In an update to my post this morning about the Australian arrested on lese majeste charges. Robespierre comments:
I think the man arrested must be Harry Nicolaides, a lecturer at Mae Fah Luang University in Chiang Rai and the author of a novel by the name of 'Verisimilitude'. The book, according to one review is a "trenchant commentary on the political and social life of contemporary Thailand," and an "uncompromising assault on the patrician values of the monarchy."
ABC confirms:
A 41-year-old Australian man in Thailand has been charged for insulting the King.
Harry Nicolaides from Melbourne was arrested in Bangkok on Sunday as he arrived in the country.
He has been visiting Thailand since 2003 and has written a book which mentions members of the royal family.
Mr Nicolaides graduated from La Trobe University in 1988 and is also a blogger.
More recently he was a teacher in hospitality at the Mae Fah Luang University in the northern Thai town of Chiang Rai.
The ABC understands Mr Nicolaides was refused bail and is currently in the Bangkok Remand Centre.
Thailand has some of the strongest lese majeste laws in the world.
BP: There is plenty on google about him and his writing, but this he wrote for the Bangkok Post in 2006 is interesting:
As a final indictment of the susceptibility of the Thai education system to fraud consider the following experience. A friend from Australia was visiting Thailand as a tourist. I managed to convince him to assume my identity for the first lecture I was to deliver to 120 students in a course of social psychology at the university where I was working. The exercise was designed to show students how vulnerable people are to appearance and presentation especially so-called experts with impressive credentials. We had my friend’s imposing 6’4 physique clothed in a fine suit and tie beautifully fashioned in the finest bespoke tradition of Bangkok’s 24-hour tailors. We gave him an impressive resume – PhD Cambridge University, Chairman of research committee at Oxford University, author of two definitive textbooks in the field - all of which loomed large behind him on a massive cinema-sized screen in a PowerPoint format while Garry spoke authoritatively about nothing for some time. The students paid meticulous attention and wrote copious lecture notes on the rambling dissertation. After an hour when I arrived dressed casually in shorts and t-shirt and introduced myself as the real course lecturer, the students dismissed me as a loony intruder. After all, I did not look like a teacher.
Thailand is a developing country that is struggling to shrug off the yoke of centuries-old sovereign rule, patriarchal social structures and agrarian values and traditions. Its short history as a constitutional monarchy is littered with political coups and crises even to the present day. As Thailand embraces globalization and joins the race along the economic superhighway it has recognized the importance of English as a medium of exchange, communication and business. However, in a country where there is a huge market in reproduction artworks, imitation Rolex watches and boiler rooms selling stock for companies that do not exist, an educational system populated with former Nazis, sex tourists and the expatriate lunatic fringe is no surprise. After all, that is what matters in Thailand – not the truth but the appearance of truth – a dazzling verisimilitude created by a tailor’s scissors, an artist’s brushstroke or a surgeon’s knife.
BP: No posting links to the book or its content. I don't have a deathwish. From what I understand, he wrote the book a couple of years and was arrested on his return to Thailand. ;
A quick Google on the fellow and his work suggests that he's an informal academic at best. The book in question does not appear to be a peer-vetted work, and his one article available online is about the availability of child-porn in Talichek Market over the border of Mae Hong Song -- and frankly it's not a very good article. To wit:
1) He not only claims that child-porn is available, but goes at length to DESCRIBE scenes in it, identifying girls by their nationality -- Cambodian, English, etc. Does this mean he bought it? He doesn't say.
2) He does not describe in any detail the stores that sell it, or a transaction that he witnessed, only insists that it is there.
3) The entire tone of the article is appallingly sensationalist and emotional, including lurid gut-wrenching information such as "The tears and shrieks are not the result of dubbing or digital manipulation" and "Some are aged as young as four while none is older than 12" -- again suggesting either creepily thorough "investigation" or, more likely, the acceptance of rumor as fact.
4) It's for a Christian missionary website. Which isn't by itself a bad thing, but clearly Mr Nicolaides knows how to sell a story to a paying audience...
5) ...while writing a book that claims to expose "the patrician values of the monarchy, (and) the insidious infiltration of religious missionaries in the education system..." A bit two-faced, yes?
So as much as I HATE to see anyone arrested for BS charges of lese-majeste, and have admittedly not seen Harry's book, my impression so far is that there's a reason that we've never heard of it. Unlike TKNS, this is probably not a scholarly work but a second-rate muckrake. All the same, I do hope his arrest raises the profile of this outdated and abused legal weapon.
A publicity stunt if I've ever seen one. He'll be tried, deported, whining about unfair treatment in the world media, and laughing all the way to the bank.
It's a relatively obscure title. I've never heard of it. So do most people who should have heard of it. I wonder how the censor found out about it? Maybe the bloke made an arrangement to be arrested for publicity purpose as krid said. If not, this suggests that the censors do indeed know a lot more things than we give credit for. For one thing, this should make those who blog in their real names over at New Mandala pauses.
He must have planned extreme patience if he did it for a political stunt. He wrote the book a number of years ago, and described the treatment of a woman and her family and baby who were exciled from the country.
Maybe more people (READ EXPATS and Thais alike) should stand up for what is right in Thailand instead of just being comfortable and convenient, looking always the other way.
Not writing style, not the commercial success of his book, not its literary merit, not the quality of his reporting, not inferences one tries to make about character, is significant.
These matters distract from what should be a matter of principle: the human rights of the accused and ongoing attempts to use the law to stifle the freedom speech in Thailand.
It is the law, not the life of the accused that should be on trial -- particularly in the court of public opinion.
I think it's a hoax. No one in Thailand I know, including those who are acquaintances of Nicolaides, have ever actually seen a copy of the novel.
By his own admission, Nicolaides sent an 'excerpt' from the book to Thai authorities in advance of its publication, to see if they would clear it.
It appears the authorities themselves may have never seen the book, but lodged lese majeste charges against him based on the passage sent to them, or perhaps descriptions of the novel on the akha.org page.
That page also looks rather suspect. There are no purchase details given and the one-paragrah comments about the book sound as if they're describing different books or versions.
Jotman wrote: "These matters distract from what should be a matter of principle: the human rights of the accused and ongoing attempts to use the law to stifle the freedom speech in Thailand."
Right, I can insult whatever and whoever I want, wherever I want, in another person's country, without any consequences, and this is my "human right" ?
Don't make me laugh.
jon fernquest does appear to miss the point made by jotman. There is a question of the rights of the accused and there is also a problem of LM being used to stifle speech.
On the former, does anyone know what has happened to this guy? Has he been charged? Is he still in jail?
On the latter, the use of LM for political purposes and to stifle political debate has become quite a circus in Thailand for some years, reaching a crescendo as pro and anti Thaksin politicians threw around charges at each other. This certainly is not good for free and open political debate in the country.
It is understood that freedom of speech can to a certain extent be regulated. For example, most accept that defamation should carry civil liabilities. Other limitations are arguably more contraversial, for example, holocaust denial is still criminalized and actively enforced in many EU countries, eg. Austria, Germany, Belgium and France.
In the case of lese majeste, it is quite clear that this should be decriminalized. Yet the fact that the Thais hold the monarchy in high esteem should also be respected by visitors to the country.
As for Harry's conditions in prison and the processing of his case, I expect that it should be ok. DFAT (Foreign Ministry of Australia) made statement of assurance that its Embassy in Bangkok is providing assistance to the guy. In general, the Thais become more careful when foreign diplomats get involved. Hopefully, Harry will be treated humanely while he awaits his trial and subsequent pardon from the King.
Ant