House Speaker rejects petition to proposal to repeal 1976 coup-era order

The House Speaker has rejected a petition initiating a bill to repeal an order made following the military coup of 1976 which increased the penalty for royal defamation.

iLaw reported that the October 6 Memorial Network submitted the petition to the House Speaker on 30 September. On 27 October, House Speaker Sophon Saram of the Bhumjaithai Party rejected the petition, arguing that citizens are not allowed to propose bills that are not related to people’s rights and freedom and this issue is instead a matter of state policy.

The Network said in a Facebook post that the bill, which is backed by over 59,000 people, aims to repeal an order made by the military junta that took power after the 1976 massacre at Thammasat University. It asks the legislature to reconsider an order that increased the penalties for a number of criminal offences, a matter which affects people’s rights and freedom.

The Network argued that penalties for criminal offences are directly related to constitutional rights and freedoms. The Constitution and a 2021 law on bills initiated by citizens requires that a bill be endorsed by at least 10,000 eligible voters before it can be introduced to Parliament. It must also be related in principle to constitutional provisions concerning the people‘s rights and freedoms or the duties of the state; this includes several provisions on the enforcement of criminal law as well as on freedom of expression. 

It noted that the 2021 law shows that criminal law is not separate from constitutional freedoms, while the Constitution itself contains provisions controlling the state‘s exercise of its authority in criminal cases. In light of this, setting the penalty for a criminal offence is not solely a matter of state policy but also limits the people’s freedom. When it comes to the penalty for royal defamation, which the order changed from up to 7 years to from 3 to 15 years, the changes to the Criminal Code affect the period of time during which a person‘s freedom may be limited. The change in the penalty is related to proportionality — an important principle in the Constitution. The Network therefore argues that proposing revisions to legislation that increases the prison sentences for criminal offences is about protecting constitutional freedoms and the bill should therefore be eligible for presentation to Parliament.

The Network also noted that previous House Speakers have accepted petitions proposing amendments to the Criminal Code, including one that would have extended the scope of the royal defamation law to cover more individuals.

The Network has called a protest at the parliament complex this evening (10 November) to demand that the House Speaker accept their petition.

The petition to propose the bill was part of the campaign marking the 50th anniversary of the 6 October 1976 Thammasat University Massacre, a violent crackdown by police and right-wing paramilitaries against protesters gathering at Thammasat University and nearby Sanam Luang to protest the return of Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn. The massacre resulted in the death of at least 45 people, some by lynching, and the public mutilation of corpses. That evening, Admiral Sangad Chaloryu ousted the elected government of Seni Pramoj in a military coup and appointed himself head of the National Administrative Reform Council (NARC), the junta which would rule Thailand until 1980.

Within 15 days of the coup, the NARC issued Order 41, which amended the Criminal Code by increasing the penalties for several offences, which included defaming a foreign head of state, insulting a place of worship, flag desecration, defamation, and defamation by publication. It also increased the penalty for royal defamation from up to 7 years to between 3 and 15 years.