Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T12:04:03.505Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Kings in the Age of Nations: The Paradox of Lèse-Majesté as Political Crime in Thailand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2009

David Streckfuss
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Extract

The Thai monarchy, protected by the law of lèse-majesté, appears to be an anachronism in the age of nation-states. Over the past century, the spread of nationalism has leveled most monarchies, reducing kings (or queens) to the status of semiprivate individuals or preserving them as innocuous symbols. Usually considered mere remnants of feudal pasts, the laws protecting monarchies in the twentieth century have received little scholarly attention, even less perhaps in Thailand, where any critical analysis of the monarchy is discouraged by the threat of the lèse-majesté charge.

Type
Kings and Their People
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Amnesty International Report (AI). 19841985, 19871988. London: Amnesty International Publications.Google Scholar
Chamlae kotmai khru'angmuu' khaung kaanmu'ang banthu'k kaansamma?aa ru'ang “ja kae panhaa kaanchai kotmai pen khru'angmuu' thaang kaanmu'ang dai yaang rai” [Cutting Out Law (Used as) Tools of Politics: Proceedings of the Seminar, “How to Solve the Problem of Laws Being Used as Tools of Politics,” December 22, 2535 [1992], Law Faculty, Thammasat University]. Krungthep: Aasornmuangnit, 2536 [1993].Google Scholar
Charge Sheet Against Sulak Sivaraksa. 1993. Issued in Bangkok on March 8, 1993. Draft, unofficial translation.Google Scholar
Chartier, Roger. 1991. The Cultural Origins of the French Revolution. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Church, William F. 1972. Richelieu and Reason of State. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Committee for the Rattanakosin Bicentennial Celebration. 1982. Phramahaakasat nai phraboromraatchajakriiwong kap prachaachon [The Chakri Monarchs and The Thai People A Special Relationship]. Bangkok: Committee for the Rattanakosin Bicentennial Celebration to Commemorate the Rattanakosin Bicentennial.Google Scholar
de Becker, J. E. 1916. “Elements of Japanese Law.” Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, 44:2 (12). Tokyo: Asiatic Society of Japan.Google Scholar
Dunlayasaatpathiwet, Luang. 1967. Pramuan kotmai aayaa phraum duai phraraatchabanyat kaekhai phoemtoem ph.s. 2502 lae khamplae phaasaa angkrit. (Krungthep): Aksornsasana Press.Google Scholar
Dunlayasaatpathiwet, Luang. 2528 [1985]. Pramuan kotmai aayaa phraum duai khamplae phaasaa angkrit (as compiled by Suchaat Jiwachaat) (Krungthep mahaanakhorn: Rongphim jaratsanitthawong.)Google Scholar
Tingsaphat, Jitti. 2510 [1967]. Kham athibai pramuan kotmai aayaa (Explanation of the Criminal Code). Phranakhorn: Rongphim Thai Phitthayaa.Google Scholar
Tingsaphat, Jitti. 2531 [1988]. Kham athibai pramuan kotmai aayaa phaak 2 taun thii I [Explanation of the Criminal Code (Part II Section 1)]. Krungthep: Samnak opromsu'ksaa kotmai haeng netibandittayasaphaa.Google Scholar
Kelly, George A. 1981. “From Lèse-Majesté to Lèse-Natfon.Journal of the History of Ideas, 42:2 (04-06), 269–86.Google Scholar
“Kotmai laksana aayaa,” matraa 98, Pramuan kotmai prajam sok, r.s. 127 [1908].Google Scholar
Tamruat, Krom. 19501989. Raingaan prajam pil, 2493–2532 [Annual Report of the Police Department, 1950–1989].Google Scholar
Merrick, Jeffrey. 1990. The Desacralization of the French Monarchy in the Eighteenth Century. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.Google Scholar
