Instead of threatening, the government should clarify. Instead of turning a few anti-government laser messages into some serious violations of the emergency decree, the government can take the opportunity to shed light on the questions being asked and reach out to its opponents for a change.
Government authorities from Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha down to Deputy Defence Minister Chaichan Changmongkol insisted the army and police must investigate projections of messages related to the May 2010 crackdown on red-shirt protesters onto buildings associated with the incident.
The lit-up message, "Searching for the Truth" appeared at a number of sites where operations to disperse protesters resulted in more than 90 deaths, including Wat Pathum Wanaram, the Democracy Monument and CentralWorld.
The Defence Ministry was also targeted on Sunday.
Photos of the illuminated political messages went viral on social media for a day, with the hashtag "Searching for the Truth" gaining 1.2 million retweets.
On Monday, the Progressive Movement came forward to say it was responsible for projecting the messages.
Pannika Wanich, a member of the movement formed by former executives of the disbanded Future Forward Party, said the messages were "trailers'' to promote the group's activities marking the tenth anniversary of the May 2010 crackdown.
These activities are mainly film screenings and seminars.
Gen Prayut on Tuesday denounced the laser messages as inappropriate and told political groups to refrain from activities that could incite public disorder.
The PM also instructed security forces to investigate the matter and see if those behind the campaign violated any laws.
While it's fair to question whether the political activity is appropriate or not at a time when a majority of people in the country are suffering from the affects of the coronavirus outbreak, to bill it as potentially instigating unrest seems out of proportion.
That the army and police are apparently struggling to determine whether those behind the light message campaign have broken the law indicate the activities are borderline and most likely not a threat to the country's security.
That there has been no damage to any of the buildings involved in the action is evidence that it is harmless.
As for the allegation that the projections could be an attempt to incite public disorder, nothing seems to suggest that scenario is possible, given that most citizens are primarily occupied with surviving the Covid-19 pandemic.
The laser messages may be politically provocative, even anti-government in nature. But they are likely nothing more than that. There seems to be no need for the government to try to stamp them out with excessive force.
Gen Prayut was correct in pointing out the government must stay focussed on mitigating the economic effects of the outbreak. Indeed, this should be the main mission for all state agencies, security forces and police as well.
Instead of sifting through the law to find a way to prosecute the light messengers, it would be more prudent for the authorities to respond by providing information and transparency.
A heavy-handed response and intimidation by state authorities could otherwise turn a light provocation into a real threat.