[sessoorale]

I read up on one of Singapores top bloggers - Mr Brown from www.mrbrown.com who got himself in trouble with the government because of his sarcastic blogs. The minister blamed him for slanderous remarks hiding behind a pseudonym where no-one can find him.

Oh ya, Mr Brown. He's one of the pioneer Bloggers in Singapore.

I didn't get a chance to read his controvesy post though... I don't know what its about but I know he got fired from the newspaper column..... I think he's on long holidays to another country now. Couple of his supporters almost got into troubles too when they gathered at the MRT wearing Brown T-shirt to show support.....

There're already quite a couple of guys who got into troubles with the law for stuffs they posted on the internet.... 2 guys jailed and fined for racist remarks ... 1 guy almost sued for slendering one of the ministers and was forced to apologised publicly and removed his post on blog,etc.

Oh well, I guess there's no such thing as freedom of speech anymore....

[DownloadMan]

I can agree with you about when not a citizen of a country to keep your mouth shut, if ya don't like it leave.

But I do believe that a citizen of a democratic country should be able to critic the actions of both courts/judges and the actions of the police/Govt. procedures who collect wages from just such citizens.

If such actions are made illegal and citizens are arrested for it or controled in any way as to voicing their opinions then it is not a true democracy.

Seems to me that I remember Joe Stalin and Adolf Hitler controlling things that were said in their "Democracies" too.along with Chairman Mao and Uncle Ho.

[DownloadMan]

And as Steve said, WOW, The illegals from Mexico want to vote in US even and the liberal demos want to give it to em.

Seems like a democratic govt should be only for citizens of that country and not for who so ever happens to just be passing thru, like the Bill Of Rights, and the constitution, a illegal alien is just that illegal, so he should have no rights under the govt. If you are in fact a legal alien then you should be able to enjoy those things too.

[JoesBro]

This from The Nation today underlines what has been said above:

Four jailed for contempt of court

The Criminal Court Thursday sentenced three persons to one month in jail and another to three months in jail for contempt of court.

The four were among 15 people tried for contempt of court and violating the court power when the court made the ruling on the case against the Election Commission on July 25.

The three persons, who got one month jail term, were Thitirat Surattanakulchai, 51, Renu Jitprasarn, 53, and Mali Netkham, 40.

The court reasoned that the three used impolite words to attack the court within the court's compound as if they were hired to do so. As a result, the court declined to suspend the jail term.

Sathien Wipromsiri, leader of a pro-Thaksin group who is an assistant professor of the Mahamakut Buddhist Monk Uiversity, was sentenced to three months in jail.

The court ruled that Sathien apparently incited the people to carryout an unrest and show contempt of court.

Former Chat Thai Party MP Chuwit Kamolvisit escaped the jail term. The court put him on probation for one year without giving him a sentence.

Six other people were also put on probation for one year after expressing their remorse and begging for courts mercy. The court did not hand down sentence on them.

The six were identified as Lawal Suthichaisiri, Walaiporn Phanbuppha, 50, Thammaros Sunthornpol, 49, Yutthana Chaisinson, 34, Wanna Maisithong, 62, and Thananan Prathomsao, 45.

The four remaining person received suspended jail term.

The four were identified as Somchai Radthuay, 34, Sermsak Ekkarat, 64, Somyos Kuangpatra and Suchada Ruamsilp.

The four were initially sentenced to one month in jail and a fine of Bt500 each, but the court commuted the jail term and put them on probation for one year.

[MAKEMONEY]

Just like to share that it is not just under thai law that criticisms of decisions by any court are not tolerated. This is one of the basic underlying concepts or any legal system, whilst the legal system can be criticised, police procedures etc. any attempt to influence a court's decision or even criticism (cos' it will affect future court's decisions) is simply "contempt of court" a criminal offence prosecutable and carrying custodial (jail) sentences in most jurisdictions around the world. Same holds in all common law and civil law systems in the world. Freedom of speech has limits

Secondly, foreigners particularly should exercise restraint when opening their mouths about political, royal and other issues that don't concern them. First, it is not polite. Second, it is not your business and third, If you don't like the way things are here, you can jolly well shove off and go back to your "perfect role model" countries. A true traveller knows how to appreciate EVERY country he goes to, appreciate the differences, the beauty as well as the flaws. Otherwise he would not be here. Same goes for every country.

I myself have travelled to and/or lived in no less than 25 countries in my life...I choose to settle down in Thailand. "res ipsa loquitor"

[weaddercaps]

Just going on from what Allan mentioned about foreigners shutting their mouths when they go to to live in another country.

So, how about all the immigrants living in America and Europe? Try turning around and saying that politics and other such issues don't concern them!

[Caursedus]

It's always best not to rock the apple cart, when dealing with the affairs of other countries, specially when your in that country or planning to go to that country, or posting on a web site that is based in that country.
Besides the fact, there is no country on earth which is perfect, Thailand is at least a middle player in international politics. So it is best to praise Thailand on a web site like this, as there is plenty of things to crow about, specially when you got a Royal family in Thailand that has so much respect internationally and in Thailand.

