Thai King takes no chances

WE’VE ALREADY WITNESSED one elderly man being subjected to insulting remarks this week – the 80 year old Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej is going to extreme lengths to protect himself from such shenanigans.

Thailand is to put in place a £9m firewall to protect the King and his adoring subjects from detractor's remarks online.

The Thai government has been accused of harbouring republican tendencies and being hostile to the monarchy – which it refutes, yet this firewall seems to be the result of powerful military demands to stamp out anti-monarchy criticism.

What’s ironic is that this firewall will be used to block out other offensive websites – such as those showing pornographic imagery or run by terrorist groups – yet the priority seems to be protecting the King from abuse.

The Bangkok government blocked Youtube last year as it showed a footage of the King with a pair of women’s feet above his head – this was considered outrageous as Thai culture regards feet as dirty (which some, of course, are).

Thai culture takes offensive material aimed at the royal family very seriously indeed, sentencing anyone who, "insults, defames or threatens" the family to 15 years imprisonment in some cases.

Somchai Wongsawat, the Thai Prime Minister, has ordered the police force to be particularly attentive with special branch monitoring community radio stations suspected of airing lese majeste content. µ

L'Inq
The Guardian