You've got to hand it to Ekachai Hongkangwan. Like him or not, the man keeps coming back for more.
Last Monday Ekachai got the life kicked out of him right outside the halls of justice, namely the Bangkok Criminal Court. He got off a bus, then four men wearing bicycle helmets beat the living daylights out of him.
This was in full view of the busy Monday morning, back-to-school traffic. According to Ekachai, the attack lasted two minutes and there were many bystanders -- including Bangkok Criminal Court security guards, who stood and watched.
Ekachai broke his right hand and a rib and his face was badly bruised. He ended up in hospital overnight.
The attack is disturbing on a number of levels. On its most shallow, it is worrisome that one can get beaten up right in front of the hallowed halls of the Criminal Court. You would think that would be one of the more safer places in the city. It does promote the widely-held view that security guards in Thailand serve no purpose other than to keep young rural men gainfully employed, albeit on minimum wage.
Oh but let us forgive cowardly upcountry boys. The more disturbing fact is that this was not an isolated incident in Ekachai's life. It was the ninth time in 15 months the man has been attacked.
Nine times! Most of those attacks have taken place in public. Nobody seems willing to lend a hand with the sole exception of foreign tourists in one of those nine incidents, which will be explained in a moment.
I think if I were attacked once I'd be shaken up. By the second or third time, I'd be making serious considerations about my life choices and convictions. But nine times? Either the man is a sucker for punishment -- or he is scaring someone really, really badly.
It needs to be revealed at this point that Ekachai Hongkangwan is a well-known pro-democracy activist who has fought a relentless battle to highlight -- or, rather, remind us all that this current government is in power via a military coup d'etat rather than any democratic process, such as an election. Over the past four years he has ignored the junta's ban on public protests. He's a red shirt whose life is dedicated to promoting the red-shirt cause, which may or may not appeal to your personal politics. That is not the point.
He never protests in a violent fashion. The man has a wicked sense of humour and when it is directed towards higher institutions, he becomes a master of highlighting the theatre of the absurd.
Ekachai was the man who tried to present deputy prime minister Prawit Wongsuwan with a couple of wristwatches at the height of the luxury watch scandal last year. He did it outside Parliament House. Thanks to being somewhat thespian in his performances, he always attracts an audience -- usually an unprecedented number of police or military officers, as well as those lurkers in motorbike helmets. Unfortunately, when that audience expresses its displeasure, they throw brickbats … literally.
That protest regarding the luxury wristwatches earned him a drubbing by person or persons unknown. Four days later he was attacked again at a bus stop. Then he was beaten up in front of his house. In August he was thrashed with a wooden club. Another time somebody threw fermented fish, that smelly ingredient of so many Thai dishes, over him.
In January his car was torched. In April it was torched again, this time beyond repair by four unknown assailants. The attack was captured on video but to date, nobody has been arrested.
Ironically a group of tourists saved him during one attack on Jan 19. He'd been at one of his usual protests and was going home, around Thammasat University and Pin Klao bridge, when four motorcyclists converged on him. Why this constant group of four? About 10 foreign tourists came to his aid and chased away the motorcyclists. That certainly gives them something to share when they return home.
Fists. Fire. Wooden clubs. Fermented fish. Someone is pulling out all stops.
As stated, Ekachai is a showman and his politics may or may not appeal to you. We have to look above that, and instead wonder what it is about the man that requires four masked men to be waiting around for him so often and so ubiquitously. On the whole he does not rant and rave, and when he does, it is often tongue in cheek. He is a peaceful protester, and protest is a fundamental tenet to democracy.
It is unfortunate that protesting is a dirty word in this country, and was something that was quickly quashed when this government came to power in 2014 so that Thailand could be "returned to a democracy". Read that as you will.
Democracy welcomes debate and protest. This is uncomfortable for Thailand but in this modern era of instant information, opposing voices will never be quashed. Whoever is going to form the new government will have to live with that.
But who keeps ordering four masked men to assault Ekachai? I cannot answer that question, for I don't know. I do wonder what makes Ekachai so dangerous that he needs to be intimidated. He's not waving a gun about. He's well-known in protest circles but hardly a superstar. Nor is he fabulously wealthy; he lives in a modest Lat Phrao townhouse, and that torched car was a second-hand gift from his mother from 1999.
So why the constant attacks? They're clearly not working. Being attacked is never going to silence Ekachai, who uses social media expertly in seeking attention after each incident.
All roads lead to the conclusion that Ekachai is being bullied into submission by person or persons unknown.
Such a line of thinking can only segue into the intriguing case of Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, who also is being bullied at the expense of democracy. It is beyond absurd to hit Thanathorn with sedition charges based on a protest four years ago. The very definition of sedition is that by helping pro-democracy protesters escape detention (via his mother's van), Thanathorn shook the foundations of Thai society by inciting people to overthrow the government. All that by simply borrowing Mum's car.
The fact is, four years later Thai society's foundations are still rock solid and the government certainly was not overthrown. In other words, it didn't happen. People did not overthrow the government. Time has proven the accusation to be groundless.
This is the ultimate irony; the sedition charge is, in itself, more seditious than anything Thanathorn did four years ago.
These are uncomfortable political times for Thailand. One would argue that this country has never had a smooth ride when it comes to politics, and indeed, when Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha in 2014 promised to bring happiness back to the people, one wonders which happy era he was specifically referring to. Nevertheless, we have had the elections and that means we are on a path back to democracy. We can always look to the future with hope. Let's focus on that, and stop bullying the likes of Ekachai. He, like the country, has wounds that need to heal.
