THE KING AND JUNTA RULE
Thai Election Winner Seeks to Strip Senate of Voting Power

Patpicha Tanakasempipat
Fri, July 14, 2023 

(Bloomberg) -- Thailand’s Move Forward, the party that won the most seats in the May general election, is trying to strip some of the Senate’s powers after the military-appointed upper house of parliament blocked pro-democracy leader Pita Limjaroenrat’s bid to become prime minister.

Move Forward submitted a bill Friday to abolish an article in the 2017 military-backed constitution, which gives the unelected Senate the power to select the prime minister alongside the elected lower house.

This isn’t the first time that someone is trying to challenge the Senate’s voting right. Six attempts have been made in vain since 2020 by political parties and civil society groups to curb the power of the Senate, because such a proposal ironically needs support from at least a third of the 250-member upper house to pass.

Move Forward’s submission came a day after its leader Pita, the sole nominee of the eight-party coalition that has staked a claim to form Thailand’s next government, was thwarted in his bid for premiership by senators, the majority of whom rejected Pita outright or abstained from voting. In doing so, they undermined the result of the May 14 election where voters had overwhelmingly supported pro-democracy parties.

“We don’t know how many times the prime minister selection will be held until it concludes. So, we can do this hand in hand,” Chaithawat Tulathon, secretary-general of Move Forward Party, told reporters at the parliament house. “Since the Senate didn’t want to vote anyway, we’re only looking for a solution for everybody.”

Among the 250-member Senate, as many as 159 members abstained from voting and 34 voted against Pita outright on Thursday. Only 13 backed the popular mandate. But Chaithawat said the party will seek support from more senators for Pita at the next round of prime minister selection next week.

Many members cited Move Forward’s platform to amend Thailand’s lese majeste law, which prohibits criticism of the king or other royals, as a reason for withholding support. Pita has vowed to not back down on the proposal, raising further tension with the pro-military royalist establishment.

The bill was accepted by house speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha, who confirmed at the briefing that the second vote to select the prime minister will be held by the joint National Assembly on July 19, at 9:30 a.m. in Bangkok.

“I’ll process this as soon as possible as this is an urgent matter,” Wan said.

 Bloomberg Businessweek

Thailand's Move Forward seeks to curb Senate powers after loss in PM vote


Thailand's parliament votes for a new prime minister

Updated Fri, July 14, 2023 
By Chayut Setboonsarng and Panarat Thepgumpanat

BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thailand's Move Forward party filed a motion in parliament on Friday seeking to curb the power of the military-appointed Senate, a day after the body thwarted its party leader's bid to become prime minister.

The role of the 249-member Senate in deciding a prime minister along with the elected lower house - a system designed by the royalist military after a 2014 coup - is seen as a constitutional safeguard to protect the interests of the generals and the conservative establishment.

Move Forward won the most seats in an election in May but despite being unopposed and having the backing of his eight-party alliance, its leader Pita Limjaroenrat lost the crucial vote on the premiership on Thursday, after the Senate and parties of the outgoing, army-backed government closed ranks to deny him the top job.

Only 13 senators backed 42-year-old Pita, with the rest voting against him or abstaining, which his party said indicated some were acting under duress.

Party secretary general Chaithawat Tulathon filed a motion on Friday to amend part of the constitution, saying "This is a solution that all sides will feel comfortable with".

"There are forces from the old power to pressure the Senate - from the old power to some capitalists who do not want to see a Move Forward government," he said in an earlier television interview, adding it could take about one month to pass.

Pita, a liberal from the private sector, has won huge youth support for his plan to shake up politics and bring reforms to sectors and institutions long considered untouchable.

That includes the monarchy, more specifically, a law that prohibits insulting it, by far Move Forward's most contentious policy and a big obstacle in its attempts to persuade legislators to back Pita.

MAJOR BLOW

Pita vowed on Thursday not to abandon those policies or give up his fight for the premiership. He can run again if nominated in the next vote for the post, which takes place on July 19, the House speaker confirmed.

The defeat on Thursday followed a major blow for Pita on the eve of the vote, when the election commission recommended he be disqualified over a shareholding issue, followed hours later by the Constitutional Court announcing it had taken on a complaint over his party's plan to amend the royal insult law.

The political tension this week had been widely expected.

Thailand has been locked for two decades in a power struggle between reform-minded parties that win elections and a nexus of old money and the military establishment determined to stifle them.

Pro-democracy groups have called for protests. Activist group the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration took aim at the senators and those who abstained in the vote, calling them spineless and "toxic to the will of people".

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political science professor at Chulalongkorn University, called the constitution a straitjacket on democracy, and said systematic attempts to stop Move Forward would see a public backlash.

"These old guard institutions, they need to maintain power because they have a lot to lose," he said.

"The kind of change that Move Forward demands would unwind Thailand's monarchy-centred system and then it would unlock institutional reforms... this would unleash a lot of the competitiveness of Thailand, Thailand's potential."

(Additional reporting by Napat Wesshasarter and Juarawee KittisilpaWriting by Martin PettyEditing by Frances Kerry)

Ambitious liberal fails in first bid to become Thailand's next leader

Thailand's parliament votes for a new prime minister

Thu, July 13, 2023
By Devjyot Ghoshal and Panu Wongcha-um

BANGKOK (Reuters) - In the 60 days since a stunning election victory, the leader of Thailand's Move Forward party forged and managed a coalition, cajoled the royalist military establishment and rallied his troops with a single goal - to become prime minister.

On Thursday, 42-year-old Pita Limjaroenrat failed in his initial bid to win the premiership after he was unable to secure enough votes in a joint sitting of Thailand's 750-member parliament. Another vote is expected to be held next week, which Pita can contest if nominated again.

The setback came despite Move Forward's victory in the May general election, where it emerged the single largest party after running a slick, social-media powered campaign that promised progressive, transparent government to Thai voters.-

But Pita and Move Forward's agenda - particularly a once-unthinkable proposal to amend Thailand's "lese majeste" law - also pit them against the country's powerful conservative establishment, which controls the 250-member appointed senate.

"Give Thailand the opportunity to have a majority government according to the will of the people," he said in a video message on Tuesday, reiterating a call to elected and unelected lawmakers to support him in the bicameral vote.

"I can be a prime minister who runs a country that embraces everybody's diverse dreams," he said.

Yet, by Wednesday afternoon - less than a day before the vote - Pita's quest for power was hit by a double-whammy.

First, Thailand's election commission recommended the Constitutional Court disqualify Pita as a lawmaker because of his ownership of shares in a media company in violation of electoral rules.

Second, the Constitutional Court said it had accepted a complaint against Pita and his party over plans to amend the lese majeste law, Article 112 of the criminal code that punishes insulting the monarchy with up to 15 years in prison.

The actions were a throwback to 2020, when a court ordered the predecessor party of Move Forward dissolved and some of its leaders banned from politics for a decade for violations of election rules.

It was into that breach that Pita - then a first-term lawmaker from a politically influential family with experience working in the technology sector - stepped, becoming the leader of the newly-formed Move Forward.

The position foisted the Harvard University graduate on to the centre stage of Thai politics, which was roiled by a youth-led reformist movement that saw thousands take to the streets, sometimes leading to violent clashes in the heart of Bangkok.

The young protesters took on the military-backed rulers head on, calling for deep-seated reforms, a new constitution and questioning the monarchy's long-held influence on politics and society.

Some of those protesters - and some of those demands - were part of Move Forward's electoral juggernaut, including a call to amend the lese majeste law.

'ABLE TO COMPROMISE'

In a country where many consider the monarch semi-divine, analysts doubted whether a Pita-led Move Forward would be able to push aside a raft of conservative and pro-establishment parties that had dominated domestic politics for over a decade.

At the hustings, Pita drew large, adoring crowds - many of them young voters. The party's trademark orange logo and sharp messaging flooded social media. Late in the campaign, the first-time prime ministerial candidate saw a surge in popularity.

"Vote for Move Forward to change this country together," Pita said in a slick campaign video, taking off a pair of sunglasses and winking.

To millions of Thais weary of an almost decade-long military-backed rule, Pita offered an raft of changes, including increase in minimum wages, dismantling of business monopolies, streamlining of the armed forces and legalising same-sex marriage.

When the numbers rolled in late on May 14, Move Forward not only trounced the ruling coalition but also bettered the populist Pheu Thai Party - the opposition outfit backed by self-exiled tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister.

The outcome pushed Pita to switch gears from candidate to coalition builder, as a group of seven parties - including the Pheu Thai - coalesced around Move Forward to win power.

