Thai Govt Under Fire Over Crackdown

[webfact]

THAMMASAT SEMINAR

Govt comes under fire over crackdown

By THE NATION ON SUNDAY

Academics hit out at human rights abuses by officials

BANGKOK: -- Academics yesterday slammed the government's handling of the red-shirt demonstrations, saying it was against human rights and international standard practice.

Speaking at Thammasat University's "Tragedy from Rajdamnoen to Rajprasong" seminar, they also criticised the authorities' labelling of protesters as "terrorists", the use of war weapons, and media censorship.

Chulalongkorn University philosophy lecturer Kasem Penpinan called the April 10 operation at the Khok Wua intersection and the May 19 incident as officials laying siege to the venues to arrest the protesters.

The actions of the troops were a violation of the people's constitutional right to a political gathering, he said. Despite repeated claims by the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) spokesman Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd that it was done according to international standards, officials on the field unnecessarily used force and war weapons to crack down on the people, he said.

Kasem questioned that if there were terrorists among the demonstrators, why did the Thai intelligence not know about it and find measures to prevent them from mingling with the protesters or snare them out of the rally sites. He said the government's action seemed to come from a desire to turn those disagreeing with it into the public enemy.

A human rights activist, Kwanravee Wangudom, said though the government's tackling of the rally followed the international seven steps practice, the on-site officials were actually heavy-handed in their execution of the operation, possibly due to stress and pressure. She cited as examples that they fired live bullets at the protesters, when they should have used rubber bullets or fired skywards. Many people suffered serious injuries because of this. She said that foreign journalists and rescue workers were also injured reportedly due to bullets fired by Thai troops.

Mahidol University's Human Rights Centre official Kritaya Achawanitkul said that 86 men and four women had died. Ten of them were government officials. Most of those killed were shot in the head with a weapon firing at high velocity, she said and added that one-third didn't undergo autopsy despite the fact that autopsy reports were an important evidence to determine the cause of death.

"In the case of volunteer nurse Kamolket Akahad, killed at Wat Pathum Wanaram, Dr Porntip Rojanasunan had said a bullet was inside Kamolket's body but the authority then said there wasn't. This showed that the government's autopsy was not clear and there could have been a cover-up," she added.

She slammed the use of the word "terrorist" to label demonstrators in an attempt to tarnish their reputation and justify the government's handling of what it viewed as ugly and disappointing. People could hate the government but the government has no right to hate the people and order them killed, Kritaya added.

Human rights activist Saravuth Pathumrat said the demonstrators were also apprehended in a violent, humiliating and inappropriate manner such as tying their hands at the back, laying them face down, blindfolding them and even assaulting them during arrest. Even Buddhist monks had their hands and feet tied. This was too much even though the demonstrators violated the ban on gatherings, which was a political offence. The government's use of threats against its own citizens revealed its instability and illegitimacy.

Chulalongkorn University's political-science lecturer Jakkrit Sangkhamanee said the CRES announcements during the time were like propaganda, by not giving all the facts, and presenting the situation in a one-sided way. He said that CRES also tried to stir fear and hate among the public for the demonstrators and that official investigations of the violent incidents were not yet completed.

He cited the CRES "propaganda" techniques such as character-assassination, using expressions demonising the opposition, partial truths, a diversion from the main points and a creating a craze for a person involved in the propaganda such as Colonel Sansern.

Mass Communication academic Ubonrat Siriyuwasak said the government had used the national security and emergency laws to block and control media, news reports and political expressions, in order to create legitimacy for the government and troops in dispersing the rally.

She cited the television pool announcements, the censoring of local media such as community radios and cable TVs, the closure of 36 websites broadcasting "national security threat" messages, and the interference in mainstream media to suspend programmes or columns that portrayed a negative image of the troops' operations.

After the seminar, the Por Tek Teung Foundation presented the pictures of a rescue worker being shot dead in front of Wat Pathumwanaram, the volunteer nurse Kamolket, and another rescue worker who was shot dead at the Bon Kai area while carrying a Red-Cross flag.

-- The Nation 2010-06-20

[justaphase]

Red-shirt "Academics" by any chance..?

[LevelHead]

This is the problem that Abhisit/Korn and Suthep and the Democrats are going to have in the coming weeks, months and years.

In the heat of the moment their propaganda in the media overcome real news and real truth, as was portrayed on AJ/BBC/CNN and many other real news outlets.

