Sixty scholars from 16 universities have asked the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to better respect their freedom, following the NCPO ban on their latest academic forum on dictatorship.
The Friday evening “Returning Happiness to the People show is slick, even including English subtitles, but has drawn careful criticism from TV watchers in recent weeks - including political comments from academics from 16 universities.
They have signed a petition to protest against the action of soldiers and police to abruptly cut short a forum titled "The Decline of Dictatorships in Foreign Countries" on Thursday. University scholars and organisers took the petition to Khlong Luang police station, Prat Panchakhunathon, lecturer of Chulalongkorn University's faculty of arts, said Sunday.
The Sept 18 forum, held at Thammasat University's Rangsit campus, was joined by scholars including prominent historian Nidhi Eoseewong and Janjira Sombatpoonsiri. The talk was moderated by Prajak Kongkirati.
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The three, with other student organisers, were detained for questioning before being released.
Though the group directed its message to the NCPO, which currently restricts all kinds of political activities, it has not yet decided which agency it will submit the open letter to. On Sunday, members wanted first to unveil their stance publicly to "communicate with society" on the NCPO's policy, Mr Prat said.
The scholars are aware of the NCPO's attempts to prevent circumstances that will lead Thailand back to political conflict and further widen the division among pro- and anti-Thaksin groups.
However, the authorities' action against the participants in the forum was "highly unacceptable", Mr Prat said.
He said he found the claim unconvincing that the forum topic, which is part of the organisers' Democracy Classroom, might affect national security.
A forum, no matter whether it is about domestic or foreign politics, is just a normal academic issue, he said. So far, Mr Prat said, there have never been cases, both in and outside Thailand, where this kind of forum affects national security.
The group of scholars wants the NCPO to stop restricting the freedom of university scholars and students.
"If their basic rights to this intellectual exchange within a university are not respected, how can we pin our hopes that Thailand after its reform will be a country where people's rights are respected?" Mr Prat said.
Academic freedom, he added, is a type of expression that has a low chance of causing harmful impact.
"We do not allow political gatherings now." Col Winthai Suvaree, spokesman for the National Council for Peace and Order, advises critics to send their comments to the junta in writing
NCPO spokesman Col Winthai Suwaree called for understanding of the authorities' need to keep "distance the current atmosphere from political activities".
"If certain agencies want to reflect their problems or make suggestions, they can directly hand in letters to the prime minister and the NCPO chief," he said.
Col Winthai is worried that expressing their views via other channels may lead to the recurrence of social conflicts that put Thailand in stalemate earlier this year.
One of the 60 petitioners, Kanokrat Sathitniramai, a political science lecturer at Chulalongkorn University, said soldiers were putting too strict controls on their academic freedom.
Ms Kanokrat was referring to a requirement that scholars must first send topics that will be discussed in forums for the NCPO's approval.
"That clearly violates academic freedom. With such control, how can we call our work 'really academic'?" she said.
Despite the ongoing controversy over the NCPO's role, soldiers in Chiang Mai province have reportedly asked organisers of another academic forum to cancel it, an academic source said.
The forum, scheduled to be held at Chiang Mai University's faculty of law on Thursday, urges participants to discuss and share their views on happiness and reconciliation under the 2014 interim charter, the source said.
It is co-organised by the university and Konrad Adenauer Foundation, which promotes freedom, justice and solidarity.