Army moves forward on the cyber front

The Defence Minister has ordered all military units to monitor and subdue any subversive actions against the monarchy in cyber space and at political rallies.  But months before this order, Provincial Army ROTC Training Centre 33, based in Chiang Mai, had already had high school students vow their loyalty on YouTube, and recently set up a web service for any citizen to report offensive websites.

On 15 Jan, Col Thanathip Sawangsang, spokesperson of the Ministry of Defence, said that Defence Minister Gen Pravit Wongsuwan, former Army Chief and member of 19 Sept 2006 junta, ordered all military units to carry out their duty to protect the monarchy as the top priority in their annual plans.  All commanders must employ all their resources to monitor and suppress any offences against the monarchy, and work with the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology to block websites and prosecute those who are responsible.

Military personnel have to monitor public rallies, and coordinate with police on any offences, the army spokesperson said.

The Defence Minister also ordered military forces to conduct activities to celebrate the occasion of His Majesty the King’s 84th birthday on 5 Dec 2011, including activities involving youth in reverence of the monarchy, royally-initiated development projects in watershed areas, the 8,400-rai tree-planting project in honour of the King, special lectures on the dissemination of information about Royal Projects, the United People Project on the occasion of His Majesty’s 84th year, etc.

In mid 2009, Provincial Army ROTC Training Centre 33 (ROTC 33) had a contingent of high-school students undergoing compulsory military training record video clips posted at YouTube, worshipping and defending the monarchy in English.
 
 
 
Recently, ROTC 33 set up a web page for the purpose of monitoring websites regarding the monarchy.
 
The web page, officially claimed to be developed by students of the elitist Montfort College in Chiang Mai, provides fields for visitors to report websites either revering or offending the monarchy.
 
According to the web page, as of 16 Jan 2010, 234 loyal websites have been reported, and 176 offensive websites of which 24 have already been rebutted.
 
Because the web page allows anyone to report freely, Sameskyboard.com, liberalthai.wordpress.com and YouTube are reported as both loyal and offensive, while Manager, the rightist Serithai webboard and ROTC 33 itself are reported as offensive.
 
Prachatai, of course, falls under the category ‘offensive’.
 
On the main page of ROTC 33, there is a link to a video clip, claimed to be made by a foreigner who repents having offended the Thai monarchy. 
 
The ROTC 33 has also set up a community radio station, with daily broadcasts between 6AM and 9PM on FM 103MHz [presumably for local audiences in and around Chiang Mai].
 
The Naresuan Taskforce has also posted a similar video clip of a ROTC trainee.
 
 
According to a Post Today report on 16 Dec 2009, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban asked all ministries to include in their strategies the protection of the monarchy, such as activities promoting Democracy with the King as Head of State and the Sufficiency Economy.
 
The policy to protect the monarchy as part of the national security strategy is to revere the monarchy, to have the people involved in maintaining peace and order, and to develop mechanisms to prevent offences against the monarchy.

Comments

This is Propaganda/PsyOps 101

This is Propaganda/PsyOps 101 for the poor kids in ROTC.

  1. operate exclusively on the emotional plane
  2. discover a person revered for his/her own character, failing that one revered for being revered : define the icon
  3. attach yourself to the icon
  4. when you are attacked, assert that the icon is being attacked (see 3 above)
  5. when people protest, in the sense of "object to" rather than the sense of "solemnly declare or aver", assert that any attempt to remove your whole conflation from the emotional plane, to subject it to rational scrutiny, is itself not just criticism of your position but by extension an attack upon the icon itself (see 3 above)

The poor kids are manipulated. Caused to act as they do out of gratitude and duty, for their very lives and positions. And once they have become "made men", once they have turned others in on the basis of the others' perceived, insufficient reverence to the icon then they are no longer defending the icon but themselves, based upon their own acts of betrayal to their fellows, however far removed those fellows may seem from themselves.

Thus do they rob HM the King of his humanity :

...that the King can do no wrong is very much an insult to the King, because why can the King do no wrong... why can not the King do wrong... because this shows that they regard that the King is not human...

