In this battle of semantics, we all lose

In this battle of semantics, we all lose

How to know if someone is stupid? This is not a trick question. Seriously, I really want to know.

I have been obsessed with this question after hearing the debate over the "stupid" jibe made by Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the Democrat Party, which instantly became the hottest topic in town.

The opposition leader played with the word _ an antonym of the word "smart" _ as he was mentioning the "Smart Lady" contest project that was launched earlier last week by prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

The mockery prompted Pheu Thai party members _ male and female _ to challenge the opposition leader, accusing him of insulting their leader who is known for her attractiveness.

But how can we say Ms Yingluck is stupid? We cannot say that. By conventional standards, she is not. Look at her education. She graduated with a degree from the United States at the university where her brother earned his degree. She has run the country for two years. She has repeatedly assured us that it is she who makes all the important administrative decisions _ not her brother who is in self-exile. Before she moved into the political field, Ms Yingluck was the big boss of a multi-billion-baht telecommunications empire which is a family business _ a job that a "stupid" woman could never do.

Yet people around the prime minister still think it's necessary to counter Mr Abhisit's word, or words. In this case, they have twisted it into a gender issue, resulting in women quarrelling with each other.

I am not sure if they realise that such a reaction could only make the matter worse, much worse.

Take the case of the raed mockery, perpetrated by Mallika Boonmeetrakool, a female MP from the Democrat Party.

Ms Mallika posted on her Facebook page a picture of the prime minister while she was visiting the Kui Buri National Park in Prachuap Khiri Khan. She allegedly blotted out the park's sign next to Ms Yingluck and replaced it with another sign that read "sua, sing, krating" (tiger, lion, bull), leaving one word raed, or rhino, to the readers' imagination.

For those who still have no clue, raed, apart from being a name of the aggressive, large, thick-skinned animal, is an insulting word that was widely used in the early 1970s to describe a slut or a young woman who fails to behave. I have no idea if modern-day people still know this slang,

Maybe not, since I have never heard young people use it. Language evolves all the time.

Ms Mallika's photo prompted the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), which is obviously dying to please the prime minister, to take the case under consideration as it interpreted the posting to mean that the MP aimed to make people match the prime minister with that insulting word. It alleged that what Ms Mallika did was a distortion of information. Publishing false information, the DSI insists, is a violation of the computer crime law.

To pursue the case, deemed as trivial by many people, the DSI is seeking advice from Royal Institute scholars to see whether it merits the effort of investigation and whether the law can be enforced.

We don't yet know the decision of the scholars who have to give up their precious time to take this matter in hand.

Of course, no person in their right mind would agree with Ms Mallika's action. But the DSI's move makes the organisation a laughing stock.

What the MP deserves in this case is perhaps a slap on the wrist, not a lawsuit.

By taking the raed mockery too seriously, the DSI has in effect revived this obsolete, almost forgotten term for wayward women. Some people may wonder what actions the prime minister has taken to deserve being referred to in such a way.

Instead of allowing this trivial case to fade from the public memory (perhaps it might just have simply gone unnoticed from the beginning, who knows?), the DSI's action is tantamount to continually reminding the public time and again of this mockery, which even an idiot knows is not good for the prime minister.


Ploenpote Atthakor is deputy editorial pages editor, Bangkok Post.

Ploenpote Atthakor

Former editorial page Editor

Ploenpote Atthakor is former editorial pages editor, Bangkok Post.

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