Thais set up system Himmler would have been jealous of

[Trooper110]

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Thai website to protect the king

Thai website to protect the king

The government in Thailand has set up a special website urging people to inform on anyone criticising the monarchy.

It has also established an internet security centre to co-ordinate the blocking of websites deemed offensive to the monarchy.

On its first day of operation the centre banned nearly 5,000 websites.

The Ministry of Information had already blocked many thousands of sites, but that work is now being accelerated by the new centre.

Loyalty to the king

For all the many other challenges confronting the new government in Thailand, it has made protecting the image of the monarchy one of its highest priorities, according to the BBC correspondent in Bangkok, Jonathan Head.

Internet users are being urged to show their loyalty to the king by contributing to a new website called protecttheking.net, which has been set up by a parliamentary committee.

On the site's front page it is described as a means for Thai people to show their loyalty to the king by protecting him from what it calls misunderstandings about him.

It calls on all citizens to inform on anyone suspected of insulting or criticising the monarchy.

The site has managed to block 4,818 websites in its first 24 hours of operation.

Sources in the military have told the BBC that top generals are concerned about growing anti-monarchy sentiment, particularly among supporters of the ousted prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, many of whom believe that members of the royal family have backed anti-Thaksin movements.

The new website appears to be part of a concerted effort by the government and its conservative supporters to stifle any debate on the future of the monarchy, before it can gather momentum, our correspondent says.

[Skud]

Heh

Yeah, restricting freedoms always makes folks like governments more.

[{CLR} Cobalt]

Well, being that I have lived there for a while. It is true about insulting the king. Its a capitol offense if you slander him in any way. They dont take kindly to that kind of thing. But with a little background you might be able to understand a little better.

First, this king has done more for Thailand than any of his predecessors. In the form of helping the infrastructure to the rural villages. Those people out there for the most part are about 100 years behind the rest of the world. Well, that might be a little extreme, but you get the picture. He made it possible for their way of life to be better than it has ever been before, and not by welfare. Just by improving utilities, like water and electricity.And helping modernize the farming industry.Which is what they depend on with Thailand being the rice capitol of the world. He was a hands on type of guy that went out and mingled with the subjects and showed them that he cared. So 95% of the Thai people have the utmost respect for the guy.

Now to contrast the Shinawatra guy. He's a socialist, with very little support. The only people that like him are the few that benefited from him buying support. He's a typical politician and knows that he can motivate support by promising to give away money. (sound familiar). Which he did the short time he was in.

But the conservative folks in Thailand werent having any of it. And the king wasnt happy with the way he was running things. As it is now, he has a warrant out for his arrest, and cant set foot in Thailand unless he goes to jail. He is doing video conferences trying to stir the people up against the current govt. But they just ousted a guy that was just a mouthpiece for him about 4 months ago. Thats what shutting the airport down was all about. I was there.

So to sum it up, even though the people will not tolerate saying anything about the king, its really not as bad as you might think. Taking care of dissenters does not lead to a totalitarian state. At least not in this case. They are just trying to guard against disrupting a type of govt. and lifestyle that has prospered in a capitalistic way. They like what they have because it has been pointed in the right direction with the right motives. If the other guy was to gain power, i'm afraid we'd see the asian version of obama in play.

Not talking bad about he king is their way of saying thank you and being respectful of what he has stood for for 60 years of rule. He has been good for the people and the country and they just want it to continue forward.

Oh, and on a side note, this Shinawatra guy has extorted millions of Thai Baht from within the govt.from the people the short time he was there. From taking bribes and favored business practices for money. To just down right thievery. Thats why there is a warrant out for his arrest.

There is a lot more tois i20but this is the short version. I dont think he will ever get back. And I have no problem with quieting these type of dissenters when I know what they stand for and want.

[Trooper110]

And you don't even realize what's so bad about your entire post....I'm done in this thread.

[{CLR} Cobalt]

Come on Trooper, I didnt mean any harm. If it was the US, I would feel totally different. but I've seen exactly what is goin on and its not what you think.

But I didnt mean to offend you. I like everyone here, even the liberals. They're a little misguided but I still like em.

[Trooper110]

lol, I just don't want to get another thread thrown in to The Battlegrounds. If you want to discuss any further my views I'm happy to PM you with where my problems here lie.

And I'm not exactly liberal, I've actually been told by a good number of people that they're surprised that I classify myself more as a democrat than a republican with my views. Although I'm registered independent cause they all tick me off

[{CLR}geneSW]

Trooper I must say that you should realize posting such a topic is bound to get at least a small debate going. Surely you aren't going to sit there and say you didn't at least realize it might happen.