{"id":12468,"date":"2024-01-31T22:54:24","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T17:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asia.businessupturn.com\/?p=12468"},"modified":"2024-01-31T22:54:24","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T17:24:24","slug":"thai-court-orders-halt-to-move-forward-partys-efforts-to-reform-royal-insult-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/southeast-asia\/thailand\/thai-court-orders-halt-to-move-forward-partys-efforts-to-reform-royal-insult-law\/12468\/","title":{"rendered":"Thai court orders halt to Move Forward Party\u2019s efforts to reform Royal Insult Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Move Forward Party (MFP), which emerged victorious in the previous election, was instructed to cease its campaign advocating for reforms to the nation\u2019s stringent royal defamation laws on Wednesday.\u00a0 This ruling came from a top court, which deemed the party\u2019s policy initiative unlawful.<\/span><\/p>\n

The MFP, which secured a majority of seats in last year\u2019s election, ran on a progressive platform that included a bold proposal to amend the lese majeste law. This law imposes harsh penalties of up to 15 years in prison for each perceived insult directed at Thailand\u2019s revered monarch.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the party\u2019s pledges to overhaul not only the military and business monopolies but also the lese majeste laws unsettled Thailand\u2019s influential conservative elite. As a result, then-leader Pita Limjaroenrat was prevented from assuming the role of prime minister, and the MFP found itself excluded from the ruling coalition.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Constitutional Court\u2019s ruling on Wednesday concluded that the MFP\u2019s advocacy for reforming Thailand\u2019s strict laws safeguarding King Maha Vajiralongkorn amounted to an endeavour to \u201cundermine the monarchy\u201d. <\/span>The court stated that the proposed amendments to the royal defamation law suggested an intention to disconnect the monarchy from the Thai nation, which was viewed as a considerable risk to the state\u2019s security.<\/span><\/p>\n

The court further emphasized that certain restrictions on the exercise of rights and freedoms were necessary to safeguard the country\u2019s security, maintain peace, and order, and uphold moral standards. Consequently, it mandated Pita and the MFP to immediately cease their campaign for lese majeste reform.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pita, who relinquished his position as party leader last year, recently returned to parliament after the same court acquitted him of violating election laws\u2014a verdict that could have potentially barred him from political participation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prior to the court\u2019s ruling, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the former leader of the Future Forward Party\u2014a precursor to the MFP dissolved by court order\u2014asserted that the lese majeste law should be open for discussion. He argued that laws are not immutable and can be amended by human hands, suggesting that failure to do so might indicate underlying issues within the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

The lese majeste law, designed to protect the king\u2014a figure of reverence and semi-divinity in Thai society\u2014from insult, has faced criticism for its broad interpretation, effectively shielding the royal family from any form of criticism or ridicule. Recent instances include a man receiving a 50-year prison sentence for Facebook posts deemed insulting to the monarchy, and another individual jailed for two years for selling satirical calendars featuring rubber ducks that were deemed defamatory.<\/span><\/p>\n

The reform of the lese majeste law, also known as Article 112, was a central theme of the mass protests that rocked Bangkok in 2020. These demonstrations witnessed unprecedented public condemnation of the royal family. According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, over 250 individuals, including senior protest leaders and an elected MP, have faced charges of royal insult in the aftermath of these protests.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Constitutional Court\u2019s ruling on Wednesday concluded that the MFP\u2019s advocacy for reforming Thailand\u2019s strict laws safeguarding King Maha Vajiralongkorn amounted to an endeavor to \u201cundermine the monarchy\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":429,"featured_media":12481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[8314,3700,8273,8313,8271,8272,8312,8270,8315],"class_list":["post-12468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thailand","tag-article-112","tag-future-forward-party","tag-majeste-law","tag-monarchy","tag-move-forward-party-mfp","tag-pita-limjaroenrat","tag-royal","tag-thai-court","tag-thanathorn-juangroongruangkit"],"reading_time":"3 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/429"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}