As the real truth is now uncovered and unleashed and eyewitnesses gather the strength and courage to speak up and not be afraid of being thrown into prison without any charges or bail and labelled as terrorists under the Emergency Decree just because the government wants to label them so the pressure is going to mount on this puppet government who have done the dirty work of the old men who have seized power in Thailand.

Photo's, VCD's and new names for old banned web sites are ensuring the Thai people are now having access to the reality of the events that happened. They can compare real video footage and photo's against what the propaganda machine has put out and they can see that someone has been telling many lies.

The truth will come out, and even if its in 1 year, or 5 years or 10 years, all those involved in the CRES, those behind the military and everyone responsible for what has gone on since 2006 hopefully will one day be taken away and have justice served on them for all they have done.

For the cynics - The Thai Junta could likely today send a message of support to the Burmese Junta saying "Suu Kyi is a terrorist and a potential red shirt backer as she said the Thai government was illegimate" - and could likely ask she be charged with terrorism offences as it seems to be working well in Thailand.

[topsecret]

That's what happens in a state of emergency, people get hurt! No one has the right to take over a city and subsequently hold the whole country to ransom for weeks.

[tigerbalm]

That's what happens in a state of emergency, people get hurt! No one has the right to take over a city and subsequently hold the whole country to ransom for weeks.

Just change city for Airport and add.....and get away with it scott free and it all makes sense.

[Ulysses G.]

The Thai people saw the carnage in Bangkok and the rest of the country. It is very unlikely that after this more than a few hardcore nuts  will support a group of people who are quite happen to wreck everything for everyone in Thailand. 

It is all very sad, but these protesters gave the government every reason to suppress their political activities. They turned down a perfectly good peace deal and knowingly embraced the violent faction among them. They have absolutely no credibility anymore. 

[jonclark]

This is the problem that Abhisit/Korn and Suthep and the Democrats are going to have in the coming weeks, months and years.

In the heat of the moment their propaganda in the media overcome real news and real truth, as was portrayed on AJ/BBC/CNN and many other real news outlets.

As the real truth is now uncovered and unleashed and eyewitnesses gather the strength and courage to speak up and not be afraid of being thrown into prison without any charges or bail and labelled as terrorists under the Emergency Decree just because the government wants to label them so the pressure is going to mount on this puppet government who have done the dirty work of the old men who have seized power in Thailand.

Photo's, VCD's and new names for old banned web sites are ensuring the Thai people are now having access to the reality of the events that happened. They can compare real video footage and photo's against what the propaganda machine has put out and they can see that someone has been telling many lies.

The truth will come out, and even if its in 1 year, or 5 years or 10 years, all those involved in the CRES, those behind the military and everyone responsible for what has gone on since 2006 hopefully will one day be taken away and have justice served on them for all they have done.

For the cynics - The Thai Junta could likely today send a message of support to the Burmese Junta saying "Suu Kyi is a terrorist and a potential red shirt backer as she said the Thai government was illegimate" - and could likely ask she be charged with terrorism offences as it seems to be working well in Thailand.

Levelhead - Whilst this report is no doubt music to your ears i find it hard to understand why these academics give such a one sided view and state nothing of the responsibility of the reds and their leaders for causing this chaos?The governments response was not 100%. But the blame needs to be squared away equally with the reds as well as it was they who provoked the response. They would not compromise. If anyone is allowed to disregard the laws of the land in the name of protest, then any and all action by protesters in future protests is acceptable. I look forward to the next elections and a democrat victory similar to the recent democrat landslide in Bangkok.

[CHdiver]

That's what happens in a state of emergency, people get hurt! No one has the right to take over a city and subsequently hold the whole country to ransom for weeks.

Just change city for Airport and add.....and get away with it scott free and it all makes sense.

I was surprised too that they could walk away free, after all they did burn tires, setting fire to Aircrafts, destroying half of the Airport, looting the Duty Free, fireing RPG's and so on.

I mean it must have been that way, how else could you use it to compare it with the Red Shirt`s in Bangkok

[Ricardo]

That's what happens in a state of emergency, people get hurt! No one has the right to take over a city and subsequently hold the whole country to ransom for weeks.

Just change city for Airport and add.....and get away with it scott free and it all makes sense.

I was surprised too that they could walk away free, after all they did burn tires, setting fire to Aircrafts, destroying half of the Airport, looting the Duty Free, fireing RPG's and so on.

