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SAYING THE UNSAYABLE: Monarchy and Democracy in Thailand. NIAS Studies in Asian Topics, v. 47. Edited by Søren Ivarsson and Lotte Isager. Copenhagen: NIAS Press; Abingdon: Marston (distributor), 2010. x, 271 pp. US$32.00, paper. ISBN 978-87-7694-072-0.
As I write this review, a Thai journalist who is accused of insulting the monarchy is before the Thai courts, her previous sentence of 18 years-at a trial closed to the public because it was deemed to constitute a risk to "national security"-under review. An American citizen who was born in Thailand is being held in prison pending lèse-majesté charges for allegedly having run a web site in the United States posting a link to a download site for Paul Handley's book, The King Never Smiles, a book banned in Thailand; and though this American maintains his innocence he has decided to plead guilty after being detained indefinitely and having numerous appeals for release on bail declined. The list of such cases could go on and on, for since the 2006 military coup that ousted then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his Thai Rak Thai (TRT) Party, there has been an explosion of lèse-majesté charges, leveled primarily at opponents of the coup, the total number of cases in 2010 alone reaching 478, a more than 1,500 percent increase over 2005. (For information see http://tinyurl.com/bnekh57, and http://tinyurl. com/c7ry873).
Under these circumstances, the timeliness of Saying the Unsayable cannot be overstated. Søren Ivarsson and Lotte Isager, starting from a panel at the 2008 International...