"Pita is a democratic representative who can elevate Thailand on the global stage in a dignified way," said Kannawee Suebsang, a member of parliament from the Fair Party, which is part of Pita's eight party-coalition.

"He is a strong leader with charisma but is also able to compromise."

(Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal and Panu Wongcha-um; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Thailand’s PM Race Can Take a Whole New Turn, Here’s How









Philip J. Heijmans and Patpicha Tanakasempipat
Thu, July 13, 2023 

(Bloomberg) -- After failing to win over Thai conservatives in his first attempt to become prime minister, things are looking increasingly difficult for pro-democracy leader Pita Limjaroenrat to secure a victory even if he were to try again.

The parties outside of Pita’s Move Forward-led coalition and the majority of military-appointed senators are opposed to his key campaign promise of amending the so-called lese majeste law that punishes anyone for defaming or insulting the king or other royals.- 

Also, the Harvard-educated politician risks disqualification as a lawmaker after the poll body found him in breach of election rules — saying he held shares in a defunct media company while running for public office. While he may still go for a second chance at premiership when parliament meets next on July 19, analysts expect support for Pita to wear thin within his alliance should he lose again; although there’s no limit on the number of re-votes he can seek.

“I think they will run him again,” said Kevin Hewison, emeritus professor of Asian Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Another attempt by Pita will probably harden the stance of conservatives and only weaken support for the pro-democracy alliance, according to Hewison.

The longer it takes for Thailand to form a new government, the more investors will lose confidence in the $500 billion economy whose expansion has been lagging emerging-market peers in Southeast Asia through the pandemic and after. Political wrangling between pro-democracy and conservative groups have also hurt the country’s stocks, bonds and currency markets.

Here are some other scenarios that could play out:

Pita Supports Pheu Thai

Pita could step aside and instead support his coalition partner Pheu Thai, which finished second-place in the May 14 general election and is linked to exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra.

Isra Sunthornvut, a former member of parliament for the Democrat Party, said he wouldn’t be surprised if next week Pita throws his support behind Pheu Thai to lead the government “for the sake of the country and democracy.”

The only challenge to this scenario is that Pheu Thai may find it difficult to muster support from the conservatives while still being an ally of Move Forward, which has refused to back down on its push to amend the royal insult law.

Pro-Democracy Group Splits

That could leave Pheu Thai inclined to consider breaking away from Move Forward’s coalition and try forming a government led by one of its three candidates for the post, including real estate magnate Srettha Thavisin and Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the youngest daughter of Thaksin.

Thaksin, who has been considering returning home, had previously said Pheu Thai would not support any attempt to reform the lese majeste law. That makes it easier for Pheu Thai to win enough support from the 250-member military-appointed Senate, helping put a new government sooner than later.

The private sector wants the new government to be in place as soon as possible, so our economy can continue to grow as expected, Thai Chamber of Commerce Chairman Sanan Angubolkul said Friday.

Military-Backed Minority Government

A third scenario involves the Senate supporting a minority government led either by Bhumjaithai’s Anutin Charnvirakul or one of the military-backed parties. That outcome, however, risks sparking protests by supporters of pro-democracy groups.

Since the Senate’s ability to vote for the prime minister expires next year, any minority government is at risk of falling in a no-confidence vote. To guard against that, it’s possible that the establishment may petition the courts to disband Move Forward as what happened in the past to their predecessor, using the push to amend the royal insult law as a pretext, and even annul the election result.

“But that might take some time,” Hewison said referring to the process of disbanding Move Forward and annulling the result. “That said, going to an election quickly is unlikely to produce a different result. But conservatives in Thailand are a balmy lot.”

However, any move to ban the nation’s popular politicians may lead to massive demonstrations. And this time the risks are even higher for the royalist establishment, as protesters have recently been much bolder in directly targeting the monarchy than in previous years.

Such a turn of events could end up hurting tourism, the only economic engine that’s firing on full cylinders and supporting Thailand’s growth amid a downturn in global demand for goods.

--With assistance from Suttinee Yuvejwattana, Cecilia Yap and Anuchit Nguyen.

Thailand's Election Commission says a reformist candidate for prime minister may have broken the law



 Leader of Move Forward Party Pita Limjaroenrat arrives before the signing of a memorandum of understanding on attempt to form a coalition government between Move Forward Party and other parties during a news conference in Bangkok, Thailand on May 22, 2023. 

Thailand's state Election Commission announced Wednesday, July 12, it has concluded there is evidence that the top candidate to become the country's next prime minister, Move Forward party leader Pita Limjaroenrat, has violated election law, and has referred his case to the Constitutional Court for a ruling. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)

JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI and GRANT PECK
Updated Wed, July 12, 2023 

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Election Commission said Wednesday there is evidence that the top candidate to become the next prime minister — a reformist with strong backing among progressive young voters — violated election law and referred his case to the Constitutional Court.

The commission’s decision included a request that the court order Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat to be suspended as a member of Parliament until the panel issues a ruling.

The alleged violation involves undeclared ownership of media company shares, which are banned for lawmakers. Separately, the court also said it would review a complaint that Pita and his party may have violated the law by proposing to amend Thailand's strict legal provision against defaming the monarchy. Thai media said the court would not make any ruling on Wednesday and that it might need some to consider the issues.

Pita can still be nominated on Thursday when Parliament meets to vote for a new prime minister. But the commission's move raises new doubts about whether he can muster enough votes to get the post, already a struggle because of Thailand's deep political divisions.


The Move Forward Party, with a progressive reformist platform, swept to a surprise first-place finish in May’s general election, capturing 151 seats in the 500-member House of Representatives and the most popular votes. Move Forward has assembled an eight-party, 311-seat coalition with which it had planned to take power.

But Pita's path to power is difficult because he must win 376 votes in a joint session of the House and the conservative, 250-seat, non-elected Senate. The Senate largely represents Thailand's traditional ruling establishment, which suspects Move Forward's proposals for minor reforms of the monarchy endanger the royal institution, which they consider to be the center of Thais' national identity.

Pita's party responded to the Election Commission's decision by questioning its fairness and even its legality. It said its decision was unnecessarily hurried and violated its own procedures by failing to call Pita to give a statement.

The commission had earlier said it acted correctly but Move Forward alleges its members may have engaged in malfeasance, or carrying out duties in a wrongful manner, a crime punishable by 10 years imprisonment and a fine.

The election law complaint against Pita, lodged by a member of a rival party, alleges he ran for office in 2019 while failing to declare his shares in a media company.

The case the commission referred to the court accuses Pita of running for office with awareness that he was ineligible, a criminal violation punishable by maximum imprisonment of three years and/or a fine of up to 60,000 baht ($1,720). The party faces a fine of up to 100,000 baht ($2,865).

Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, the government’s top legal advisor, has been quoted as saying that a ruling against Pita could be grounds for nullifying the May election results and holding a new election.

There have been fears since the election that Thailand’s conservative ruling establishment would use what its political opponents consider to be dirty tricks to hold on to power. For a decade-and-a-half, it has repeatedly used the courts and supposedly independent state agencies such as the Election Commission to issue controversial rulings to cripple or sink political opponents.

The dissolution in 2019 of the Future Forward party, a forerunner of Move Forward, triggered vigorous street protests by pro-democracy activists that trailed off only when the coronavirus pandemic took hold.

Hours after the Election Commission announced its referral of the shareholding case, the Constitutional Court said it had has accepted a separate petition against Move Forward and Pita concerning their campaign promise to amend Thailand's harsh lese majeste law,.

The law, also known as Article 112, mandates a three to 15 year prison term for defaming the king, his immediate family, or the regent. Critics of the law say it is abused for political purposes, and Move Forward wants changes to rein in such abuses, which it claims actually do damage to the monarchy's reputation.

Royalists soundly reject all efforts to amend the law, and courts have sometimes treated such proposals themselves as tantamount to violating the law. The military and the courts consider themselves stalwart defenders of the monarchy, and the Senate members overwhelmingly share their viewpoint.

If the court agrees that the accused's actions constitute trying to overthrow the constitutional monarchy — a separate provision from Article 112 — they will not be subject to punishment but can be ordered to cease all activities related to their proposed amendment, subject to prosecution if they continue.

Analysis-Thailand's monarchy looms over battle for prime minister
 

Vajiralongkorn, King of Thailand

Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat thanks voters ahead 

of the vote for a new prime minister on July 13, in Bangkok


Mon, July 10, 2023 

By Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thepgumpanat

BANGKOK (Reuters) - The role of the monarchy in Thailand is at the core of a looming deadlock that could tip Southeast Asia's second-largest economy into crisis, with reformers once again vying to dislodge the grip on power of the royalist military establishment.