I mean it must have been that way, how else could you use it to compare it with the Red Shirt`s in Bangkok

Don't forget that they also cracked the 100%-perfect taxiways, and made 20% of the air-bridges defective, I mean they must have been the ones responsible, since DL had obviously ensured that everything was fit-for-purpose in his showcase no-corruption I'm-in-sole-charge project.

Regarding the failure to autopsy all the dead, I seem to recall the Red-Shirts raiding a hospital, and carrying the bodies away before they could be autopsied ? Perhaps these academics missed those stories. Or perhaps they don't want to lay the blame for un-autopsied bodies with the Red-Shirts ? Surely that can't be the case.

[ozzieman05]

Just when the country is getting back to peace

the tourist start to return

and life become a smile again

Out they come with there opinions

Criminals and thugs should be allowed their freedom and rights to do what they want

If we try to stop the then we are the bad ones

In the west we have a name for these people

DO GOODERS

who do more harm than good

[luangtom]

The Red Shirt protesters should consider that the numbers killed were low for such an outrageous act of civil disobedience. Most other countries of the world would not have tolerated such actions for as long as the current administration did. The sitting administration could easily have opened fire on the masses and piled the bodies in the streets. They did not. They withheld counter-measures until they deemed it getting out of control. They should applaud the administration of Khun Abhisit for holding themselves in check for so long. Next time, there may not be such a high level of tolerance. Why not wait until scheduled elections to change governments? Most democratic countries or republics do just that. They do not burn down buildings and assault residents to get their grievances in the media. They vote in a new administration. It was offered, but some of the Red Shirt upper-echelon feared such an action. Why?

Edited June 20, 2010 by luangtom

[Leesoi2]

So how many of the 90 deaths were caused by the reds with guns? How many deaths not autopsied were actually inflicted by reds? If the government is covering up as indicated and one third of the deaths were not autopsied then could we conclude that the other two thirds were the ones caused by the reds with guns? A government that is covering up would likely only autopsy those they were not responsible for.

What a bunch of one sided red view, this academic from a school in the north east perhaps? Hardly a balanced view. Demonstrators that have sling shots, molotov cocktails, guns and grenades should be dealt with firmly. This government is run by a true gentleman and he must be applauded for his massive restraint. Many thought he was much too gentle, I would have voted for a much stronger crackdown and much sooner. The soldiers did a great job as well in restraining themselves, I am very proud of how the soldiers were able to keep the death toll so very low when there were soooo many law breakers running wild trying to damage property and hurt soldiers.

I rarely side with any government but I was very positively impressed with these Democrats.

[jayboy]

The Red Shirt protesters should consider that the numbers killed were low for such an outrageous act of civil disobedience. Most other countries of the world would not have tolerated such actions for as long as the current administration did. The sitting administration could easily have opened fire on the masses and piled the bodies in the streets. They did not. They withheld counter-measures until they deemed it getting out of control. They should applaud the administration of Khun Abhisit for holding themselves in check for so long. Next time, there may not be such a high level of tolerance. Why not wait until scheduled elections to change governments? Most democratic countries or republics do just that. They do not burn down buildings and assault residents to get their grievances in the media. They vote in a new administration. It was offered, but some of the Red Shirt upper-echelon feared such an action. Why?

You deceive yourself.In non-totalitarian countries no government could survive its army murdering unarmed civilians on this scale.

[way2muchcoffee]

The Red Shirt protesters should consider that the numbers killed were low for such an outrageous act of civil disobedience. Most other countries of the world would not have tolerated such actions for as long as the current administration did. The sitting administration could easily have opened fire on the masses and piled the bodies in the streets. They did not. They withheld counter-measures until they deemed it getting out of control. They should applaud the administration of Khun Abhisit for holding themselves in check for so long. Next time, there may not be such a high level of tolerance. Why not wait until scheduled elections to change governments? Most democratic countries or republics do just that. They do not burn down buildings and assault residents to get their grievances in the media. They vote in a new administration. It was offered, but some of the Red Shirt upper-echelon feared such an action. Why?

You deceive yourself.In non-totalitarian countries no government could survive its army murdering unarmed civilians on this scale.

I disagree completely. The government did not murder unarmed civilians. The government used force to suppress an armed and violent rebellion. It is you who is engaging in self-deception.

There were a few 'actual' civilians killed or injured. These were the journalists, emergency medical personnel, BTS riders, and the victims of grenade and bomb attacks throughout the city. These cases must be thoroughly investigated.

