpretation of the constitution in the MFP ruling, which they claim did not align with his teachings.

The groups plan to submit the collected signatures to the dean of Thammasat’s Faculty of Law tomorrow.

From little acorns do great Oak trees grow... seeds of the future.

[bradiston]

Excellent news. I wish I was back at uni here in Thailand. Kick their butts. There's so much questionable about the CC intervention in parliamentary democracy. I don't believe it has any business ruling on a simple amendment to existing legislation. It is the role of parliament to enact, amend or repeal legislation. Nothing to do with the CC. And nothing to do with the laws themselves. Otherwise a right wing lawyer could be hired by right wing elitists to challenge any legislation they don't like the look of, and have the legislators, democratically elected MPs, harassed by the EC and the CC. Thailand is well on the way to becoming a totalitarian state, where every part of government, the legislative, executive and judiciary, is controlled by one entity.

[Joshy]

For crying out loud their symbol is from Hunger Games. Totally not astroturfed bullcrap pushed by the American State Department... Long Live The American Empire!!!!
 

[Emdog]

27 minutes ago, Joshy said:

The students should be crushed and brought to heel! Young people are notoriously naive, and idealistic. Most of them will have been totally corrupted by the absolute drivel they consume from Western (American) media. The Thai government should make an example out of these folks.

first reading was getting angry, but then I realised this must be some sort of satire. No one could post something this inane and mean it. Humor appreciated.

[JimHuaHin]

18 hours ago, Joshy said:

The students should be crushed and brought to heel! Young people are notoriously naive, and idealistic. Most of them will have been totally corrupted by the absolute drivel they consume from Western (American) media. The Thai government should make an example out of these folks.

Let me guess, you also support Putin, Trump and Xi.

[JimHuaHin]

Great to see - a spark has appeared; the fire will grow and intensify, fueled by the anger and discontent of the majority of the Thai people.

[brianthainess]

On 8/13/2024 at 1:21 PM, Joshy said:

For crying out loud their symbol is from Hunger Games. Totally not astroturfed bullcrap pushed by the American State Department... Long Live The American Empire!!!!
 

Yes that was from the anti-coup era poor photo check ...

[proton]

The Daily Mail will be describing them as far right thugs 

[BangkokReady]

On 8/13/2024 at 12:29 PM, ikke1959 said:

All over the world reforms always start with students.. I admire their courage to challenge the judges..

 

It works both ways though.  The Arab Spring and Mao's cultural revolution were led by students