The Political Banishment Of Popular Pita Limjaroenrat

BANGKOK, Thailand -- The Constitutional Court on Wednesday (Aug. 7) expelled from politics Thailand's most popular opposition politician Pita Limjaroenrat, plus 10 his executives, and dissolved their Move Forward Party (MFP) for repeatedly demanding the king's powerful legal protection against libel be weakened and "reformed."

U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, warned this Buddhist-majority, U.S. military ally in Southeast Asia on Aug. 2:

“If the Move Forward Party is dissolved, this decision will effectively disenfranchise millions of voters who called for progressive change and democratic reform.

“This action threatens to undermine Thailand's commitment to democracy and human rights, shared values that have anchored our bilateral partnership for over 190 years,” Sen. Cardin said in a letter to Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa.

"I urge the Thai government to respect the will of its people and uphold the democratic values that have long been the foundation of our enduring alliance," Sen. Cardin wrote.

Mr. Cardin made no mention of Mr. Pita's attempt to lessen the punishment for insulting the king.

Mr. Pita is widely seen as pro-U.S. at a time when Washington is competing with Beijing to influence this nation's capitalist economy, poorly disciplined military, and Bangkok's attempts to balance its diplomatic relations with both superpowers.

The Constitutional Court's nine judges, wrapped in black cloaks with bright red bibs, issued the ruling in front of portraits on the courtroom's wall portraying King Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida.

Mr. Pita, wearing a blue suit with a big white medical facemask covering his mouth and nose, sat rigidly in the courtroom alongside other MFP politicians, staring at the judges.

Thailand enforces the toughest lese majeste law in the world, Criminal Code Section 112, which makes it illegal to "defame, insult, or threaten members of the royal family."

Anyone can charge anyone else, Thai or foreigners, of violating 112 which requires an investigation no matter how sketchy the allegations, and often results in a conviction.

In addition, the constitution says:

"The King shall be enthroned in a position of revered worship and shall not be violated.

"No person shall expose the King to any sort of accusation or action."

Several high-profile, anti-112 protest leaders and dozens of others are currently in prison after being convicted for violating the law during the past two decades.

In a loud campaign, Mr. Pita and his MFP had demanded that the punishments meted out under 112 -- which include multiple 15-year prison sentences for each infraction -- be lessened.

Their anti-112 stance worried many of their own supporters who cautioned that Mr. Pita's priorities should instead have focused on the troubled economy, household debt, widespread pollution, and other issues instead of repeatedly challenging the monarchy's legal protection.

Mr. Pita's supporters claim Thailand's hierarchy of military, royalists, old money conservatives and some big businesses are blocking him because he threatens their financial and political control.

Mr. Pita and his MFP stunned Thai society when they won the biggest number of votes in a 2023 nationwide election for parliament's House of Representatives.

They symbolized the public's widespread rejection of the military's 2006 and 2014 coups and political domination.

Thailand has suffered more than a dozen coups since the 1930s, a destabilizing spiral which Mr. Pita wanted to end.

The political downfall for Mr. Pita, a progressive, is a dramatic reversal from his impressive peak.

"With the consensus that came out of the election, it will be quite a hefty price to pay for someone who is thinking of abolishing the election results, or forming a minority government," Mr. Pita said at a celebratory reception after the May 2023 election.

"Thais will prove that ballot is stronger than the bullets, back like how President Abraham Lincoln said 200 years ago, will happen in Thailand this year," he said, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

He boldly but prematurely presented himself as the next prime minister, strutting in and out of parliament while distributing promotional selfie photos.

Mr. Pita had also campaigned to slash the military's political and commercial powers and end the army's annual conscription to draft young men.

Mr. Pita's MFP alleged in January that army-run businesses may have not accounted for millions of dollars in profits.

Mr. Pita also wanted to limit Thailand's large, family-run monopolistic corporations and allow more diversification for smaller marketers.

Parliament's 250 military-appointed Senate, and Mr. Pita's political opponents in the Lower House, blocked him from the prime ministry after the 2023 election for being anti-112.

The idealistic, politically inexperienced, yuppie entrepreneur had won 14 million votes -- 38 percent of the total -- in the 2023 elections, resulting in 151 seats in parliament's 500-member elected House.

After a childhood partially in New Zealand, Mr. Pita graduated from Harvard University with a master's in public policy, and from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with an MBA.

He initially worked at his late-father's rice bran oil company and other businesses, but divorced his actress-model wife and became a politician raising his pre-teen daughter.

The court said the party's dissolution will allow the MFP's more than 140 other elected politicians to keep their political rights and parliament seats if they join other parties or form a new one.

Many of them survived when the MFP's predecessor, the liberal, anti-military Future Forward Party (FFP), was convicted and dissolved for campaign finance violations.

Mr. Pita was in the FFP when he gained his first seat in parliament.

When the FFP vanished, he established the MFP in 2020 with a much wider appeal.

The same Constitutional Court ruled in January that Mr. Pita and the MFP were anti-112 because they wanted to undermine the constitutional monarchy.

MFP denied that charge but complied with the court's demand that they stop their "reform 112" campaign.

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, head of the Pheu Thai Party (PTP) which scored second place in May's election, said in August that "Section 112 must be left untouched.

"Pheu Thai has made it clear it will not amend or scrap the law," Mr. Srettha said.

"The party wants to form a new government and move the country forward. It is necessary to defuse tensions over Section 112.

"Addressing the bread-and-butter issues affecting people's daily lives is an overriding priority. Improving the economy must come first," Prime Minister Srettha said at the time.

Next week, the same Constitutional Court is scheduled to rule on a petition to expel Prime Minister Srettha because he appointed a lawyer, who served time in jail, to be in his cabinet.

If Mr. Srettha, a former real estate tycoon, is toppled from the prime ministry, parliament would need to vote on a new leader who possibly could increase the power of the military, royalists, and conservatives.

***

Richard S. Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based American foreign correspondent reporting from Asia since 1978, and winner of Columbia University's Foreign Correspondents' Award. Excerpts from his two new nonfiction books, "Rituals. Killers. Wars. & Sex. -- Tibet, India, Nepal, Laos, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka & New York" and "Apocalyptic Tribes, Smugglers & Freaks" are available at
https://asia-correspondent.tumblr.com

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