Pheu Thai wants to change censorship law
Shinawatra's party-ruling with the military in Bangkok-requests changes to one of the military's most widely used tools for control over Thai society. But the ban on potentially negative monachy content would still not be touched.
Bangkok (AsiaNews) - Censorship legislation represses creativity and no longer reflects the evolution of Thai society. Hence the need for change highlighted by the National Committee for the Soft Power Strategy which identified the necessary changes.
The announcement was made by its president Paetongtarn Shinawatra, leader of the ruling Pheu Thai party and daughter of former prime minister Thaksin. Among the changes requested are a stronger presence of the private sector in the video review committee and in general a greater sensitivity towards new ways of expression.
Greater tolerance will be granted to works with religious content but also to explicitly sexual references (so far prohibited) within a new classification which, it has been specified, "will only be an indicator of adequacy and not a tool to control film production".
Among those imposed by censorship on cinematography so far, only the prohibition on screening works in the country that have potentially negative content for the monarchy will remain, protected by the draconian law 112, the use of which to counteract demonstrations of dissent is known and condemned by many, as well as who suffered heavy prison sentences from dozens of opponents.
The modification project should be implemented within a few months, explicitly included in the plan to relaunch the country's image and reactivate its cultural potential capable - it is underlined - of also providing large economic benefits.
Censorship is among the most severe and debated tools of military control over Thailand which has been imposed, albeit in less bloody ways than in the past, from the coup d'état in May 2014 to the elections last spring.
The result of the vote clearly showed the will of the voters to favor a democratic change and to return the armed forces to their original role, excluding them from politics. The subsequent parliamentary events which excluded the winning Move Forward party from the government and led to an unprecedented alliance between Pheu Thai and the largest pro-military party have brought the country back into uncertainty and its contradictions.
Even if the role of Pheu Thai is far stronger, the inevitable concessions to the military-nationalist establishment raises serious doubts about the extent of change. In addition to the interests of the party and its historical representative, the former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, father of Paetongtarn, who returned from voluntary exile in August and has been under arrest in hospital for some time awaiting the expiry of the sentence inflicted during his stay abroad , reduced to one year.
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