The recent death of the Sriburapha Award-winning author Wat Wallayangkoon, who passed away on Monday at the age of 67 in France, is not only a loss for Thailand's literary scene. His life also reflected the struggles and threats that political dissidents living in exile must endure.
Wat epitomised Thai radical political dissident. As a young university student and after having joined protests that led to the October Massacre in 1976, he fled Thailand to live in Laos. Years later, he became a leading figure in the red-shirt movement and subsequently joined the anti-junta government after the 2014 coup. Like some other anti-government dissidents, Wat faced lese majeste charges and fled to a neighbouring country, in his case Laos, after refusing to report to the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). He left Laos to take up residence in France in 2019 after being granted political asylum status.
In France, the late author gave interviews about the kinds of risks political dissidents face.
In an interview with BBC News Thai in July 2019, Wat accused Thai authorities of retribution against the Lao government for allowing him to leave. He further related that he lived in fear following the disappearance in January 2018 of three dissidents who lived next door to him in Laos, and of the depression that would set upon him following the events.
Among those three dissidents was well-known activist Surachai Danwattananusorn. On Jan 22 of the same year, two dismembered bodies were found floating in the Mekong River on the Thai-Lao border. The bodies were believed to be those of Chatchan Bupphawan, or Comrade Phuchana, and Kraidej Luelert, or Comrade Kasalong, both known associates of Surachai according to information provided by Thai police.
In May 2019, another group of three dissidents who fled Thailand disappeared after being arrested in Vietnam. On May 9 that year, Chucheep Chiwasut, who broadcast political commentary to Thailand from exile, and fellow activists Siam Theerawut and Kritsana Thapthai were said to have been turned over to Thai authorities by Vietnam -- an assertion Thai officials flatly denied.
A recent dissident case involves Wanchalerm Satsaksit, a 37-year-old activist wanted in Thailand for allegedly violating the controversial Computer Crime Act, who was dragged into a black vehicle by a group of armed men on a Phnom Penh street in broad daylight in June 2020.
These missing dissidents are categorised as victims of enforced disappearance. The United Nations has documented 80 cases of suspected enforced disappearance and torture in Thailand over the past 15 years. Since the coup, nearly a dozen dissidents-in-exile have gone missing.
It is disturbing that Thai authorities have not followed up on these cases. Instead of doing nothing, they should have conducted probes and striven to investigate what happened to these missing persons, before bringing them home safely and ensuring those responsible stood trial.
Given that many dissidents-in-exile are charged with lese majeste, the authorities should re-examine the implementation of this charge. Since the coup, it has been heavily criticised for being exploited as a way to suppress political opponents.
Some will not agree with the political stances of these dissidents. But regardless of their political viewpoints or any legal charges the dissidents face, they are Thai citizens too and are entitled to state protection, just as was Wat Wallayangkoon and the rest of us.