Thailand’s Ultra-Monarchists Export Vigilante Justice

The rise of ultra-monarchism and harsh penalties for speaking against the monarchy in Thailand are heightening political conflict and tension throughout the diaspora. “Part-absurd, part chilling, the case highlights how the ever harsher application in Thailand of lèse-majesté laws protecting the frail 86-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej is spilling across continents in uncontrolled and unpredictable ways,” explains Michael Peel for Financial Times, reporting on a handful of cases of death threats and vandalism involving Thais living overseas. “Analysts say the prosecutions have proved an effective weapon for the conservative royalist and militarist urban elite in their power struggle against the political machine of Thaksin Shinawatra, the self-exiled former prime minister whose parties have won a string of elections with the support of the rural poor.” Foreign governments warn against royal vigilantism and suggest that Thai lèse-majesté laws are no defense outside the country. – YaleGlobal