Edited June 20, 2010 by way2muchcoffee

[Robby nz]

It must also be considred who actually wanted all the trouble.

I doubt there was one soldier there who actually wanted to be there pitted against their own countrymen.

They were sent in by their comanders to do a job I am sure they did not like, they were getting shot at, having grenades thrown at them and attacked in other ways including media attack. I doubt there was one who would not have rather been polishing his boots in the barracks.

Yet they did the job they were sent to do, that had to be done, as it had all gone on far to long and they did it with a minimum of casulties. If you dont believe that look at whats happening in other parts of the world right now.

Contrast that with the reds who did want to be there and were being encouraged by their leaders to attack, burn and yes kill.

If you want to talk about attacking unarmed civilians have a go at the grenade attacks like the sky train station those were attacking unarmed and uninvolved civilians.

[mazeltov]

you will always know it is Sunday at The Nation, the day when the stance of certain articles are somewhat different from the rest of the week.

My guess is that Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nations oxford educated voice of a different opinion, has freer scope at these days.

[jayboy]

The Red Shirt protesters should consider that the numbers killed were low for such an outrageous act of civil disobedience. Most other countries of the world would not have tolerated such actions for as long as the current administration did. The sitting administration could easily have opened fire on the masses and piled the bodies in the streets. They did not. They withheld counter-measures until they deemed it getting out of control. They should applaud the administration of Khun Abhisit for holding themselves in check for so long. Next time, there may not be such a high level of tolerance. Why not wait until scheduled elections to change governments? Most democratic countries or republics do just that. They do not burn down buildings and assault residents to get their grievances in the media. They vote in a new administration. It was offered, but some of the Red Shirt upper-echelon feared such an action. Why?

You deceive yourself.In non-totalitarian countries no government could survive its army murdering unarmed civilians on this scale.

I disagree completely. The government did not murder unarmed civilians. The government used force to suppress an armed and violent rebellion. It is you who is engaging in self-deception.

Well we must agree to differ.But it's an odd rebellion that mostly consisted of unarmed men,women and children.

[otherstuff1957]

I find the timing of this story interesting. I suspect that protesters who are not currently on the streets are going to be much easier to sympathize with than protesters who are shooting off M79 grenades and burning down buildings.

When viewed through an 'ivy covered tower' lens, the situation is pretty clear: Soldiers (bad guys) are shooting at protester (good guys). After all, protesters must be oppressed people (or they wouldn't be protesting) and people who wear uniforms are automatically evil. Therefore, now that the more complex reality of the protests are over, it is easy for academics to characterize the people involved according to their (the academics) ideological prejudices.

Now that the Redshirts are safely out of sight, they can be cast as the oppressed heroes of the recent incidents. However, these same academics were noticeably silent when the protests were actually happening.

If the Redshirts had decided that those same academics were opposed to them or had said something insulting about their beloved leader and had consequently run amok and rampaged through their campus, I suspect that we might be hearing a different side of the story!

[animatic]

Academic, neo-socialist, armchair quarterbacks having their say;'

since THEY never came up with a way to bring order to this mob chaos, no solutions,

and since THEY didn't have to make the TOUGH DECISIONS of reality in dealing with this,

so their hectoring commentary afterwards is of negligable impact. Slow newsday.

[animatic]

The Red Shirt protesters should consider that the numbers killed were low for such an outrageous act of civil disobedience. Most other countries of the world would not have tolerated such actions for as long as the current administration did. The sitting administration could easily have opened fire on the masses and piled the bodies in the streets. They did not. They withheld counter-measures until they deemed it getting out of control. They should applaud the administration of Khun Abhisit for holding themselves in check for so long. Next time, there may not be such a high level of tolerance. Why not wait until scheduled elections to change governments? Most democratic countries or republics do just that. They do not burn down buildings and assault residents to get their grievances in the media. They vote in a new administration. It was offered, but some of the Red Shirt upper-echelon feared such an action. Why?

You deceive yourself.In non-totalitarian countries no government could survive its army murdering unarmed civilians on this scale.

I disagree completely. The government did not murder unarmed civilians. The government used force to suppress an armed and violent rebellion. It is you who is engaging in self-deception.

Well we must agree to differ.But it's an odd rebellion that mostly consisted of unarmed men,women and children.

Most terrorist and insurrectionist groups use human shields, to swell apparent numbers,

and if attempts are made to remove or neutralize them, as injured or killed pawns,

to create negative perceptions against the government they are trying to bring down.

