Academics to be disciplined for criticising junta

A network of academics and human rights organisations have called on Thailand’s Mahidol University to drop a disciplinary investigation against faculty members of the university’s Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies, or IHRP, after they issued a statement condemning the ruling junta’s “unchecked and unaccountable use of power”.

IHRP’s 25 February statement condemned the junta’s repeated use of Article 44 of the interim constitution that gives the government sweeping powers to make arrests in the name of enforcing public order and unity.

“The use of Article 44 of the 2014 Interim Constitution... is a use of authoritarian power and a violation of the rule of law. Although the use of the Article is constitutional, it lacks checks and balances and legal legitimacy,” the IHRP statement said.

In response a day later, Mahidol University issued an unsigned statement saying the action of academics and staff at the institute could not be considered an exercise of academic freedom, rather the institute was using the university name without permission and therefore damaging Mahidol’s reputation.

It said members of staff responsible for the statement would face investigation and disciplinary action.

Human Rights Watch last week called on the university to drop the disciplinary action, saying the university was doing “the junta’s dirty work by repressing critical academics voicing their opinions”.

“As one of Thailand’s leading educational institutions, Mahidol University should be a showcase for academic freedom and free speech rather than supporting the punishment of dissenting voices on campus,” said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch in New York.

Academics react

The Thai Academic Network for Civil Rights, which includes dozens of academics from several universities, criticised Mahidol University’s action as “defending the illegitimate power of the junta”, and insisted on the rights of IHRP staff to express their concerns on public matters.

The network’s statement noted that in the past Mahidol academics and staff had also used their university’s titles to join political groups of different leanings, without facing such disciplinary action.

Anusron Unno, a sociology and anthropology professor from Thammasat University, said the IHRP had exercised freedom of speech, which the university had no right to limit. The most important issue, he said, was that the powers-that-be at a university should not abuse their authority selectively.

“People can have different political stances, that’s totally fine. You can get yourself into politics in any way you want as long as you don’t fail to do your job in the university,” Anusron was quoted by The Nation newspaper as saying. “But one thing that cannot be right is abusing your power or position against those whose opinions differ from yours.”

The IHRP statement came after a 64-year-old man committed suicide in protest against the junta’s use of Article 44 against a Buddhist temple in Bangkok. Anawat Thanacharoennat hung himself from a 100-metre high radio mast after the authorities refused to back down from a siege of the Dhammakaya temple whose abbot is currently facing a criminal investigation.

On 15 February, the junta invoked Article 44 to allow security officers to search the temple buildings, make arrests and cut off water or electricity supplies as they saw fit.

IHRP referred to the junta’s action against the temple as a use of Article 44 to violate the rule of law.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, many foreign governments, and rights groups have repeatedly called on the Thai prime minister and junta leader, General Prayut Chan-o-cha, to revoke Article 44 and other provisions of the 2014 interim constitution that allow authorities to operate with impunity and without any legal oversight, according to Human Rights Watch.

The junta claims Article 44 is necessary to tackle corruption, drugs, forest trespassing and other urgent issues.