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FCCT 'ordered by NCPO' to cancel panel discussion on missing plaque


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FCCT 'ordered by NCPO' to cancel panel discussion on missing plaque
By The Nation

 

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BANGKOK: -- The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT) has cancelled its panel discussion titled “Memories of 1932: The Mystery of Thailand’s Missing Plaque”, scheduled for Wednesday night, “on the orders of the National Council for Peace and Order”.

 

The FCCT posted on its website and Facebook on Wednesday morning that the decision to cancel the discussion was made after it received a letter from Lumpini Police asking it to call off the event scheduled for 7pm this evening. According to the letter, the police said they had been contacted by “relevant officials”. 

 

“In the letter, the police said these officials believed that the event posed a threat to national security, and that it could be used by unscrupulous individuals to stir up disorder,” the FCCT announcement stated.

 

The FCCT said it disagreed with this assessment, arguing, “Our events are always well-moderated and allow for constructive and civilised discussions. This particular event was on a topic of great historic and contemporary relevance, with a panel of distinguished speakers. However, the FCCT has been given to understand that this cancellation is on the orders of the National Council for Peace and Order, and we have no choice but to comply,” it said.

 

Instead, the FCCT said it would mark World Press Freedom Day with an alternative panel of speakers, to be confirmed later, who would discuss the state of media freedom in Thailand at a time when Thai journalists face new regulations which would impede their ability to scrutinise those in power.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30314085

 
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-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-05-03
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It's always amazing that the police can issue a legally binding "order" based on requests from un-named " relevant officials", quoting spurious reasons like  "...a threat to national security, and that it could be used by unscrupulous individuals to stir up disorder".

 

The "relevant officials" seem to like to remain anonymous? Doesn't do much for "transparency"?

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The fact that the removal of this plaque - which basically commemorated the  country's switch to parliamentary democracy; whether that was successful or not is irrelevant - cannot be discussed or even mentioned, strongly suggests that the removal was officially ordered. And that is also why the police will not investigate. What entity possibly ordered the removal can of course also not be discussed or even insinuated.

Edited by Misterwhisper
spelling correction
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7 minutes ago, Misterwhisper said:

The fact that the removal of this plaque - which basically commemorated the  country's switch to parliamentary-democracy; whether that was successful or not is irrelevant - cannot be discussed or even mentioned, strongly suggests that the removal was officially ordered. And that is also why the police will not investigate. What entity possibly ordered the removal can of course also not be discussed or even insinuated.

Doesn't bode well for elections next year, either.

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Given Prayuts attitude towards the plaque, I don't think anyone can be in any doubt exactly who ordered its removal. Its sensitive nature involving as it does, democracy, a thing unlikely to be seen here again soon, speaks volumes. I hope if a statue of Prayut ever goes up that someone nicks that too.

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3 hours ago, webfact said:

“In the letter, the police said these officials believed that the event posed a threat to national security, and that it could be used by unscrupulous individuals to stir up disorder,” the FCCT announcement stated.

Again only "bad" people would be interested in this. So anyone who is interested in the events commemorated on the plaque are either terribly misguided or "bad". 

 

FCCT will need to move to a neighboring country if it wants to hold substantive discussions regarding Thailand.  Thailand use to be wonderful

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17 minutes ago, tukkytuktuk said:

What a fuss over a round piece of metal cemented into the middle of a road. Before it was removed I bet none of you had even known it existed.

 

The plaque itself is irrelevant. What is of importance is what the plaque represented to the Thai people, the way in which it was removed (and by whom), and the actions / reactions of the incumbent administration to the questions raised by its removal.

 

The directive forbidding the FCCT to discuss the subject merely serves to confirm what a sensitive issue this is, and how the government was complicit in the skulduggery that was employed in its removal and replacement.

 

The whole affair doesn't bode well for Thailand.

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1 hour ago, tukkytuktuk said:

What a fuss over a round piece of metal cemented into the middle of a road. Before it was removed I bet none of you had even known it existed.

I think the issue is not so much whether people were aware if the plaque ever existed or not. What is important is what it represented, why it was clandestinely removed, why the police won't try to find the perpetrator, and why any discussion about it is suddenly forbidden. By removing the plaque, somebody has been trying to undo a significant historical event - even if only symbolically. It's a bit like when the new emperor in ancient Rome had his predecessor's name erased from all monuments; only he did it in broad daylight and not under cover of night so nobody would notice. Well, the removal of the plague has been noticed. And that's what the "fuss" is about.

Edited by Misterwhisper
rephrasing
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I think I will pen a letter to President Trump to note that an important artifact dealing with the birth of democracy in Thailand has gone missing.  I will include a picture and suggest that he make a replacement and present it as a gift to Thailand from the American people when Prayut visits Washington later this year!  What a photo op!!

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I think you will find that the buck stops one level above Gen P.

He's the PM. He's in charge of the country. If not why does Donald Trump bother talking to him. If your talking about the unmentionable's then that is out of the boundaries or LM.
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5 hours ago, Misterwhisper said:

The fact that the removal of this plaque - which basically commemorated the  country's switch to parliamentary democracy; whether that was successful or not is irrelevant - cannot be discussed or even mentioned, strongly suggests that the removal was officially ordered. And that is also why the police will not investigate. What entity possibly ordered the removal can of course also not be discussed or even insinuated.

You're not insinuating anything are you? Off with your head.

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15 hours ago, Golden Triangle said:

I think you will find that the buck stops one level above Gen P.

 

Anybody who believes that Prayut was the man who instigated the coup is a fool.  He has someone much higher up pulling his strings.  He's just the front man.

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When I first got here (15 years ago) I was a bit excited that I may get to actually watch a country "grow up", but now I realise it never will, yeah it's sad but they only have themselves to blame!!  And hey it's their country...

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6 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Given Prayuts attitude towards the plaque, I don't think anyone can be in any doubt exactly who ordered its removal. Its sensitive nature involving as it does, democracy, a thing unlikely to be seen here again soon, speaks volumes. I hope if a statue of Prayut ever goes up that someone nicks that too.

 

 

6 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Given Prayuts attitude towards the plaque, I don't think anyone can be in any doubt exactly who ordered its removal. Its sensitive nature involving as it does, democracy, a thing unlikely to be seen here again soon, speaks volumes. I hope if a statue of Prayut ever goes up that someone nicks that too.

 

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41 minutes ago, jesimps said:

I know who ordered the plaque's removal so I'm therefore not surprised that the same person has ordered the cancellation of the panel discussion.

 

Sad days for this lovely country.

 

Lets try again

 

Sad days for this once lovely country.

 

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