This was known before hand, and was part of the red game plan;

force the government one way or another to move them out,

and then ENSURE that relative innocents are injured and killed.

They only get a ground swell against the government from complacent populace,

IF there is sufficient atrocity attributable to the government to make people rise up.

Two years running this tactic didn't work.

Problem is too many cameras caught TRUTH and now they have to spin madly against that,

just like last years Songkran debacle. So on TVF and many other web boards,

we see the red spin attempted and shamelessly repeated regardless of logic.

[chuang]

The facts are all there...say what you like...Thai government same as the Iran government...using Armed Army to kill their own citizens.....

[way2muchcoffee]

The Red Shirt protesters should consider that the numbers killed were low for such an outrageous act of civil disobedience. Most other countries of the world would not have tolerated such actions for as long as the current administration did. The sitting administration could easily have opened fire on the masses and piled the bodies in the streets. They did not. They withheld counter-measures until they deemed it getting out of control. They should applaud the administration of Khun Abhisit for holding themselves in check for so long. Next time, there may not be such a high level of tolerance. Why not wait until scheduled elections to change governments? Most democratic countries or republics do just that. They do not burn down buildings and assault residents to get their grievances in the media. They vote in a new administration. It was offered, but some of the Red Shirt upper-echelon feared such an action. Why?

You deceive yourself.In non-totalitarian countries no government could survive its army murdering unarmed civilians on this scale.

I disagree completely. The government did not murder unarmed civilians. The government used force to suppress an armed and violent rebellion. It is you who is engaging in self-deception.

Well we must agree to differ.But it's an odd rebellion that mostly consisted of unarmed men,women and children.

That may have been true at the beginning of the demonstration, but not toward the end when mostly hardcore males remained.

Edited June 20, 2010 by way2muchcoffee

[Ulysses G.]

The facts are all there...say what you like...Thai government same as the Iran government...using Armed Army to kill their own citizens.....

The government of Iran changed the results of an election. The current government of Thailand is legit even if there is a lot of controversy about how they ended up in power. Whatever you want to say about about them, they had good reason to stop a bunch of thugs who ruined much of the Thai economy for months and burned down much of the country. Edited June 20, 2010 by Ulysses G.

[sevenhills]

This is the problem that Abhisit/Korn and Suthep and the Democrats are going to have in the coming weeks, months and years.

In the heat of the moment their propaganda in the media overcome real news and real truth, as was portrayed on AJ/BBC/CNN and many other real news outlets.

As the real truth is now uncovered and unleashed and eyewitnesses gather the strength and courage to speak up and not be afraid of being thrown into prison without any charges or bail and labelled as terrorists under the Emergency Decree just because the government wants to label them so the pressure is going to mount on this puppet government who have done the dirty work of the old men who have seized power in Thailand.

Photo's, VCD's and new names for old banned web sites are ensuring the Thai people are now having access to the reality of the events that happened. They can compare real video footage and photo's against what the propaganda machine has put out and they can see that someone has been telling many lies.

The truth will come out, and even if its in 1 year, or 5 years or 10 years, all those involved in the CRES, those behind the military and everyone responsible for what has gone on since 2006 hopefully will one day be taken away and have justice served on them for all they have done.

For the cynics - The Thai Junta could likely today send a message of support to the Burmese Junta saying "Suu Kyi is a terrorist and a potential red shirt backer as she said the Thai government was illegimate" - and could likely ask she be charged with terrorism offences as it seems to be working well in Thailand.

Very well said. (The main reform required in Thailand is the reform of the Military).:jap:

[david555]

The facts are all there...say what you like...Thai government same as the Iran government...using Armed Army to kill their own citizens.....

The government of Iran changed the results of an election. The current government of Thailand is legit even if there is a lot of controversy about how they ended up in power. Whatever you want to say about about them, they had good reason to stop a bunch of thugs who ruined much of the Thai economy for months and burned down much of the country.

So they did NOT changed the result of the election to use a coup to install this "Legitimed" goverment ???? :lol:

[kuffki]

And here we go again.

Academics were not happy when Bangkok was taken hostage, NOW

Academics are not happy about how it was handled.

Most people on Thai Visa should know by now that this is Thailand and left hand has no idea what right hand is doing, not to mention brain is not actually connected to the mouth so while brain thinks mouth speaks.

Should gov left it alone-rest assured some group would not be happy

Should gov give in, again some group would not be happy

If 1 was killed-another group would not be happy.

