Published on November 19, 2005

Top brass attacks media tycoon, telling him not to use monarchy in his criticism. Supreme Commander General Ruengroj Mahasaranond yesterday issued a dire warning, saying government critic Sondhi Limthongkul should stop invoking the monarchy or else face the full wrath of the military.

“I should like to direct my message at a certain person who resorts to self-promotion by invoking the name of His Majesty,” he said.

Ruengroj said he understood that different people, including Sondhi, had different ways to express love and respect for the monarchy and it was important that no one should act in any way to displease His Majesty the King.

“Rivals should not involve the monarch in their quarrels,” he said, referring to Sondhi’s attacks on Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

“Soldiers serving under His Majesty, myself included, will not tolerate disrespect that tarnishes the monarchy.”

Commenting on a similar warning made by Maj-General Prin Suwannathat, he said he and Prin were speaking out as individual soldiers and not in their official capacities.

“Like other citizens, soldiers have the right to warn against inappropriate acts. Should their warning go unheeded, the armed forces as a national institution will then step in,” he said.

He refused to elaborate on what form the military’s retaliation against Sondhi would take, saying the situation as yet required none.

He said he disapproved of Sondhi’s stirring up divisiveness which undermined national security.

“I am concerned about national security and do not intend to get involved in politics,” he said.

Echoing Ruengroj, Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Satirapan Keyanon said the armed forces were not politicking but trying to halt any perceived attempt to tarnish the monarchy, which they were duty bound to protect.

Former student activists yesterday blasted Ruengroj’s “threat”.

“It’s as if we’re living in the climate of military rule decades ago,” said Senator Nirun Phitakwatchara, a leader of the 1973 student uprising.

“The government is attempting to turn off the press,” he said.

All “unjust” attempts by the government will backfire because people are thirsting for the truth, he said.

Prinya Tewanarumitkul, a Thammasat University academic, said many people believed that the government was trying to keep them from learning the real situation, so they welcomed Sondhi’s incisive commentary.

“If the government or its supporters disagree or feel assailed, they can always sue Sondhi,” said Prinya, who was a student leader during the Black May democracy movement of 1992.

The supreme commander’s words only bring back bad memories of the military regime of those days, he said.

Suwit Watnu, an adviser to the Campaign for Popular Democracy, said the media tycoon had the same right to criticise the government as did the press and the supreme commander was endangering society by forcing people to side either with the government or with Sondhi when they had the right to hear the facts first.

Panya Tiewsangwan,

Weerayut Chokchaimadon

The Nation

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