Thailand has banned a forthcoming book on the country’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn, claiming it mocks the monarchy, a topic of growing political friction in a nation with one of the toughest royal defamation laws in the world.
Rights groups have joined the book’s exiled Thai editor, a vocal critic of Thailand’s monarchy and conservative political elite, in panning the move as an affront to the free speech and expression rights the country claims to uphold.
The government announced its ban on the order and import of the book, Rama X: The Thai Monarchy under King Vajiralongkorn, in the Royal Gazette.
Signed by police chief Damrongsak Kittiprapas, the order states that “the cover and the articles represent the attitude of the author to defame, insult or threaten the King, the Queen, the Heir to the throne or the Regent; or to undermine national security, social stability or good morals.”
It cites the 2007 Printing Recordation Act and says anyone breaking the law could face up to three years in jail and a maximum fine of about $1,730. Copies that do make it into the country may be seized and destroyed.
By the book
The order calls Pavin the book’s writer and author. Pavin, however, told VOA he was the editor of the book, an anthology of chapters from several authors, including himself.
He said he believed the Thai authorities had not read the book, due out in hardcopy this fall, and that only he and the American publisher, Yale University’s Council on Southeast Asia Studies, have seen the full final draft. An e-book of the volume will follow a few months later, he added.
“This is ridiculous that they have not seen the content of the book and they decided to ban. Once again, this is exactly because of my name and, as they claim, the cover of the book,” said Pavin, an associate professor at Japan’s Kyoto University.
In 2014, following a military coup in Thailand, the regime that seized power ordered the overseas academic to report to authorities and issued an arrest warrant after he failed to show. The regime revoked his passport soon afterward.
In 2020, the Thai government convinced Facebook to block access inside the country to a page run by Pavin hosting critical debate about the Thai monarchy.
The cover of the forthcoming book includes images of the king, Thailand’s Democracy Monument, and the bottom half of a military-type tank.
Erik Harms, who chairs Yale’s Council on Southeast Asia Studies, said the publisher was standing by the book.
"The book is based on scholarly research conducted by renowned experts in Thai studies, and it was peer-reviewed in a process that followed the highest academic standards,” he told VOA.
The standard practice for refuting such work, he added, was to have other experts write and publish their views in other reputable, peer-reviewed journals.
“Banning a book does not seem to me to be a very thoughtful way of engaging with academic perspectives one disagrees with,” Harms said, adding that “readers who end up reading it should be free to determine on their own whether the choice to ban it has any merit."
Sovereign silence
Both Harms and Pavin said they were never contacted by any Thai authorities about the book.
Spokespersons for the Thai police and government did not answer VOA’s multiple calls or messages seeking comment.
Rights groups say banning the book tramples on the basic principles of free speech and expression.
The ban will have a “chilling effect” that “stifles debate on legitimate issues of public interest,” said Ross Holder, the Asia-Pacific lead for PEN International, a U.K.-based group promoting the free exchange of ideas.
“By silencing dissenting voices, the Thai authorities are contributing to a climate of self-censorship that stymies the open exchange of ideas — vital for any democratic society — and runs contrary to Thailand’s international human rights obligations,” he told VOA.
Human Rights Watch says Thailand has banned about a dozen books over the past 20 years, most of them for their alleged offense of the monarchy.
The group’s senior researcher in Thailand, Sunai Phasuk, called the bans part of a concerted effort by Thai authorities to not just shield the monarchy but stifle growing demands for democratic reform.
“But such draconian censorship can’t catch up with the reality in Thailand that demands for monarchy reform has spread to all corners of the society. Discussions about the monarchy can’t be silenced anymore,” he told VOA.
Critical debate of the monarchy has long been taboo in Thailand, protected by a constitution that holds the king beyond reproach and a royal defamation law that metes out up to 15 years in jail for insulting the king, queen, heir or regent.
A young generation of activists shattered that taboo during a wave of pro-democracy protests in 2020, adding reform of the country’s constitutional monarchy to their list of demands. They see a royal palace playing an outsized role in the country’s politics and want new rules to rein it in. Authorities have since charged over 250 people with breaking the law on royal defamation for pressing those demands.
Courting the king
Move Forward, a party proposing to restrict the royal defamation law’s use — and alleged misuse — won the most seats in elections to fill the House of Representatives in May. However, conservative lawmakers in the House and in the military-appointed Senate denied party leader Pita Limjaroenrat’s bid for the prime minister’s seat in a joint session last month.
Most of the lawmakers who spoke against Pita’s bid railed against his party’s proposal to amend the royal defamation law.
Last month the Constitutional Court also accepted a complaint accusing Move Forward of seeking to overthrow the constitutional monarchy for proposing the amendments. If found guilty, the court could order the party dissolved. Analysts fear a return of the mass protests of 2020 if it does.
The latest book ban echoes the pro-military government’s use of the royal defamation law, said Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang, a legal scholar at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University.
He said the military has long used to the monarchy’s legal status to condone a history of political meddling, including 13 coups in the past nine decades.
“The military always justifies their intervention in Thai politics as to protect the monarchy. This is where the [military’s] legitimacy is derived,” he told VOA. “Although the ban is futile, it shows that the government is loyal and proactive in safeguarding the monarchy, hence the reason for their existence.”
Warangkana Chomchuen contributed to this report.
