Picture from Andrew MacGregor Marshall
...
OPINION
'Disappearance' sees whispers turn to outrage
9 JUN 2020
The Bangkok Post
It might be because "it could happen to you".
It could also be an accumulation of bitterness and frustration, built up over decades of hearing about this or that person suddenly dying or disappearing without a trace or explanation.
It could even be a paradigm shift at long last when the new generation is no longer tied to old norms or affected by traditional fear and dares to express in public what was once considered taboo.
It could be a bit of everything but the day has come when a forced disappearance which would generate only quiet whispers in the past is now causing a genuine public uproar.
The disappearance of anti-government activist Wanchalearm Satsaksit, who was allegedly abducted outside his apartment in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, last Thursday, has been covered by mainstream media.
Students held for 'white bow' protest
Another mystery
Cambodia won't probe activist 'abduction'
Chulalongkorn as well as Thammasat University student organisations issued statements condemning the alleged forced disappearance and urged the Thai government to take a stance.
The incident has been widely discussed on social media, especially Twitter where the hashtag #save has drawn hundreds of thousands of tweets.
The outrage and demand for the Thai government to take action are welcoming for the human rights cause although they can be considered surprising considering Wanchalearm was not that well-known.
The Ubon Ratchathani native was against the coup and military rule. He was also wanted by authorities for defying a National Council for Peace and Order summons to report after the 2014 putsch.
In 2018, Wanchalearm was subject to another arrest warrant for violating the Computer Crime Act by operating a Facebook page critical of the government.
The activist has been living in self-imposed exile for more than six years, claiming his political stance led to harassment and other threats to his life.
Now that he has gone missing, a seemingly small player unlikely to affect a sea change in the grand scheme of things, his plight has struck a chord with many people.
Alongside news of his disappearance, photos of Wanchalearm, almost all of them showing the bespectacled 37-year-old grinning, have also surfaced everywhere. A little-known name has become a real person. Wanchalearm has become not just an anti-whatever activist but a son, a brother, a friend.
Indeed, he could be any one of us.
Wanchalearm may harbour anti-coup thoughts. He may have voiced disapproval of military rule or other forms of suppression. But do these thoughts constitute a crime?
Do people deserve to "disappear" because they are critical of something powerful?
Wanchalearm had left the country, yet he could be made to disappear in broad daylight in Phnom Penh, taken by a group of armed men according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) citing witnesses and CCTV images. Cambodian police said they knew nothing about it.
Who could be capable of executing such an operation?
As Wanchalearm's sister Sitanan begged the Thai government and international agencies to help find her brother, Cambodia's Interior Ministry suggested the HRW report could be "fake news" while the Thai government has made no response.
Today marks the sixth day since Wanchalearm "disappeared".
Since the 2014 coup, about a hundred political activists exiled themselves to other countries. Of these, at least six have gone missing while two were found dead, according to BBC Thai.
Wanchalearm is definitely not the first suspected of being "carried away". The UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances reports 82 unresolved cases of enforced disappearances in Thailand since 1980.
These include Somchai Neelapaijit in 2004, Karen land rights defender Porlajee "Billy" Rakchongcharoen in 2014 and political activists Siam Theerawut, Chucheep Chivasut and Kritsana Thapthai during 2018-19.
It is possible that the #save trend and collective anger against the alleged forced disappearance could end up like other save someone or something hashtags before it -- making no difference to the oppressive, unaccountable power culture in Thailand and becoming just another footnote in the country's decades-long political struggle.
But one thing is clear -- his plight has roused the public like never before. His story has been openly discussed, and not just in a quiet whisper. The fear usually associated with such a "disappearance" is gone.
Will this awakening turn out to be a real force for change? For once, it may be the turn of the other side to be fearful.
Atiya Achakulwisut is a Bangkok Post columnist.
