Thailand protests: missing activist Wanchalerm fuels challenge to military, royal elite
The sister of a Thai activist who disappeared during his self-exile in Cambodia believes her brother's suspected abduction has helped galvanise the current pro-democracy movement against the unpopular government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha.
Wanchalerm Satsaksit was in June pulled into a van on a Phnom Penh street in broad daylight and has not been seen since. Rights groups have called on Cambodia and Thailand to investigate the incident, which was partly captured on security cameras.
The 37-year-old, who fled an arrest warrant issued by Thailand's junta in 2014, continued to post satirical attacks against Prayuth's government from abroad, fuelling suspicions he was abducted.
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Anti-government protests have rocked the Thai capital in recent months. Photo: EPA
His sister, Sitanan Satsaksit, who addressed university students at a human rights forum on Wednesday night, was adamant the Thai state knows something about her brother's disappearance. Thai officials have strenuously denied these claims and Cambodia has said it has no leads.
"The state has some involvement in his disappearance and I have said this many times," Sitanan said.
Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher on Thailand in Human Rights Watch's Asia division, said: "[Wanchalerm's disappearance] was a message to the Thai people: don't dare to speak up, don't dare to challenge.
"This message is not acceptable any more, the people will not be cowed into submission ... they are fighting back now so there will not be anyone else ending up like Wanchalerm again."
A Thai pro-democracy activist flashes the three-fingered salute during an anti-government protest in Bangkok. Photo: EPA
Indeed, a "Save Wanchalerm" hashtag widely shared on Thai social media now appears not only in relation to news about the activist's disappearance but is also being used to amplify broader claims of state repression.
Eight other prominent activists in exile have gone missing since Prayuth first took power in a 2014 coup. The bodies of two of them who fled to Laos - Kraidej Luelert and Chatchan Buphawan - were in January 2019 found in the Mekong river, disembowelled and stuffed with rocks.
"Many people don't even know my brother but they come out to protest because they think what happened to him was cruel," Sitanan said. "They demand answers so no one else suffers like this again."
Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha during the special session of Parliament in Bangkok. Photo: AP
Faced with intensifying protests and demonstrators ignoring the state of emergency regulations banning gatherings, the government has seesawed between on one hand using force such as water cannons and mass arrests of protest leaders, and on the other hand allowing the peaceful street movement to continue.
Prayuth on Wednesday spoke to reporters after a special Parliament session to discuss the ongoing political crisis. He said he was amenable to one of the three demands by demonstrators: amending elements of the constitution drafted under military rule. But he has refused to resign and avoided commenting on the calls for reforms to the constitutional monarchy.
Much of the protesters' anger is directed at Prayuth for allowing the army a back door into Thailand's political foundations through a constitution written by establishment allies and for his failure to revive a stagnating economy in the years before the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, divisions between young and old Thais have deepened - the former often regard the palace as remote and instead want genuine democracy and freedoms, while the latter can broadly be described as royalist conservatives raised on belief in the monarchy as the central pillar of Thai society.
By pulling the monarchy to the centre of their calls for reform, the democracy movement has provoked resistance from arch-royalists or "yellow-shirts" - so-called after the royal colour they wear.
They consider it acceptable to attack the government but not the palace, which has traditionally been cast as above politics.
Yellow-shirt rallies in defence of the monarchy have begun and there are fears the minor scuffles with pro-democracy protesters could escalate into more serious violence.
"The young people out on the streets protesting are not our enemy," prominent arch-royalist Warong Dechgitvigrom told a crowd of hundreds of yellow-shirts waving Thai flags and holding portraits of royals on Wednesday evening. "Our true enemy - the enemy of state - are a handful of traitors who we must expel."
It is ominous language in a country where allegations of treason against the monarchy have in the past led to bloody clashes and crackdowns on pro-democracy movements.
The tensions now play out daily on social media. A video of a schoolgirl apparently being slapped by a food vendor for sitting down during the national anthem at a railway station was shared on Wednesday while anecdotes abound of family splits over politics and celebrities from both sides declare their colours online.
Bin Bunluerit, a famous actor lauded for his fundraising work for the poor, on Tuesday showed his "yellow" credentials by calling the protesters "evil" for disrespecting the monarchy.
In recent days, King Maha Vajiralongkorn has made several public appearances, meeting and greeting royalists in rare candid encounters that were later posted on social media.
Analysts said his public relations push - unusual for a monarch does not often address the Thai public - has motivated the yellow-shirts to make their voices heard as Thailand takes a turn towards greater uncertainty.
"The swiftness with which public criticism of the monarchy has appeared and proliferated has clearly unnerved many royalists," said Matt Wheeler, senior analyst at Southeast Asia International Crisis Group.
"Many of them are agitated, and they are likely to demand that the government act more forcefully to silence those questioning the monarchy's role. It is not hard to envision some royalist elements taking matters into their own hands."
While there has been little international reaction - beyond Germany responding to demands to scrutinise whether the king has broken any laws by spending most of his time in Bavaria - Prayuth has suggested foreign interference is inflaming the political crisis.
"International reactions have got nothing to do with me," Prayuth said on Wednesday. "But for us here in Thailand, we must be aware of any group's hidden agenda. I want to send a message to international organisations in Thailand that when you reside and work in Thailand they should be a help in governing the country and respect the rule of law."
There are further protests planned for the coming days and missing posters of Wanchalerm will again be prominent.
"We're at the point in our country's history where things have been swept under the carpet for far too long and they are starting to bulge out," said Yada Aursuktrakul, 24, at an event as Wanchalerm's sister spoke. "You can't keep secrets any longer from the people. They demand the truth."
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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