06 February 2005

Seeds Of Peace

Seeds Of Peace
Sulak Sivaraksa, publisher of the journal Seeds Of Peace, is being investigated for lèse-majesté due to an article in the journal's January-April issue (volume 21, number 1). Sulak is a Buddhist writer and academic, who has spoken in opposition to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The lèse-majesté charge relates to a feature titled Revenge Of The Forgotten Monarch.

The article, on pages 6-9, has no byline except for the initials BP. It discusses the unexplained death of King Rama VIII: "As for the killing of Ananda, officially it remains an unresolved mystery. In Thailand where even a hint of criticism of the monarchy is a serious criminal offense, inquiries are actively discouraged."

Sulak previously discussed the case in his book เรืองนายปรีดี พนมยงค์ ตามทัศนะ ส. ศิวรักษ์, in which he quotes from a 1948 diplomatic cable from the American ambassador reporting Phibun Songkhram's private comments on the matter. The book was later published in English translation as Powers That Be: Pridi Banomyong Through The Rise And Fall Of Thai Democracy.

09 January 2005

Tak Bai


Same Sky Same Sky

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced last month that anyone selling VCDs containing footage of the Tak Bai incident would be prosecuted. On 25th October last year, more than 1,000 Muslim protesters were rounded up by the army and taken to a military camp. The men were forced to lie on top of each other for five hours while they were being transported, resulting in seventy-eight protesters dying of suffocation. Footage of the incident was not broadcast by state television, though it has been circulating on VCD. Same Sky (ฟ้าเดียวกัน) magazine distributed a Tak Bai VCD—ความจริงที่ตากใบ (‘the truth at Tak Bai’)—with its October–December 2004 issue (vol. 2, no. 4), in defiance of the ban.

07 January 2005

2005 Bangkok International Film Festival


2005 Bangkok International Film Festival

The 2005 Bangkok International Film Festival runs from 13th to 24th January, though a screening of The Sound of Music tomorrow is also part of the festival lineup. The classic musical will have an outdoor, sing-along screening at Benchasiri Park. Catherine Breillat’s sexually explicit drama Anatomy of Hell (Anatomie de l’enfer) will be shown on 14th January, at the SFX Emporium cinema.