Despite a stunning victory with its allies in a May 14 election over pro-military parties, the progressive Move Forward party led by Pita Limjaroenrat faces an uncertain path to government.

The main reason is that part of Move Forward's political platform is the once-unthinkable proposal to amend Thailand's "lese majeste" law, Article 112 of the criminal code that punishes insulting the monarchy with up to 15 years in prison.


In a country where reverence for the monarch has for decades been promoted as central to national identity, the idea is so radical that minority parties and many members of the appointed Senate have vowed to block Pita from becoming prime minister.

"The proposed amendment is disrespectful and is offensive to the monarchy," Senator Seri Suwanpanon told Reuters.

The military has for decades invoked its duty to defend the monarchy to justify intervention in politics, and used the lese majeste law to stifle dissent, critics say.

In parliament, a giant portrait of King Maha Vajiralongkorn hangs over the chamber where on Thursday members will vote for a prime minister.

But the battle over who gets the job could lead to weeks or even months of deadlock thanks to the votes of a 250-seat Senate, appointed by a junta, that could block the election-winning progressive alliance from securing its choice in a combined vote of both chambers.

The system was set out in a constitution drafted after a 2014 coup led by then-army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha, the prime minister whose party lost badly in the May election.

Much depends on whether Move Forward's main ally, second-place winner Pheu Thai, sticks with it or seeks other coalition partners if Pita's bid looks doomed.

King Vajiralongkorn, 70, who has no role in choosing a government, has remained silent on the lese majeste issue since the election. The Royal Palace did not respond to a request for comment.

SWEEPING CHANGE

Move Forward's proposed amendment reflects cultural changes that have in a few years swept Thailand, where the monarch has for decades been held up as almost semi-divine.

On the surface, much remains the same. The king's portrait hangs on city streets and buildings. The nightly Royal News airs the royal family's good deeds.

But subtle changes are evident. In cinemas, many no longer stand for the royal anthem before every film. Satirical memes spring up on social media before the government orders them removed.

The biggest change, however, is political. In the last election in 2019, no party would have dared suggest amending the lese majeste law.

But Move Forward not only dared, it won the most seats in May though the amendment was only one plank of a progressive platform.

The shift emerged with student-led demonstrations in 2020 that began as protests against military rule but evolved into criticism of what the protesters called a military-palace power nexus, and finally into criticism of the king.

Politicians did not lead the protests but Move Forward called for reform of the lese majeste law when activists began to be charged under it.

About 250 of the 1,900 prosecutions linked to the 2020 protests were under Article 112, according to the group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.

The prosecution of so many under the law pushed the issue into mainstream discourse, analysts say.

"We can now see the real fault line in politics is the role of the monarchy in Thailand's political order," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political analyst at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.

NUMBERS GAME

With many senators expected to vote against Pita for prime minister, Move Forward's 312-seat alliance of eight parties in the 500-seat lower House of Representatives may not be enough to secure him the premiership.

To get to the 376 votes he needs, Move Forward and main partner Pheu Thai need to convince 64 lawmakers from the Senate, or from other parties in the lower house.

If Pita falls short, other scenarios come into play.

Pheu Thai, which has 141 seats to Move Forward's 151, could nominate its prime ministerial candidate with the eight-party alliance intact.

Loyal to self-exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a 2006 coup, Pheu Thai has been more careful in its messaging on lese majeste, so one of its prime ministerial candidates could win enough votes.

Another possibility is that Pheu Thai seeks other partners in the lower house for a coalition without Move Forward. Pheu Thai, however, is vowing to stick with Move Forward.

Titipol Phakdeewanich, dean of the faculty of political science at Ubon Ratchathani University, said using the law to crush dissent had backfired.

"By over-using Article 112, the conservatives dragged the royal institution deeper into politics," he said.

Move Forward says amending the law will prevent its misuse and benefit the monarchy. It wants the penalty reduced to at most a year in prison, and only the Royal Household Bureau to be able to file a complaint instead of anyone.

"Some senators misunderstood ... accusing Move Forward of wanting to topple the monarchy," party executive committee member Amarat Chokepamitkul told Reuters.

"We want to amend it to maintain good relations between the monarchy and the people."

(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by Kay Johnson, Robert Birsel)

Nepal activists hail interim ruling allowing same-sex marriage

'Big and historic' Supreme Court order set to spur registrations

Participants take part in an annual LGBTQ+ Pride parade in Kathmandu on June 10. 

 © Reuters

June 30, 2023 

KATHMANDU (Reuters) -- Same-sex couples in Nepal said on Friday they were preparing to register their marriages after the Supreme Court issued a temporary order clearing the way for gay marriage for the first time in the largely conservative country.

The Supreme Court has been considering a petition on the issue filed by gay right activists and on Wednesday it issued an interim order allowing for same-sex couples to register their marriages pending a final verdict.

"This is a very big and historic decision," said Pinky Gurung, chairperson of the Blue Diamond Society gay rights organization.

Gurung said about 200 same-sex couples were expected "to come out openly and register their marriages".

Majority-Hindu Nepal has become increasingly progressive since a decade-long Maoist rebellion ended in 2006. Two years later, political parties voted to abolish the 239-year-old Hindu monarchy, a key demand of the Maoists.

In Asia, Taiwan is the only place that recognizes gay marriage, though pressure is building for reform in Japan, Thailand and South Korea.

In 2007, Nepal's Supreme Court ordered the government to end discrimination against LGBT people and put in place measures to guarantee equal rights.

Since then, some same-sex couples have held unofficial weddings and gay pride parades have been held in the capital, Kathmandu.

But activists say there is still no clear legislation and people can face abuse from their families and communities and discrimination in education, government offices and hospitals.

Maya Gurung, another member of the LGBT community, said that being able to officially register a marriage would help overcome a range of difficulties.

"We will now approach the authorities to formally register our marriage," Gurung said, referring to her partner of nearly a decade, Surendra Pandey.

"It may take some time for this, though.”

The Orgy as Truth: the Marquis de Sade and the Crisis of Freedom Now

BY DANIEL BEAUMONT

 JUNE 30, 2023
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Portrait of the young de Sade by Charles Amédée Philippe van Loo, 1760.

More than two centuries after his death the works of the Marquis de Sade can still shock. This is itself somewhat surprising since our culture is saturated by sex and violence and the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein are still making the news. While Sade lived he was a man reviled for both his crimes and his writings. Without question some of his crimes merited revulsion and imprisonment then and now. I say some of his crimes because he was also imprisoned for his opinions and some of his writings were crimes both under the monarchy and the republic. Despite his dubious reputation, he was an influence on writers like Flaubert and Baudelaire, on artists like Delacroix and Picasso. More than that Sade is a bridge between the Enlightenment and many of the philosophers that follow, Nietzsche, Adorno, Sartre among others. His critique of the Enlightenment notion of freedom anticipates Marx’s critique of that notion. In doing so Sade’s works anticipate and explain the assaults on freedom taking place now with the new rise of nationalism here and abroad. To understand why his writings still speak to us some account of his life is needed first.

The year 1777 divides Sade’s life. Before that year he spent most of his energy in pursuit of gambling and sex. After that year he spent most of his life in prison where he devoted most of his energy to writing. Prison made a writer of Sade. And that experience shaped his thoughts on the subject that makes his writings still relevant, the meaning of freedom.

Sade’s life before prison

Sade’s origin and upbringing explain much about the originality of his writing. He was born to a family of the nobility in 1741 in Paris. His family despite their nobility were not wealthy. His father was something of a ne’er-do-well. He scorned middle-class professions like banking as crass and devoted himself to more worthy pursuits like social climbing. His goal was to gain a position in the royal court of Louis XV. He only succeeded in making a pest of himself. Perhaps for that reason the king gave him a position in the diplomatic corps which would keep him out of the country much of the time—which also limited his time with his son.

Sade’s mother was also absent most of his childhood. She was a lady-in-waiting to the court—which is not as lofty or exclusive as it sounds. By the eighteenth century there were typically twenty to forty of such women attending the queen, writing letters, arranging court ceremonies and gossiping. Four days after giving birth to Sade she went to a convent to recover and her infant son’s care was left to servants.

It should be said that Sade’s upbringing was not unusual for children of the nobility. Children were mostly regarded by the upper classes as a nuisance until they could be married off—ideally to financial and social benefit. Sade’s temperament as a result had a cold and calculating side to it which was manifest in his merciless treatment of his victims, but which also produced a mind that could examine ideas and issues with a cold clarity.