[Fiesialenp]

Web board banned, claim of lese majesty
University: Closure politically motivated
Bangkok Post, 28th July
KULTIDA SAMABUDDHI

The Midnight University web board, a popular online academic forum, has been banned for containing messages that insult the monarchy. The six-year-old website, founded by prominent scholars from Chiang Mai University including Prof Nithi Eawsriwong, was closed down on Tuesday by the free website provider Thaimisc.com.

''Thaimisc had to shut this web board because it contains inappropriate messages that are offensive to the monarchy,'' said a message posted on the Midnight University's website.

The board was popular with intellectuals and university students in Thailand and abroad, who exchange opinions on social and political issues, including the political situation and the role of the monarchy in Thai politics.

Midnight University's webmaster said the number of visitors to its website had increased from 300,000 in 2000 to two million ''clicks'' per month this year.

Around 600,000 people visited the site's web board per month, many of them Thai scholars and students from overseas.

Todsapol Tungtermsak, owner of Thaimisc.com, which provides free web pages to Midnight University, said he used his ''personal judgement'' in making the decision to close down the web board.

''There is a lot of wording that insults the monarchy on the web board. I can no longer allow them to operate,'' he said.

However, he earlier admitted to the online news agency Prachathai.com that the ban was on the orders of the Information and Communications Technology Ministry and the police.

Chiang Mai university lecturer Somkiat Tangnamo, webmaster of the www.midnightuniv.org site, said closing down the web board was a serious violation of freedom of expression.

The website administrators had no intention of offending the monarchy, but supported ''constructive discussion'' on the role of the monarchy, said Mr Somkiat.

He said a group of people had intentionally flooded the web board with rude words insulting the monarchy in a bid to ''destroy'' the board, because they were unhappy with the opinions critical of the government that appear there.

''The censorship of our web board results from an ongoing competition for political hegemony. I believe that the ban is politically motivated,'' he said.

Thai society was at a crossroads and people needed somewhere to freely discuss the situation and propose their non-mainstream opinions, said Mr Somkiat.

There were around 17,000 topics posted on the web board before it was closed.

Mr Somkiat said the Midnight University was in the process of searching for a new host server to re-launch its web board

[Fiesialenp]

Yes, to add to Steve's comments:

Please don't comment on the royal family or decisions made by the Thai courts.

[N95FzmMw]

Just aside remark. Even in the USA , at the work place,in front of government agencies,etc., there is a time to express and a time to be quiet. Common sense! Brilliant!

[weaddercaps]

For any readers who didn't know:

According to the latest newspaper reports, the police have ordered an investigation into the posters of Internet comments complaining about the court's decision in regards to the latest sentencing of the 3 Election guys.

If they really take this matter seriously, a Thai writer wrote "Some big forums in Thailand could be severely in trouble too for allowing posters to comment criticism and not clamp down"

You can get away with writing & talking about lots of different subjects in Thailand but Thai law is very strict about........criticizing a judge's decision. Unfortunately, this is one law which a lot of people fail to notice and take no care about - includes both Thais and foreigners.

I have met many many Foreigners who live here and complain about such things, but i try to advise them to "Keep your mouth closed" The same goes for posting any criticism whatsoever on the Internet.

[sessoorale]

well, back in Singapore there were some guys who got into troubles with the law for making racist remarks on their blogs.
Some were sued for slendering remarks....

[Leaters]

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/brea...ewsid=30009841

Criminal Court asked police to trace those post criticism against court on Web boards
The Criminal Court has asked the Crime Suppression Division to trace the identities of those who had posted strong criticisms against the court on Web boards.

Than Boonyatulanon, secretary to the Criminal Court chief justice, said he asked CSD commander Pol Maj Gen Winai Thongsong to trace the IP addresses and find who were the ones who post the comments against the court after the court found the three election commissions guilty.

The Nation

[weaddercaps]

well, back in Singapore there were some guys who got into troubles with the law for making racist remarks on their blogs.
Some were sued for slendering remarks....

I read up on one of Singapores top bloggers - Mr Brown from www.mrbrown.com who got himself in trouble with the government because of his sarcastic blogs. The minister blamed him for slanderous remarks hiding behind a pseudonym where no-one can find him. Can't agree with that though! Check out Mr Brown's site and he has hundreds of fotos of him and his family!

[LoveTTatall]

Just aside remark. Even in the USA , at the work place,in front of government agencies,etc., there is a time to express and a time to be quiet. Common sense!

[JackTimQSR]

Seems to me that I remember Joe Stalin and Adolf Hitler controlling things that were said in their "Democracies" too.along with Chairman Mao and Uncle Ho.

I actually have the same birthday as hồ chí minh, which is really strange...

[MAKEMONEY]

Yes..I'm all for freedom of speech for citizens. Actually my comments were targetted at foreigners (like myself). But even for citizens, all countries put limits..to ALL freedoms..some more, some less. For me Thailand's pretty o.k. by Asian standards. (no other countries mentioned but all astute political observers should know where I'm referring to)

[weaddercaps]

www.pantip.com the very popular Thai language forums also closed down over the weekend as the place was getting to charged with commenteers going head to head over the 3 Election guys.

The Webmaster asked them to cool down and come back on Monday. Now, I've read Pantip quite a bit and i don't think the moderators there do much of a moderating job as i found a lot of very nasty semi-illegal stuff posted.