Politics, like magic, often relies on misdirection. The performer gets the audience looking in one direction, while the real action is taking place somewhere else. Thailand’s military government has just provided us with an excellent example of this. The government, which came to power in a coup d’etat and which has no democratic legitimacy, has cautioned women that they need to be careful about the kinds of photos they put on the Internet. Specifically, the Thai authorities are cracking down on the latest fad of posting “under-boob” selfies.
Under the Computer Crimes Act of 2007, you are in serious trouble in Thailand if you post material that causes “damage to the country’s security or causes public panic” or “any obscene computer data which is accessible to the public.” Apparently, the authorities have decided that selfies showing under-boobage is obscene computer data. WTF? What kind of under-boob could cause a public panic?
Now, we aren’t talking about Saudi Arabia or the Islamic State, let alone Utah, here. This is freaking Thailand, the Mecca (sorry, Muslims) of Sex Tourism. A country known for bar girls, bachelor hotels and ladyboys is getting wound up over photos depicting flesh on the periphery of the female breast.
Part of the issue the government has is that the ladies doing this don’t necessarily show their faces. “When people take these ‘under-boob selfies’ no one can see their faces,” culture ministry spokesman Anandha Chouchoti said. “So it’s like, we don’t know who these belong to, and it encourages others to do the same. We can only warn people to not take it up. They are inappropriate actions.”
I am firmly convinced that if they really wanted to figure out who these women are, the government could get thousands of 14-year-old boys to volunteer putting a face to each and every under-boob. The public morals of Thailand, however, are not the issue here at all. Misdirection is the purpose of this campaign.
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You see, the government of the self-appointed Thai Prime Minister, former Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, seized power in part to fight corruption. And in a case of if you can’t beat them, join them, the government has been plagued by corruption scandals. The ex-general’s brother, Preecha, for instance, made a small error when reporting his assets and the anti-corruption policy required — missing the figure by 11 million baht (about $300,000). Preecha’s net worth was closer to 90 million baht ($3 million) than the 79 million baht ($2.7 million) he stated on the form.
Still that is better than Pornpetch Wichitcholchai, president of the National Legislative Council, who refused to fill in the forms and declare his wealth. He said his stuff was priceless, so he wasn’t going to put a value on them. I don’t know how to say “Go screw yourself” in Thai, but that is about what he told the people.
Then, there is Police Chief Somyos Poompanmuang and his wife whose combined net worth was is 355.8 million baht (around $11 million). How a lifelong civil servant winds up with that kind of money, I don’t know. His wife must be very efficient in running the house.
The final juicy tidbit is this whining from the prime minister himself. He doesn’t like all the scrutiny and wound up complaining a few days ago when there were demands for great transparency, “I beg you not to dig up anything. There is no benefit in so doing. My government is here today to solve problems,” he implored. “I have so many burdens on my shoulder. My wife is also in this difficult situation. I just want some kind of moral support from you. I need your understanding. But the media has tried to dig up many issues. So have some politicians. I must say that you cannot do that for the time being.”
I wonder how much longer the Thai people can be distracted by under-boobs when their government is run by a pack of greedy boobs.
Jeff Myhre is a contributing journalist for TheBlot Magazine.