Government is not there to accommodate every single group, it is there to protect the country and its people as a whole.

Edited June 20, 2010 by kuffki

[kissdani]

Red-shirt "Academics" by any chance..?

I doubt that. There are many Thai people who not agree with this violent crackdown and also not agree with the media censorship and they are not all red shirts or paid by Thaksin.

[way2muchcoffee]

The facts are all there...say what you like...Thai government same as the Iran government...using Armed Army to kill their own citizens.....

The government of Iran changed the results of an election. The current government of Thailand is legit even if there is a lot of controversy about how they ended up in power. Whatever you want to say about about them, they had good reason to stop a bunch of thugs who ruined much of the Thai economy for months and burned down much of the country.

So they did NOT changed the result of the election to use a coup to install this "Legitimed" goverment ???? :lol:

That is correct. The coup leaders did not install the present government. Check your history. There was a coup to remove a highly corrupt, extra-constitutional prime minister who tried to retake his caretaker role after having abdicated. Then there was a constitutional rewrite to ensure stronger punishments for electoral fraud, increase the rights to the citizens, and weaken the ability for a PM to become a demagogue. The constitution was ratified by the voting population through a referendum. After this an election was called. The party who won a plurality vote violated election law and was disbanded. A parliamentary vote was called to select a new PM by the elected MPs, and Abhisit assumed the role of PM.

Edited June 20, 2010 by way2muchcoffee

[david555]

The facts are all there...say what you like...Thai government same as the Iran government...using Armed Army to kill their own citizens.....

The government of Iran changed the results of an election. The current government of Thailand is legit even if there is a lot of controversy about how they ended up in power. Whatever you want to say about about them, they had good reason to stop a bunch of thugs who ruined much of the Thai economy for months and burned down much of the country.

So they did NOT changed the result of the election to use a coup to install this "Legitimed" goverment ???? :lol:

That is correct. The coup leaders did not install the present government. Check your history. There was a coup to remove a highly corrupt, extra-constitutional prime minister who tried to retake his caretaker role after having abdicated. Then there was a constitutional rewrite to ensure stronger punishments for electoral fraud, increase the rights to the citizens, and weaken the ability for a PM to become a demagogue. The constitution was ratified by the voting population through a referendum. After this an election was called. The party who won a plurality vote violated election law and was disbanded. A parliamentary vote was called to select a new PM by the elected MPs, and Abhisit assumed the role of PM.

Thank you to explain me in a very "diplomatic" way the expression and clarifying the phrase of "backroom " arrangements " , and also you gave the answer WHY the yellow shirt seizing , and their accused leaders case is again pursponed......:jap: .

By the way it is Thailand's history not mine ...; , , i could never claim an excuse like that .... should just say " i took the power " because my canary-bosses did not like a government who has giving the rural people a Little bit of help in life ....

[tonywebster]

This is the problem that Abhisit/Korn and Suthep and the Democrats are going to have in the coming weeks, months and years.

In the heat of the moment their propaganda in the media overcome real news and real truth, as was portrayed on AJ/BBC/CNN and many other real news outlets.

As the real truth is now uncovered and unleashed and eyewitnesses gather the strength and courage to speak up and not be afraid of being thrown into prison without any charges or bail and labelled as terrorists under the Emergency Decree just because the government wants to label them so the pressure is going to mount on this puppet government who have done the dirty work of the old men who have seized power in Thailand.

Photo's, VCD's and new names for old banned web sites are ensuring the Thai people are now having access to the reality of the events that happened. They can compare real video footage and photo's against what the propaganda machine has put out and they can see that someone has been telling many lies.

The truth will come out, and even if its in 1 year, or 5 years or 10 years, all those involved in the CRES, those behind the military and everyone responsible for what has gone on since 2006 hopefully will one day be taken away and have justice served on them for all they have done.

For the cynics - The Thai Junta could likely today send a message of support to the Burmese Junta saying "Suu Kyi is a terrorist and a potential red shirt backer as she said the Thai government was illegimate" - and could likely ask she be charged with terrorism offences as it seems to be working well in Thailand.

Well said, I also notice all those on ThaiVisa that bought into the propaganda are out in force in this thread denying the credibility of these academics, they must be reds or cranks right? We all know the TV yellows know everything and anything that is again their thoughts must be wrong, I mean, they were all there in the thick of it weren't they? They must have been there as the profess to know everything. it is about time the Thai people hear and see the truth about what happened,