A military court delayed a decision yesterday on whether to prosecute a prominent historian and social critic who suggested a famed duel on elephant-back won by a Thai king against a Burmese prince 500 years ago may not have happened.
The 84-year-old Sulak Sivaraksa was charged by police last October under the country’s draconian lese majeste law that protects the monarchy from libel and defamation. The military court agreed to Mr Sulak’s request to hear views from experts and historians and set a new hearing for Jan 17.
Mr Sulak told reporters outside the court that “to live in this country you must have a sense of humour because my case is nonsensical”. He said it would be impossible for Thais to learn history if commenting on King Naraesuan, who led the famous 1593 battle that is celebrated as an armed forces holiday, is considered illegal.
The case stems from remarks Mr Sulak made in 2014 when he urged a university seminar to think critically about Thai history.
“The junta’s abusive use of the lese majeste law has reached a new height of absurdity when a prominent scholar is charged with a criminal offence for questioning the occurrence of a 16th-century battle,” said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch.
“Academic freedom and free speech in Thailand will suffer devastating blows if the trial against Mr Sulak proceeds.”
Mr Sulak is a well-known academic and proclaimed royalist but an outspoken critic of the lese majeste law. He has previously faced at least five lese majeste charges. British writer and historian Chris Baker said there are at least 10 different accounts of the elephant battle told in Thai, Burmese and French.