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“There was fear lurking within me, a deep fear of the consequences,” says Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul.
In August, the 21-year-old nervously took to a stage in Thailand and launched an open challenge to the monarchy.
To the applause of thousands of students at one of Thailand’s top universities, he read a now famous 10-point manifesto calling for the reform of the monarchy.
It was a shocking move. Thais are taught from birth to revere and love the monarchy, but also to fear the consequences of talking about it.
‘Life will never be the same’
Thailand is one of the few countries with a lese majesty law. Anyone who criticizes the king, queen, heir apparent or regent could be jailed for up to 15 years.
But in recent months, pro-democracy protests have spread across the country, and students like Panusaya are at the center.
“I knew my life would never be the same again,” he later told BBC News Thai.
Panusaya had been shown the manifesto a few hours before she read it at a large protest in the capital Bangkok. He called for a monarchy accountable to elected institutions, a proposal to cut the royal budget, and for the monarchy to refrain from interfering in politics, statements that were shocking to most Thais.
“They handed it to me, they asked me if I wanted to use it. At that time, everyone felt that the content was extraordinarily strong and I also thought it was very strong. I decided to be that person who says so.
“I held hands with my fellow students and asked them out loud if we were doing the right thing here,” says Panusaya.
“The answer was yes, it is the right thing to do. Then I sat down again, smoked a cigarette before going on stage and letting out everything that was in my head. “
From the stage, he told the crowd: “All humans have red blood. We are no different.
“No one in this world is born with blue blood. Some people may be born more fortunate than others, but no one is born more noble than anyone. “
Panusaya’s speech caused an uproar: a combination of applause from liberal academics and condemnation from the realist media, mixed with disbelief from many Thais.
‘Hating your own country is a disease’
In the days after the demonstration, the Facebook pages of the main royalist activists were full of attacks on Panusaya, some accused her of being manipulated by Republican politicians, which she denied.
Apirat Kongsompong, a powerful general in a country that is still essentially controlled by the military, said protesters were affected by the “chung chart,” a Thai term meaning “hatred of the nation,” adding that that was “even worse than the terrible pandemic. ” ”.
“Hating your own country is a disease that is not curable,” he said.
However, Panusaya says that even as a child she remembers questioning the position of the royal family in Thai life.
On a sweltering day, an official appeared at the door and asked his family to leave their home and sit on the sidewalk waiting for a royal caravan.
“Why do we have to go out in the sun for half an hour to see a caravan go by? I had no idea what was going on. I didn’t go out to join the waiting crowds. “
The youngest of three sisters, she showed an interest in politics from the beginning. In high school, talking politics with her close friends was one of her favorite hobbies. When a coup occurred in 2014, her father, the only one in the family who was following politics at the time, encouraged her to find out more.
But Panusaya was shy growing up and was bullied at school. They spent five months in a student exchange program in the United States that completely changed her.
“I came home a different person who was not afraid to speak and act.”
She became increasingly politically active after entering the prestigious Thammasat University. Two years ago, she joined the “Dome Revolution”, a political party of the student union.
In February, he helped organize the first whirlwind pro-democracy protests after the dissolution of the Future Forward Party, a reformist party popular with younger voters that dissolved after a controversial court ruling that it had accepted illegal loans from its own leader.
The party did well in the 2019 elections, and its supporters saw its dissolution as an attempt to eliminate its growing political influence.
But these weren’t the only events that inspired young people to join Thailand’s growing student-led pro-democracy movement in recent years.
King Maha Vajiralongkorn, who inherited the throne in 2016, is rarely seen in public and spends most of his time abroad, especially after the country was hit by the coronavirus pandemic, a decision criticized by some. Thais on social media.
Thailand has also witnessed a series of corruption scandals. The most controversial was the decision to drop criminal charges against the heir to the energy drink company Red Bull in connection with a fatal traffic accident in 2012.
The Thai government says it respects freedom of expression and tolerates criticism, but that students must exercise their rights within the law and must not threaten national security.
But the students fear for their safety. At least nine activists who have fled abroad since the 2014 coup against the military government have disappeared after criticizing Thailand’s most revered institution. The bodies of two of them were later found on the banks of a river.
The Thai government has vehemently denied that it had anything to do with these disappearances.
Panusaya says that since the night she delivered the manifesto, her movements have been monitored by authorities day and night both on campus and in her bedroom.
“Although they are dressed in civilian clothes, I can say that they are policemen, since they have the same hairstyle and always take pictures of me in public places.”
She has not yet been arrested and says she will never turn herself in to authorities.
Nor has she been charged with lese majesty – the laws have been used less in recent years, at the request of the palace – but the police have issued an arrest warrant on charges of sedition, spreading false information on a computer network and violating disease. control laws, as the protests circumvented coronavirus restrictions.
The sedition charge alone carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years.
And like other students who have been accused of “crossing the line,” Panusaya also faces tension at home.
His mother is among those horrified by his decision and begged him not to go to the rally.
For five days later, they did not speak.
“Obviously my mother is worried, but she doesn’t show it and acts normal when I’m around. But when she’s with my older sister, she cries sometimes, ”she says.
Her mother later relented, saying she could do whatever she wanted, but warned her to stay away from mentioning the monarchy.
But now, as she prepares for a rally on September 19, Panusaya is mentally preparing for prison. The demonstration will demand various reforms: the monarchy, the army, the constitution and education.
“I think my mom should understand that we don’t do it for fun. This is serious and we have to do it. We see it as our duty, so she must understand. I want her to be proud. “