When he was four his father was sent on a diplomatic mission to Berlin in 1744 and his mother packed him off to relatives in Avignon. Among his caregivers there was his uncle Abbé de Sade who was what would be termed now a predator. Sade himself was not one of his victims since his taste was for young girls. In any case Sade’s low esteem for family bonds and the clergy no doubt resulted partly from his experiences in Avignon. In 1750 he was sent to a Jesuit school in Paris where surprisingly enough he was taken under the wing of a kindly priest. A Jesuit education then as now was a good education but it involved some violence. The chief form of discipline was beating student birch rods. A birch ‘rod’—it was not really a rod but a bundle of birch branches. The punishment was administered by the Jesuits on Sade’s bare ass in front of the other students. Whipping someone and being whipped was a fixture of his sexual activities the rest of his life. And this is also the most common scenes in Sade’s libertine novels.

It may be noted that this practice was also part of Joyce’s education though at the secondary Jesuit school in Dublin, Belvedere College, though in his time they used a cane. Gradually the Jesuits adopted more humane forms of this punishment. When I attended a Jesuit high school in the late sixties the vice-principle used a leather strop on me. But I didn’t have to pull my pants down and I was taken out in the hallway. This following the motto of the Jesuits Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam—For the greater glory of God. [I may cut this paragraph – what do you think?]

Four years later Sade entered a military school and in 1759 he entered the military. It was while he was in the military that Sade began to get a reputation for his sexual activities—which it seems must have been already extreme since they caused a stir which angered his neglectful father. Probably because they distracted him from his own licentious activities.

Sade was discharged from the military in 1763 when he was twenty-two. Freed from the constraints of military he had more time for gambling and women. He ran up debts and fought for the favors of women with other wastrels of the nobility like himself. One instance led to a duel. At that point his father decided that marriage was the answer.

The usual course of matrimonial matters for the nobility was for the father to arrange a marriage for his child that was financially suitable for the family—the child’s feelings for the prospective spouse were secondary at best. Sade’s father however was consumed by his own affairs and he simply wanted to be rid of his troublesome son. So rather than exploring his son’s ‘market value’ he waited until someone approached him and he accepted the offer no questions asked. The bride-to-be Renée-Pélagie de Montreuil was from a family of newly-minted nobility. Her father was a wealthy middle-class businessman who acquired his title by purchasing land from a noble family. Everything in France at that time was for sale. His father’s timing could not have been worse. His son had of all things fallen in love.

Sade had struck up an affair a young woman named Laure de Lauris whose family were real nobility and he fell in love with her. That he was truly in love is seen in the fact that his feelings for her were undiminished even after she gave him a case of syphilis. His family’s modest means made the marriage of Sade and Laure unlikely, but her aversion to him after their intimacies made it out of the question. She soon found another lover and begged her father not to marry her to Sade. Sade pleaded with her, professed his undying love for her—and also reviled her. All to no avail. Laure told him she would rather be a nun than his wife.

In the end Sade submitted to the marriage to Renée de Montreuil. Against all odds she became a helpmate to her unruly husband. Unfortunately the marriage also saddled Sade with mean-spirited and conniving mother-in-law. The stuff of comedies but the only comedy found in the rest of Sade’s life was of a rather dark sort.

Five months after they were married Sade was thrown in jail for two weeks. He had taken a Paris prostitute named Jeanne Testard home. He took her to a room which had a variety of whips and ropes on display. It also had crucifixes, engravings of Christ and the Virgin Mary as well as a number of obscene drawings. He told her to whip him first and then he would whip her. She refused and he stomped on a crucifix and demanded that she trample on its pieces too. Fearing for her life, she did so while repeating blasphemies that Sade ordered her to say.

Previous to this episode Sade had already had a few scrapes with the police—they had warned some of the brothel madams not to send their girls home with him. So it didn’t take the police long to discover that Testard’s tormenter was Sade. It should be mentioned that it wasn’t Sade’s physical abuse of the girl that most disturbed the police, but rather the impieties and blasphemies involved. Sade was jailed for two weeks. While in jail he wrote a very contrite letter and begged to be allowed to see a priest in order to make his confession. It was all pure hypocrisy and if the authorities hoped Sade would learn anything from the episode they were to be disappointed. All he learned was that he had to take more precautions in order to pursue his pleasures. Sade’s next scrape with the law was more serious.

On Easter Sunday in 1768 Sade went out in search of a woman—expressly to desecrate the holy day it would seem. An unemployed weaver Rose Keller who had come from mass asked him for alms. He offered her some money if she would come home with him. When she said that she was not that sort of woman he told her he wanted her only to do some housecleaning. When they got to his house he ripped her clothes off and threatened to kill her if she didn’t comply to his demands. He tied her on a bed and whipped her until she bled. Then he made small incisions in her and dripped hot wax into them. When she sobbed and said she feared she would die before performing all of her Easter duties he told her he would hear her confession. There followed more whipping while Sade masturbated. After his orgasm he left her locked in the room. Keller escaped by climbing out a window and ran to the police.

By this time Sade had become one of the chief targets of the lieutenant-general of the Paris police, Antoine-Raymond de Sartine, and his subordinate Louis Marais, head of the Paris vice squad. Marais wrote detailed accounts of the escapades of the nobility and the king read them all. His chief interest in them was to use them to keep the nobility in line. Their crimes and assaults were it seems a secondary matter. Sade’s family and his in-laws intervened but he was sentenced to six months in prison.

Again Sade’s resentment towards the justice system and the monarchy simply became more intense. He felt he was being singled out by the police and courts and in a way he was. What he had done to Rose Keller was far from unusual for men of the nobility and most of them usually went unpunished. The Comte de Charolais, the brother of the king went unpunished for worse things than Sade ever did. The police reports then, as I said, were detailed. In one instance the Comte invited a woman home for dinner, got her drunk, stripped her clothes off and inserted a firecracker into her vagina and said before he lit it, “The little lapdog has to eat too.” [note1 Sade j’ecris ton nom Liberté, Jean A. Chérasse and G. Guicheney. Pygmalion Press 1976. As quoted in Hayman, p. 51] Sade was being punished not so much for his activities as for the fact that accounts of them were published in the press.

After the Rose Keller affair Sade was exiled to Lacoste in the Provence where his family owned a chateau. There he staged elaborate entertainments for his neighbors which sometimes involved plays he had written. In addition to these there were also more orgies. His sessions with Parisian prostitutes gave way to elaborate orgies involving multiple women and his valet Latour who served as his pimp. It culminated in June of 1772 when he made the mistake of taking his act to nearby Marseilles. As one of his biographers Ronald Hayman says Sade was “like a gambler raising the stakes.” [note 2: Hayman, p. 84]

Sade and his valet Latour rounded up four prostitutes in Marseilles and took them to a flat he had rented for a few days. A single scene gives an idea of what happened. Having given an aphrodisiac to four girls ranging in age from eighteen to twenty-three, Sade whipped one of them, then buggered her while Latour buggered him. The next night Sade gave the same drug to a girl named Marguerite before he had sex with her. Then he and Latour returned to his chateau.

Marguerite was ill after Sade departed a doctor saw her. The police were brought in and all five of the girls gave statements and orders were given for the arrest of Sade and Latour. When they heard of the proceedings Sade and Latour fled to Italy. In time however Sade was extradited back to France.

For the next five years Sade’s life reads something like a novel by Dumas. Imprisonment and escapes, while his mother-in-law plots to have him jailed so as to put an end to the scandals. It ended in 1777 when Sade managed to get back to Lacoste. There the irate father of one of the girls in the Marseilles escapade tried to kill Sade. He was arrested again and put in a prison in Vincennes near Paris. Sade spent twenty-seven of the last thirty-seven years of his life in one prison after another.

This account of Sade’s sexual exploits should be balanced by other part of his life that reveal another side of his character. While his libertines who are married encourage their wives to have sex with others, Sade himself fretted that his wife might be unfaithful while he was in prison. Which seems rather quaint. Other things show a sympathetic side to Sade’s character. In a letter to his mother-in-law written in prison he wrote, “I am a libertine, but I am neither a criminal nor a murderer.” [Hayman, p. 116] He goes on to tell of having supported three impoverished families for five years, risked his life to save a child from being killed by a runaway cart. And he was capable of loyalty and generosity. In 1790 when he was released from the prison in Charenton he met a thirty-year-old former actress Marie-Constance Renelle who had a six-year-old son and had been abandoned by her husband. She would become his lover and when that part of their relationship waned he valued her as his closest friend for the rest of his life. When he died he left his estate—which by then had grown due to the sales of his books—to her.

