Retired Pol Gen Vasit Dejkunjorn is not your average policeman. Apart from winning literary awards, he is regarded as a leading anomaly in the Thai police – an honest copper.

An interview with UN Special Rapporteur Frank La Rue by Cherian George of Nanyang Technology University of Singapore on 13 Jan 2012.

Today I was tremendously affected by things that I saw, so much so that I was at a loss for words. First, in the morning, I saw the Facebook status of a former student of mine. My former student harshly condemned Professor Piyabutr Saengkanokkul and linked to a photo of him from Thai Post newspaper. When I scrolled down, the comments included only further condemnation, including calls to actually harm Professor Piyabutr.

Given the tremendous negative image and loss of reputation Thailand has engendered over the last five or six years arising from vigorous prosecution of lese majesté cases and cases under the Computer  Crime Act, it seems behooving to the state and government to at least clean up the lese majesté act so as to resemble, in international public opinion and in conformance with international agreements Thailand has already signed, a more civilized process.