In rhetorical response HM King Bhumipol reasserts his own humanity : "But the King can do wrong."

Those who make an icon of HM King Bhumipol, and by extension of the monarchy, and at third remove of themselves... doth protest too much... thinks I. Protest as in solemnly declare and aver allegiance.

And what follows, or precedes, too much protestation of that sort is betrayal.

There is a question as to who

There is a question as to who the real pawn is. While major pieces are on the board the actual players are outside, choosing strategy and directing moves.

And that nice Mister Abhisit

And that nice Mister Abhisit just finished telling us how everything was fine and dandy on the lese majeste front. Another one of his lies to the foreign audience.

Yes I too saw "Veggie" our

Yes I too saw "Veggie" our old etonian goody two shoes.It was really funny reading his body language as he scratched his nose everytime an awkward question was put to him.He did apologise to Prachatai.com though!! so there is now clear water between him and his coaltion partners who are saying Prachatai.com is "subversive".Did you also notice he talked about his new book?....Isn't that a sign of the begining of the end for him? he now realises that the job of jockey on top of the military machine is impossible.

I'd like to report an

I'd like to report an extremely offensive website, here: [...] and here: [...]  These site contain incredibly foul videos of [...] frolocking around half naked eating birthday cake from the floor!! You have to see them. Please ask the Thai army to take action against these sites immediately. These high quality videos are disgusting! Thanks.

These comments like yours

These comments like yours fuel the anti Monarch protests. Get a life and ignore the stupidity of it all. When the King dies, all havoc will reign Thailand.

Really? All Havoc...is that a

Really? All Havoc...is that a Scandinavian name? I'm sure I haven't seen any references to a Scandinavian pretender. Where does your information come from?

'No oppressive order could

'No oppressive order could permit the oppressed to begin to question: Why?'- Paulo Freire, "Pedagogy of the Oppressed".

Aristotle said long ago that amongst all human inventions, two enterprises are entailed with the most complex nature: the art of government and the art of education.

I wonder when will both begin in the Thai Nation?

Thanks submarine. I seem to

Thanks submarine. I seem to come to the conclusion that it's best to express yr voice rather than trying to conform, because after all, i don't really care what they think. Sometimes it's fun too not to be part of any tribe bec there's no need to worry abt superficial forms of relationships .

Sorry for off-topic

Sorry for off-topic comment:last time Michael mentioned something about setting up thread on books/literary discussion (might be good if it is also related to politics/culture). wonder if we can have such a thread here (@Prachatai) or maybe someone (Michael and Submarine can set up a literary blog so that people who are interested can join/share their opinions? Even Plaadip (our long lost friend) might be tempted to join and enlighten us on Japanese literature.)

I would like to share with

I would like to share with you all my opinion,.....unfortuneately I am worried that it might be against the law.So I will shut up and be a good little boy.

'Sometimes it's fun too not

'Sometimes it's fun too not to be part of any tribe bec there's no need to worry abt superficial forms of relationships .'-- Anybody who said this is fit enough for the art of Teaching- wish I have this courage. I have a blog- Nocturnal- words about music and that tribal bond called human communities. There'll also be politics, lots of it. I'll update it some time next month- bit busy now.

Thailand is not the only

Thailand is not the only country which has Spooks on Campus

[A]cross the past five years, without a word of public debate, let alone concern the CIA, has successfully implanted spy schools on 22 university campuses across the country, many of them labeled “Intelligence Community Centers of Academic Excellence” – ICCAE, pronounced “Icky”...

In the last four years ICCAE has gone further in bringing government intelligence organizations openly to multiple American university campuses than any previous intelligence initiative since World War Two. Yet the program spreads with little public notice, media coverage, or coordinated multi-campus resistance.

Tenured professors on ICCAE campuses, or on campuses contemplating ICCAE programs, need to use their tenure and speak out, on the record, in public... the split between the public and private reactions to ICCAE has helped usher the CIA silently back onto American university campuses. The intelligence community thrives on silence.

Does Thailand have tenured professors... professors whose jobs cannot be taken away in the event that they raise their voices in protest or dissent?.