Visiting Thailand? Bring the Economist With You

As you cannot buy this weeks edition in Thailand.

From the BBC:

The latest edition of UK-based current affairs magazine the Economist has been banned in Thailand, amid local anger over its coverage of the royal family.

The Economist’s Thai distributor held back Friday’s issue – which contains an article about an Australian writer who was jailed for slandering the monarchy.

Last month another edition was banned because of an article questioning the Thai king’s role in public life.

Thailand’s laws against lese-majeste are among the strictest in the world.

The Economist sent an e-mail to its Asia subscribers stating: “This week our distributors in Thailand have decided not to deliver the Economist in light of our coverage relating to the Thai monarchy.”

The edition contains an article about Australian writer Harry Nicolaides, who was sentenced to three years in a Thai jail for insulting the monarchy.

Nicolaides wrote a novel four years ago, which contained a brief passage referring to an unnamed crown prince. It sold just seven copies.

He admitted the charge of insulting the royal family, but said he was unaware he was committing an offence.

Official crackdown

Nicolaides is just one of a growing number of people being investigated and charged under Thailand’s lese-majeste law, as the police and army try to suppress what they fear is a rising tide of anti-monarchy sentiment.

And the newly-installed Democrat Party government has said that protecting the royal family is a top priority.

More than 3,000 websites have now been blocked, and one political activist was jailed for six years in November for an anti-monarchy speech she made just a stone’s throw from the old royal palace last July.

Several other people are now awaiting trial.

The Economist itself has fallen foul of the lese-majeste law in the past.

In 2002 an edition of the magazine containing a survey about Thailand was also banned.

About faranginbangkok

I began working in Bangkok during 2008- a time that featured a great deal of political unrest in Thailand and particularly Bangkok. I had lived in San Francisco for 15 years and was working on a project in Thailand. Generally, I spent 2 weeks in Bangkok and then 3-4 weeks in San Francisco. Did Bangkok begin to feel like home? Yes, and No. Bangkok and the Thai culture forced me to feel many things, the change in culture and environment was so dramatic it forced the decision- embrace or ignore. I embraced and made Bangkok my home and base in 2009. I have enjoyed living in Bangkok, experiencing Thailand and the entire ASEAN region. I moved to Singapore in 2016...fallen behind on this blog since.
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