Sade’s abuse of women—and the Jesuits’ abuse of him—may present instructive parallels with events now and in the recent past. Jeffrey Epstein is the most obvious case and the numerous men ‘outed’ by the MeToo phenomenon could be mentioned too. But his real relevance now rests not on those parallels, but on the works he wrote in the long years he spent in prison, works which all meditate on the meaning of freedom.

Sade’s writings

Sade’s fictional works are usually divided into two groups, his so-called libertine works and his more conventional works. The distinction is based more on form than content. The libertine novels are written from the point of view of the libertine characters while the other novels are written from the point of view of the victims of the libertines. That said, the same ideas and themes are found in both. In the libertine novels the heroes, in between their sexual activities, put forward the ideas that justify their behavior while in the more conventional novels the victims refute those ideas. The general view is that the views of the libertines reflect those of Sade too. But I think this is a mistake. I think Sade took seriously the counterarguments put forth by the libertines’ victims in the other novels. Even as a libertine novel like Philosophy in the Bedroom consists of dialogues along the Platonic model, I think the libertine novels and the conventional novels are meant to form a dialogue.

The most famous libertine works are The 120 Days of Sodom and Philosophy in the Bedroom. Of his more conventional novels Justine is probably the most well-known example, though Aline & Valcour merits attention too.

Justine and Aline & Valcour are works that place Sade firmly in the context of eighteenth- century European literature. One of the central issues of the Enlightenment was the education of women. Samuel Richardson’s novel Pamela or Virtue Rewarded is an example. Sade’s novel Justine or the Misfortunes of Virtue is a reply to that. Much of the modern European novels drew their plots from the ancient Greek Romances of the Hellenistic era. fall in love and then are separated and their love is tested are by various misfortunes: evil princes, bandits, pirates, kidnapping, sea storms and so on. But their love and virtue triumph over all and they are reunited at the end. The Aethiopica by Heliodorus written in the third century A.D. is a good example.

The plot of Sade’s novel Aline & Valcour makes use of all the same elements. The two young lovers Aline and Valcour become separated and search for each other in many foreign lands while subjected to various misfortunes. Here too in what I’ve called his conventional novels, Sade ignores conventions and departs from the model of the Greek Romance and most of the romance novels of modern European literature. There is no happy ending for the two lovers. Aline commits suicide in despair of ever being reunited with Valcour.

Two of the places visited in the novel can be seen as critiques of the social order of France on the eve of the revolution. The African island of Butua is a monarchy. The cynical view of the libertines in The 120 Days of Sodom or Philosophy in the Bedroom is expounded by one of the king’s favorites, Portuguese character Sarmiento who argues that injustice and violence are essential for a monarchy and they only follow the laws of nature in this. Cannibalism in Butua is common and is an expression of this. By contrast the island of Tamoë is a republic in which all citizens are equal. The king Zamé calls himself “the state’s first citizen.” He says of his time in Europe that he saw much vice and little virtue. “Everywhere I could divide men into two classes, to be pitied equally. In one the rich man was slave to his pleasures; in the other, the poor man was a victim of fate…” [Vol. 2 p. 278]

While these same issues are discussed in Sade’s libertine works, Aline and Valcour scorn tyranny but hold traditional views on love, fidelity and marriage and these views Sade does not present as worthy of scorn as they are in his libertine works. As I said, the novel can be seen as a critique of the libertine novels like The 120 Days of Sodom and Philosophy in the Bedroom. Sade said as much in a letter to his wife: “I do not want to win sympathy for vice. It is not my object…to make women love the men who deceive them…Those of my heroes who follow the path of vice I made so frightful that they will inspire neither pity nor love.” [Hayman p. 154]. Here we might recall the earlier letter to his mother-in-law in which he defended himself by citing his charitable and selfless acts. Those things and his conventional fictions make it clear that Sade did not share all the ideas espoused by his libertines. While libertines like Dolmancé defend incest, Sade’s novel Eugénie Franval was originally subtitled “The Misfortunes of Incest” and in it the incestuous love affair between Eugénie and her father ends with Eugénie dying of remorse after she poisons her mother and her father commits suicide. This is what I mean when I spoke of novels like Aline & Valcour and Eugénie Franval forming a dialogue with libertine novels The 120 Days of Sodom and Philosophy in the Bedroom, Any account of Sade’s ideas must take into account the former works as well as the latter.

It is not only the varieties of sex of course that make novels like Philosophy in the Bedroom libertine but also the arguments expounded by his libertine characters when they rest from their exertions. There are probably forms of sex not found in Sade’s novels but I do not know of them nor have I looked for them. Some of the forms of sex are common now, some not so common I think. The most common form of sex is anal sex—or sodomy as it was then called. There is also group sex, bondage, sex with animals, pedophilia, incest and rape—all of these things performed by various combinations of males and females. Many of these acts are accompanied by acts besides whipping that probably most people now would find even more repulsive. Coprophagy comes to mind. The usual climax of all of these activities was murder. In The 120 Days of Sodom all the victims are murdered at the end and all in different ways that the monstrous libertines spend some time devising. Philosophy in the Bedroom is exceptional in this regard as there is no murder at the end.

Yet all of these horrible excesses are not meant to titillate depraved imaginations. As I say in the interludes between their sexual activities the libertines discuss their sexual desires and justify them against religion, middle-class morality and the law. Their arguments are a frontal assault on the ideas associated with the Enlightenment. Sade in these passages seems to be composing a sly reply to Rousseau’s argument that man was by nature good until he was corrupted by civilization which inflamed him into a nasty conflict with his fellow citizens. Yes, Sade seems to say but ‘good’ by nature means a Hobbesian creature ‘red in tooth and claw.’ After all, animals kill each other and eat each other. In this Sade takes a certain line of thought in the Enlightenment and carries it to a very disturbing conclusion.

The prevalence of anal sex in Sade’s novels needs some comment. Nowadays is usually taken as a matter of taste. But in Sade it has a special significance. It is not only the most common form of sex between males but also between males and females. Even before the physical pleasure it offers his libertines, they take a psychological pleasure in it as an insult to religion since it precludes procreation which in the view of the Catholic Church and many other religions was and still is the main purpose of sex. In other words, anal sex is for them a form of political protest. Even as people at political protests shout slogans the libertines shout blasphemies while engaged in it. For me at least there is in this something comical about the libertines. Though they profess to imitate animals, a good deal of thinking and talking is necessary for their pleasure.

Philosophy in the Bedroom is the main libertine work discussed here for two reasons. First, it contains Sade’s most succinct explanation of his views on freedom. This occurs in the Fifth Dialogue. The second reason is that I think it is the least tedious of the libertine works. Not only do the orgies grow dreary, but the same arguments are found in one novel after another and within each novel it is usually made many times by different characters. It is a provocative argument but once is enough. If Sade had only written Philosophy in the Bedroom and Justine he would still be among the most important European writers since the Enlightenment. But then what would he have done with his spare time in prison?

The main characters in Philosophy in the Bedroom are Dolmancé, Madame de Saint-Ange, her brother Le Chevalier de Mirval and a girl Eugénie. Dolmancé is a 36-old libertine; his friend Saint-Ange is a 26-year-old libertine whose house is the setting of the novel. Eugénie is a fifteen-year-old girl whose views on love, sex and marriage have been shaped by her religious mother. Her libertine father has sent her to Saint-Ange for her reeducation in all these matters.

The novel consists of seven dialogues a dialogue mostly between the three libertines, Dolmancé, his friend Mirval, Mirval’s sister Saint-Ange, her gardener Augustin and Eugénie. The setting for the novel is Saint-Ange’s house.

Dolmancé takes the lead in reeducating Eugénie who is a virgin. He explains to her that traditional morality and religion are absurd obstacles that obstruct the sole purpose of life installed in humans by nature, pleasure, of which the most important form is sex. Saint-Ange and Mirval explain to the girl that they have had sex on numerous occasions because the incest taboo is another absurdity. Mirval deflowers the girl and after that she enthusiastically participates in the libertines’ various sexual acts during which Mirval and his sister Saint-Ange also have sex. At the end of the novel Eugénie’s mother Mistival arrives to rescue her daughter but it is too late. She is beaten, whipped and raped and her daughter joins in these acts—her daughter even wants to murder her. But they settle for something less though probably more disturbing. A servant with syphilis is called in to rape Eugénie’s mother. Afterwards to prevent the infected semen from leaking out Eugénie sews up her mother’s vagina and then Dolmancé sews up her anus too for good measure.

The fifth dialogue contains what is the most famous passage is Sade’s works. Sade signals its importance by setting apart in typeface from the rest of the dialogue and it begins, “Yet another effort, Frenchmen, if you would become republicans.”

What follows is Dolmancé’s argument against the idea of law itself. He asks the question if the people who made the revolution, which began with the goal of liberation by destroying the tyrannical laws of the monarchy which were based on religion, will consider it completed by the creation of new laws. This for Dolmancé will ensure the ruin of the revolution. As he says, “Abandon the notion; for what should we, who have no religion, do with laws?” From this standpoint, incest and murder which are occur in most of Sade’s libertine novels have a special importance.

The prohibition of incest has existed in every human society although with some striking variations—in ancient Persia the marriage of brother and sister was common and considered one of the best unions. French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan calls the prohibition of incest the “primordial Law” in that it sets human society apart from the animal kingdom, and his work will shape most of the critique here.

For the Sadean libertine the only law is the law of Nature which for Sade is passion. And for Sade passion is always and everywhere a transgression. Here Lacan may help us. From a Lacanian standpoint Dolmancé’s argument involves a problem, an impasse. Lacan supplements the sexual drive in Freud’s work with his concept of desire—desire being a purely human expression in contrast to the sexual drive that humans share with animals. Desire then is intersubjective. Or as Lacan puts it, “Desire is the desire of the other.”

Lacan emphasizes that there can be no transgression without a law to transgress. This is the impasse that Dolmancé faces. To abolish law is to eliminate his desire—or pass as he would call it—insofar as it involves transgression. So the idea of Dolmancé that by abolishing laws humans will be free to follow their animal drives is an illusion. Humans are forever separated from their animal origins by language. Language is the medium of the social bond and the Law is paradigmatic expression of this. Since desire is intersubjective, Dolmancé’s desire is dependent on his victims, of the desire of his victims. This is also evident in the Testard affair when Sade demanded the young woman Jeanne Testard crush the crucifix and utter blasphemies—in other words his desire is inextricably linked to her. But per Lacan, “…desire is projected, alienated in the other.” This being the case, the frustration of desire can provoke the most fundamental form of aggression “the destruction of the other.” The Sadean orgies typically end with the libertine murdering his victim.

Dolmancé errs because the coordinates of his discussion of human freedom are Nature and Religion. But the barriers to freedom are created not by nature or religion but by the inequities of wealth and those are created by historical conditions. Nature, the sexual drive, plays only plays a preliminary role in the matter, and religion is an ideological manifestation of the social inequities of wealth and power.

Nevertheless the analysis of Sade’s libertines does expose the problems of a common Enlightenment conception of freedom found in a thinker like John Locke. In this view the state exists to ensure the welfare and freedom of its citizen. In the society governed by the state, the freedom of its citizens consists of each individual being able to do whatever he or she wants insofar as it does no harm to others. Here Marx’s well-known distinction between concrete and formal freedom is useful. Although workers and the poor may enjoy free speech and the freedom of association they are not free to change socio-economic base which creates other inequities of wealth and power which harm them. The libertine argument is then the logical end of Locke’s liberal notion of freedom. As for those less fortunate than me—whom I exploit for my pleasure—who are harmed by those inequities, too bad. Contrast the honesty of Sade’s libertines with the billionaires of our time whose highly publicized philanthropic activities can be seen as a cover for their ruthless business dealings.

Sade’s examination of the inevitable conflict that arises in the ‘pursuit of happiness’ between the wealthy and the less fortunate can be applied to all the issues that roil our society now like abortion and gay rights, the right to carry guns, the use of public resources for private gain, what books can be taught or kept in public schools and libraries. In every instance there is a conflict between private gain at the expense of public welfare.

And all of Sade’s ideas on the conflicts that follow from the liberal notion of freedom—which still holds sway—all of these ideas arise in the most intimate form of human interaction: sex. It is not however the private coupling of two people but rather the orgy that reveals this. As Hegel puts it, Truth is the orgy in which all members participate. In the Sadean orgy all members participate but as in the capitalist market all members do not participate on equal terms. And the Lacanian assertion that desire is desire of the other is the obverse of the Marxist assertion that freedom is freedom of the other.

Daniel Beaumont teaches Arabic language & literature and other courses at the University of Rochester. He is the author of Slave of Desire: Sex, Love & Death in the 1001 Nights and Preachin’ the Blues: The Life & Times of Son House. He can be contacted at: daniel.beaumont@rochester.edu

Time Running Out for Surprise Winner Pita to Secure Thai PM Role

Pita Limjaroenrat 

Patpicha Tanakasempipat
Updated Tue, June 27, 2023 at 5:21 PM MDT·5 min read


(Bloomberg) -- Ever since Pita Limjaroenrat led his Move Forward Party to a surprise first-place finish in Thailand’s election last month, he’s faced a flurry of legal complaints and controversies challenging his bid to take power after more than a decade of military-backed rule.

Now with parliament scheduled to convene July 3 and lawmakers expected to vote on a new prime minister in the days or weeks afterward, time is running out for the 42-year-old leader to make sure his victory was anything other than symbolic.

Pita’s biggest challenge remains the 250-member Senate — a body appointed by the royalist military establishment following a 2014 coup, many of whose members oppose his proposal to ease penalties for criticizing the royal family. And they apparently don’t care that he won the most votes.

“It’s not our job to listen to the people,” Senator Prapanth Koonmee, a lawyer who said 90% of lawmakers in the upper chamber have already made up their mind, said in an interview. “Even if you got 100 million votes, I still wouldn’t pick you if I don’t like you or find you suitable.”

That hasn’t slowed down the Harvard-educated Pita. He’s built support from a range of pro-democracy parties since the vote and traversed the country seeking to sustain enthusiasm for the May 14 election results, which amounted to a shocking blow to the royalist establishment.

The stakes are high ahead of the parliamentary vote, expected soon after King Maha Vajiralongkorn opens parliament next week. A failure by Pita to get enough support could mean the unraveling of his coalition or even rule by a minority-led government.

The uncertainty has Thailand’s markets and global investors on edge. Thailand’s main stock index is the worst performer in Asia this year, having tumbled about 11%.

Read More: Here’s How Thailand’s PM Race Could Play Out as Talks Drag On

Pita has downplayed the uncertainty and sought to reassure supporters that he will lead the next government. That outreach has included meetings with various business groups, where he talks about the transition of power and the agenda for his first 100 days in office.

“We’re working hard to break the wall and forge an understanding between the two chambers,” Pita said at Parliament House on Tuesday. “There is constant progress.”

He added that he’s confident there will be enough support — he currently needs 64 senators — for him to be prime minister.

“Pita seems to be trying to create a sense of momentum and inevitability about him becoming prime minister, in the hope of putting pressure on senators to back him,” said Peter Mumford, the Southeast Asia practice head of consultancy Eurasia Group. “It is far from certain that the strategy will work, though.”

His performance as a prime minister-in-waiting has helped energize Move Forward’s supporters, who have pressured senators in online campaigns, public panels and street demonstrations to declare their support for Pita. But the voices run the risk of falling on deaf ears, as many senators have remained silent or publicly ruled out their support.

For many senators, resistance to Pita’s leadership is based largely on Move Forward’s platform to amend the lese majeste law, or Article 112 of the Thai criminal code, which penalizes criticisms against the king and other royals.

“Senators don’t like his disloyalty to the monarchy and his plans to reform and uproot Thai society,” said Senator Prapanth, 69. “It’s not acceptable.”

Pita has denied allegations that he is disloyal, saying he seeks to improve the relationship between the monarchy and the people.

Prapanth’s remarks underscore just how high the odds are stacked against Pita and his pro-democracy coalition. Yet with Move Forward previously ruling out alliances with conservative parties, there is little alternative but to win over as many senators as possible.

Behind the scenes, Move Forward has deployed top officials to approach individual senators — and even relied on a network of allies who are friends and families of lawmakers to make the party’s case.

“We’re trying whatever method is required to communicate with as many senators as possible,” said Parit Wacharasindhu, the party’s policy campaign manager, who is also one of the negotiators doing the outreach.

One of their strategies has been to argue that senators should vote for Pita not because they agree with him but for the same reason they cited in voting for incumbent Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha in 2019: because he had the support of the majority of the lower house.

Parit noted that hopes are higher for a group of 63 senators who previously voted for a failed measure to abolish the Senate’s power to vote for prime minister and limit it to the 500-member lower house. Parit said he’s confident he can win those senators over, then go for others.

“I still hope that senators will make decisions based on rational grounds, regardless of emotion and personal preferences,” Parit said.

One lawmaker in the Pita camp is Senator Zakee Phithakkumpol, a 45-year-old academic who considers himself a minority in the upper chamber. Zakee said he occasionally shares his views privately with those who oppose Pita in hopes of changing their minds. He also helped advise Move Forward negotiators who approached him on how best to address the senators’ concerns, he said.

“I tried to communicate with the elder senators that I’m not taking Pita’s side but the way we’re carrying on may not be good in the long term, especially if we want the monarchy to endure in Thai society,” Zakee said in an interview.

Zakee, who backed Prayuth in 2019, said he believes that abiding by democratic principles is the only way to prevent chaos.

“Thai society is at a crossroads between change and delaying it,” he said. “Your choice will upset some people either way, so what’s more important is to respect the rules. I believe that doing the right thing will protect you.”

--With assistance from Anuchit Nguyen and Margo Towie.

LESE MAJESTE IS TYRANNY

Thailand’s Move Forward Party takes on biggest political taboo

AFP Published May 19, 2023

BANGKOK: After shocking Thailand’s military-backed elite with a historic election breakthrough, the Move Forward Party now wants to take on the nation’s biggest political taboo — laws on insulting the monarchy.

However, MFP leader Pita Limjaroenrat’s determination to modify the lese-majeste laws protecting King Maha Vajiralongkorn has quickly emerged as a key issue that could block his path to power.

The monarchy has long had an exalted status in Thai society, and is shielded from criticism by section 112 of the penal code, which punishes infractions with jail terms of up to 15 years.

Posters of the king are ubiquitous, from shops and homes to public buildings and motorway billboards, and cinema-goers are expected to stand for the royal anthem before screenings.

But youth-led pro-democracy demonstrators in 2020 breached the taboo against public discussion of the monarchy’s status, with some protesters calling for the king’s power and spending to be reined in.

MFP channelled the reforming zeal of the protest movement in its campaign for Sunday’s election, pledging to limit who can bring lese-majeste charges and to cut the maximum sentence.

Tough laws

Section 112 outlaws defaming, insulting or threatening the king or certain members of his family.

But its interpretation has expanded to include almost any criticism, whether in public or on social media, including even indirect or light-hearted references.

Since the 2020 protests erupted more than 200 people have been prosecuted, including minors, some for seemingly trivial transgressions.

MFP proposes to cut the maximum sentence for lese-majeste and restrict who can bring charges — at the moment it can be done by anyone, and ultra-royalists are known to trawl social media looking for potential complaints to file.

Pita insists the changes are needed to heal rifts in Thai society, and that Move Forward will not eradicate the law. “We want to amend, not abolish, act 112, which can be done in the parliament,” he said.

“We would like to talk maturely in the parliament, and we will do it slowly but surely and thoroughly.” But in the past the army has used even the suggestion of disloyalty to the crown as grounds to launch a coup.

The generals ousted elected governments in 2006 and 2014, promising both times to get tough on elements threatening the monarchy. And the current, military-written constitution makes it extremely difficult for Pita to become prime minister, even though Move Forward won the most seats.

MFP and rival opposition party Pheu Thai are working on a multi-party coalition that would give them more than 300 out of 500 lower house seats.

But to secure the prime minister’s job the coalition needs a majority across both houses — including the Senate.

The 250 members of the Senate — monarchist, pro-military arch-conservatives, hand-picked by Prayut’s junta — are threatening to block Pita’s bid for the job.

“I disapprove despite the number of MPs he gathered,” Senator Jadet Inswang said.

“I will not accept Pita as a PM because he... has previously said that he would abolish 112. I can’t accept.”

Cycle of unrest

But given the results of the election, the issue is now part of the political debate regardless of whether Pita becomes prime minister, according to Napon Jatusripitak, a political scientist and researcher at the Yusof Ishak Institute.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2023

Thais cheer poll winner Move Forward as opposition parties agree to coalition

Story by By Chayut Setboonsarng and Panu Wongcha-um • 

REUTERS

Tuesday, May 16,2023

Thailand general election© Thomson Reuters

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's two main opposition parties agreed on Monday to form a ruling coalition after they trounced in a weekend election military-backed rivals that have controlled government for nearly a decade.

The Move Forward party and opposition heavyweight Pheu Thai dominated Sunday's ballot in a rout of army-backed parties, but could face challenges in mustering enough support to vote in a prime minister, with parliamentary rules drafted by the military after a 2014 coup skewed in favour of its allies.



Thailand general election© Thomson Reuters

Their alliance would need to ensure its efforts to form a new government would not be stymied by a junta-appointed Senate, which gets to vote on a prime minister in a bicameral sitting of the 750-member legislature, and has a record of favouring conservative parties led by generals.

Pita Limjaroenrat, Move Forward's 42-year-old leader proposed an alliance of six parties that would command 309 seats. That would be short of the 376 seats needed to ensure he was elected as prime minister.


Thailand general election© Thomson Reuters

Asked about the Senate, he said all sides must respect the election outcome and there was no use going against it.

"I am not worried but I am not careless," he told a press conference.

"It will be quite a hefty price to pay if someone is thinking about debunking the election result or forming a minority government."

Pheu Thai, controlled by the billionaire Shinawatra family said it agreed with Pita's proposal and wished him luck in efforts to become prime minister.


Thailand general election© Thomson Reuters

The party had won most seats in every election this century, including twice in landslides, but met its match against Move Forward as it came close to a sweep of the capital Bangkok and made gains in rivals' strongholds.

NO OTHER ALLIANCE

"Pheu Thai has no plan to form any other government," party leader Chonlanan Srikaew told a press conference.

Though the results appear to be a hammer blow for the military and its allies, with parliamentary rules on their side and some influential power-brokers behind them, they could determine the shape of a new government.

Move Forward was galvanized by a wave of excitement among the youth over its liberal agenda and promises of bold changes, including breaking up monopolies and reforming a law on insulting the monarchy.

The landslide victory of two progressive political parties in Thailand's

Duration 2:53  View on Watch

On Monday, Pita did a victory lap in Bangkok where thousands of supporters had gathered - some in the streets, others on rooftops - dressed in Move Forward's signature orange colour and chanting "Prime Minister Pita".

Thai opposition crush military parties in election

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DW  Thai Elections

4:13

WION  Thailand Election 2023: Opinion polls indicate massive support for two opposition parties

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Dailymotion Nanalong Move Forward Party Leader ng Thailand, nakipagkasundo sa pagbuo ng coalition

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Student Pirag Phrasawang, 22, said he was "overwhelmed and excited to see change finally come to the country".

"My voice has been neglected for a long time. I'm glad that people finally woke up and responded to Move Forward's policies."

Pita has said Move Forward would press ahead with its plan to amend strict lese majeste laws against insulting the monarchy, which critics say have been used to stifle free speech. Thailand's palace does not comment on the law or its use.

The law punishes perceived insults by up to 15 years in prison, with hundreds of people facing charges, some of whom are in pre-trial detention.

Pita said parliament would be the right forum to seek amendments to the law, or article 112 of the criminal code.

"We will use the parliament to make sure that there is a comprehensive discussion with maturity, with transparency in how we should move forward in terms of the relationship between the monarchy and the masses," he said.

Asked if Pheu Thai would back that, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, one of its main candidates, said it could be discussed in the legislature.

"Pheu Thai has a clear stand that we won't abolish 112 but there can be a discussion about the law in parliament," she said.

(Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat, Chayut Setboonsarng, Juarawee Kittisilpa and Panu Wongcha-um; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Thailand’s opposition won a landslide in elections. But will the military elite let them rule?

Story by Helen Regan • CNNTuesday, May 16, 2023

Like a good democracy, now comes the horse trading.

Hear from supporters of winning party in Thailand's election

Duration 2:40   View on Watch

Thai voters delivered a powerful message to the country’s military-backed government on Sunday: you do not have the will of the people to rule.

The progressive Move Forward Party, which gained a huge following among young Thais for its reformist platform, won the most seats and the largest share of the popular vote.

Pheu Thai, the main opposition party that has been a populist force in Thailand for 20 years, came second.

Together they delivered a crushing blow to the conservative, military-backed establishment that has ruled on and off for decades, often by turfing out popularly elected governments in coups.

“This is an unmistakable frontal rebuke, a rejection of Thailand’s military authoritarian past. It’s a rejection of military dominance in politics,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist from Chulalongkorn University.

Over the last two decades, each time Thais have been allowed to vote, they have done so overwhelmingly in support of the military’s political opponents. Sunday’s vote – which saw a record turnout – was a continuation of that tradition.