Naeow ruam nak kotmai phu'a prachaachon, klum naksu'ksaa kotmai klum mai. 2518 [1975]. Rai la-i'at khadii prawatisaat minphraborom detchaanuphaap “Thu'ng chap faa jaak khaa chao din” [Details of the Historic Lése-Majesté Case, “From the People of the Sky to the Slaves of the Land”]. Krungthep: Naeow ruam nak kotmai phu'a prachaachon.Google Scholar
Patjariyasaan, . 2530 [1987]. “Khwaamphit thaana minphraborom detchaanuphaap kap kaanpokkhruang rabaup prachaathipatai thii mii phramahaakasat pen pramuk” [The Crime of Lese Majesty and the Constitutional Monarchy]. Patjariyasaan, 14:6 (11 12), 1245.Google Scholar
Phrakraisi, (Thi'am) Khunluang. 2447 [1904]. Lak kotmai aayaa [Principles of Criminal Law] Krungthep: Rongphim Kaung Lahuthot, r.s.Google Scholar
Pramuan khamphiphaaksaa sagn diikaa (PKSD) [Collection of the Decisions of the High Court]. 1939, 1960, 1978, 1988.Google Scholar
PKSD 2482, Decision 1081/2482 [1939]. pp. 1650–3.Google Scholar
PKSD 2503, Decision 51/2503 [1960], 2503 dau. 73, pp. 73–8.Google Scholar
PKSD 2521, Decision 861/2521 [1978], pp. 1327–35.Google Scholar
PKSD 2521, Decision 1294/2521 [1978], pp. 1581–2.Google Scholar
PKSD 2531, Decision 2354/2531 [1988], pp. 888923.Google Scholar
“Phraraatchakamnot laksana minpramaat duai kaanphuut ruu' khi'an thoikham thet auk khotsanaakaan rattanakosin sok 118.” Prachum kotmai pracham sok [1899], vol. 8, p. 14, clause 5, p. 17.Google Scholar
“Raktham Rakthai” [Saman Kongsuphon]. n.d. Kao Raatchakaan [Nine Reigns], “ 2nd edition. ” n.p.Google Scholar
Reynolds, Craig J. 1991. “Sedition in Thai History—A Nineteenth-Century Poem and Its Critics,” in Turton, Andrew and Chitakasem, Manas, eds., Thai Constructions of Knowledge. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, 1536.Google Scholar
Santi Pracha Dhamma Institute, et al. 1993. When Loyalty Demands Dissent: Sulak Sivaraksa and the Charge of Lese Majeste in Siam 1991–1993. Bangkok: Santi Pracha Dhamma Institute, et al., 22 August.Google Scholar
Jenchaijittarawaanit, Somchai. 2531 [1988] (?). Khadii prawatisaat minphraborom detchaanuphaap: Wiira Mutsikaphong tit khuk phrau' kanmu'ang! [A Historic Case of Lèse-Majesté: Wira Mutsikaphong Jailed Because of Politics!]. Krungthep: Samnakngaan phu'a Sawaenghaa Khwaamyuttitham nai Sangkhom.Google Scholar
S[ulak]. Sivaraksa. 1985. Siamese Resurgence. Bangkok: Asian Cultural Forum on Development.Google Scholar
S[ulak]. Sivaraksa. 1993. Conversation with author on September 20. Madison, WI.Google Scholar
S[ulak]. Sivaraksa. n.d. Kaanthotthoi khaung prachaathipatai thai paathakathaa “lauk khraap rau.sau.chau.” khaung s. siwarak sung pen het hai phaubau.thaubau. auk mai jap phuu paat. n.p.: Ongkaan Naksu'ksaa Mahaawitthayaalai Thammasaat.Google Scholar
Amornrattanasak, Surasak, et al. n.d. Nangsuu' ri'an baep betset klum saangsoem prasopkaan chiiwit saupauchau chan prathom su'ksaa pii thii 4 trong taam laksuut prathom su'ksaa ph.s. 2521 khaung krasuang su'ksaathikaan. Krungthep: Samnakphim Suun Songsoem Wichaakaan.Google Scholar
Takeda, Kiyoko. 1988. The Dual-Image of the Japanese Emperor. New York,: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Winichakul, Thongchai. 1993. 'Tuning the Nation: Political Song at War in Thailand, 1973–77. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, Los Angeles, 25 March.Google Scholar
Van Kley, Dale K. 1984. The Damiens Affair and the Unravelling of the Ancien Régime, 1750–1770. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar