HEED LESSONS
Re: “Pair remain in custody over royal fracas”, ( BP, Feb 15) & “Activist cited for motorcade honking stunt”, ( BP, Feb 9).
Referring to various articles over last few days on the royal motorcade saga and Tantawan’s arrest, this is a matter of great and grave concern.
The government agencies and elite establishment should act with great care with 20-year-old students Tantawan Tuatulanon and Nathanon Chaimahabud.
Do not forget the pair belong to the tech-savvy AI era and represent the future of Thailand. Many young people support the Move Forward Party. The party campaigned to reform Section 112 as a key platform during the last general election.
One question: could anyone imagine characters such as Tantawan and Nathanon emerging even four years ago? Everyone knows the answer is “No”.
Both are among the millions of sea mines, rising alarmingly in the ocean, but who cannot be spotted from the surface.
If we follow the geopolitics of South Asia, Thailand can take a lesson from Pakistan. Recent scenarios in post-election Pakistan shows the failure of a powerful army-based establishment that normally plays the kingmaker role.
Imran Khan, who was jailed, whose 10,000 party workers and top leaders are jailed, whose party is banned, whose party logo is banned — yet they won a mandate in the recent national election reincarnated as independent candidates standing under different logos.
The Pakistanis braved the chilly wind and weather and stormed the streets, defying the threat of brutal suppression by the powerful Pakistani army, protesting against manipulative vote counting and fraud.
Now Pakistani citizens are threatening to break up Pakistan into different sovereign countries.
So, if the Thailand establishment is smart and cares for the existence of the royal family and does not want to invite civil war, it must think carefully and reform the law.
It should be purely democratic and at the same time a monarchy-friendly country like the United Kingdom.
Joynandan Halda