But despite winning a landslide, it is far from certain who will be the next leader.

Thailand’s opposition won a landslide in elections. But will the military elite let them rule?© Provided by CNNSupporters of the Move Forward Party react as they watch results come in at the party headquarters in Bangkok on May 14, after polls closed in Thailand's general election. - Jack Taylor/AFP/Getty Images

That’s because the military junta that last seized power in 2014 rewrote the constitution to ensure they maintain a huge say in who can lead, whether or not they win the popular vote.

Neither opposition party won an outright majority of 376 seats needed to form a government outright, they will need to strike deals and wrangle support from other parties to form a coalition big enough to ensure victory.

But that won’t necessarily be straightforward.

Dangerous territory

The first thing to know is that any opposition party or coalition hoping to form a government must overcome the powerful voting bloc of the senate.

Under the junta-era constitution, Thailand’s unelected 250-seat senate is chosen entirely by the military and has previously voted for a pro-military candidate.

Because a party needs a majority of the combined houses – 750 seats – to elect a prime minister, it means opposition parties need almost three times as many votes in the lower house to be able to elect the next leader and form a government.

In 2019, coup leader Prayut Chan-o-cha won the senate votes which ensured his party’s coalition gained enough seats to elect him as prime minister, despite Pheu Thai being the largest party.

There are also other threats to the progressive movement’s win. Parties that have previously pushed for change have run afoul of the powerful conservative establishment – a nexus of the military, monarchy and influential elites.


Thailand’s opposition won a landslide in elections. But will the military elite let them rule?© Provided by CNNMove Forward Party leader and prime ministerial candidate, Pita Limjaroenrat, attends a press conference following the general election, at the party's headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 15. - Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters

Lawmakers have faced bans, parties have been dissolved, and governments have been overthrown. Thailand has witnessed a dozen successful coups since 1932, including two in the past 17 years.

And the purportedly independent election commission, anti-corruption commission and the constitutional court are all dominated in favor of the establishment.

In the progressive camp’s favor, however, is their large margin over the military-backed parties.

“If the results were murky, or if the pro-military parties got more, then we would be looking at manipulation, trying to shave the margins. But the results are so clear and very difficult to overturn now,” said Thitinan, adding that if there were attempts to subvert the vote, there would be public anger and protests.

Move Forward’s predecessor the Future Forward Party won the third most seats in the 2019 election. Shortly afterward, several of the party’s leaders were banned from politics and the party was later dissolved after a court ruled it violated electoral finance rules.

In the short term, that decision ended the threat from the Future Forward Party. But it also, in many ways, laid the foundation for Sunday’s historic vote.

Youth-led protests erupted across Thailand in 2020 after Future Forward was dissolved and a whole new generation of young political leaders were born, some of whom were willing to debate a previously taboo topic – royal reform.

Those calls electrified Thailand, where any frank discussion of the monarchy is fraught with the threat of prison under one of the strictest lese majeste laws in the world.

Many youth leaders were jailed or face ongoing prosecution linked to those protests. But some also went on to create the Move Forward party that swept to victory in the popular vote on Sunday.

That leaves the military establishment now locked in a political battle with a party that has kept the subject of royal reform on its manifesto.

Experts have said another coup would be costly, and dissolving a party with such a mandate would be “drastic.”

“Dissolving a party is a fairly drastic move. If there’s a way of keeping Move Forward out without dissolving them, then conservative politicians would probably prefer to do that. Because it’s not as strong a step in subverting the will that people have expressed,” said Susannah Patton, director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Lowy Institute.

“But you can’t rule that out.”

Vote for change cannot be ignored

Move Forward’s allure went beyond the youth vote on which it built its base.

Unofficial results showed the party captured 32 out of 33 seats in Bangkok – traditionally a stronghold for conservative parties.

“What this shows is that people who are living in urban areas are really fed up with the government that the military has provided for almost a decade,” said Patton.

“They are wanting to choose something different, and Move Forward is not just the youth party but actually can attract a wider cross section of support as well.”

Move Forward’s radical agenda includes reforming the military, getting rid of the draft, reducing the military’s budget, making it more transparent and accountable, as well as constitutional change and to bring the military and monarchy within the constitution.

The party’s win over the populist juggernaut Pheu Thai is also significant. This is the first time a party linked with ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has lost an election since 2001.

And Pheu Thai’s marginal defeat to Move Forward shows voters’ frustration with the old cycle of politics that pitted populist Thaksin-linked parties against the establishment.

Thailand’s “two party system was already breaking down in 2019, but it’s continuing to break down this election,” said Patton.

In a press conference on Monday, Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat said the party would go forward with plans to amend the country’s strict lese majeste laws – a key campaign pledge despite the taboo surrounding any discussion of the royal family in Thailand.

One of his priorities is to support young people facing jail terms on lese majeste charges, and Pita warned that if the law remains as it is, the relationship between the Thai people and the monarchy will only worsen.

His policies “strike at heart of the establishment,” said Thitinan, and even talking about the monarchy openly “is an affront to the palace.”

The Move Forward leader said Monday that he wants to form an alliance with the four other opposition parties to secure a majority in the lower house.

It could take 60 days before a prime ministerial candidate is endorsed by Thailand’s combined houses of parliament, but Sunday’s vote shows the people are ready for change.

However, if Thailand’s turbulent recent history is anything to go by, that could mean little. The military has shown in the past that it has few qualms about ignoring the popular vote.

CNN.com

Thailand's Senate could hold the key for hopeful election winner

Story by By Panarat Thepgumpanat • May 15

Thailand general election© Thomson Reuters


BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's Move Forward party announced on Monday that it had sufficient votes to form a coalition government but a military-appointed Senate, the party's position on a royal insult law and a complaint against its leader may stand in the way.


Thailand general election© Thomson Reuters

Pita Limjareonrat, 42, led the Move Forward party to a stunning victory in Sunday's general election, winning the highest number of seats, ahead of another opposition party, the political heavyweight Pheu Thai.

The victory of the two opposition parties may pave the way to ending nearly 10 years of military-backed governments led by a former army chief, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, whose newly formed party won a small fraction of the seats that the opposition parties did.

"I am ready to become Thailand's 30th prime minister," Pita declared, explaining that his party and its five prospective coalition partners, including Pheu Thai, would secure 309 seats in the 500-seat lower house of parliament.



Thailand general election© Thomson Reuters

However, to be indisputably in a position to become prime minister he needs to be able to command a majority in a joint sitting of the bicameral legislature, which includes 250 members of a military-appointed Senate.



Thailand general election© Thomson Reuters

So he needs 376 members of a joint session to vote for him.

Reuters spoke to six senators to try to gauge the mood of the upper house. Some of them suggested they would not necessarily vote with the majority in parliament, even though that reflected the will of the people as expressed on Sunday.

Related video: Analysis: Two Scenarios for Post-Election Thailand - TaiwanPlus News (TaiwanPlus)

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DailymotionOpposition Parties Score Stunning Election Win in Thailand

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France 24Changing of the guard? Thailand election winners challenge ruling establishment

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cbc.caThai voters choose democratic-leaning opposition parties

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Senator Somchai Sawangkarn said his vote for who becomes prime minister would based on his criteria and a lower-house majority alone was not sufficient.

"The person must be honest and not cause problems in the country," Somchai said.

"Hitler was elected in a majority but led the country to world war ... If there is a possibility of creating division in the country, I will not vote for them," he said.

Another, Kittisak Rattanawaraha, said the next leader must be loyal to the nation, religion and king and not corrupt, echoing themes upheld by Move Forward's conservative opponents.



Thailand general election© Thomson Reuters

A polarising issue for Move Forward is its position on amending a strict royal insult law, which sets out a sentence of up to 15 years for defaming the monarchy.

Critics says conservative governments have used the law to stifle dissent but conservatives are fiercely opposed to any suggestion of amending it.

The royal family is officially above politics and the king constitutionally enshrined to be held in "revered worship".

Senator Jet Sirathananon said he would respect the wishes of the majority.

"The Senate should not block the work of parliament. Based on what we saw yesterday, we'll respect people's votes," he said.

One senator said he would abstain on the grounds that it was the duty of the lower house to select the prime minister.

Another danger that Pita faces could come from the courts.

According to a complaint filed with the Election Commission before the vote, Pita broke electoral rules because he holds shares in a media company.

Pita said he was ready to explain that there was no wrongdoing and the allegation was a distraction.

"The road for Move Forward is just starting and it will not be smooth," said Ben Kiatkwankul, partner at Maverick Consulting Group, government affairs advisory.

(Additional reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by Robert Birsel)