High school students who created floral arrangements with political themes are the latest group to offend the military junta as its five-year stay in power enters its final days.
Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon believes someone is trying to lead impressionable young people astray.
“I believe there is someone behind this. How could the kids come up with this idea by themselves?” the junta’s “big brother” was quoted as saying in local media. “I don’t know who they are. We have to investigate first, but we also have to respect their freedom of expression.”
The fuss began on Thursday at annual wai khru ceremonies, when students present flower-bedecked pedestal trays to show gratitude to their teachers. But some young people used the occasion to make a more dramatic statement.
None were more dramatic than two displays created by Mathayom 6 (Grade 12) students at Chumphol Phon Phisai School in Phon Phisai district of Nong Khai province in the northeast.
One showed a set of scales with one arm holding “250 votes” and the other “several million votes”. The one with 250 votes was heavier than the other. The other showed Democracy Monument with a soldier stationed in front of it.
The message of the first one clearly referred to the 250 senators handpicked by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). Every single one of them, except for Speaker Pornpetch Wichitcholchai who abstained by tradition, voted for Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha as an outsider prime minister on June 5. The leader of the 2014 coup easily defeated his only rival, Future Forward leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, whose party received 6.9 million votes in the March 24 election.
A couple of equally provocative displays from Chalermkwansatree School in Phitsanulok also are getting a lot of attention on social media. One showed a tank and another shows wristwatches with a message reading “borrowing them from a friend” — a reference to the asset-disclosure allegations that dogged Gen Prawit for months before he was cleared in a contentious ruling by the anti-corruption watchdog.
Gen Prawit’s suggestion that teenagers couldn’t think for themselves drew criticism on social media, with some commenters joking that fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra — Public Enemy No.1 to the NCPO — could be the mastermind.
After five years marked by curbs on freedom of expression and frequent harassment of its critics, the NCPO is expected to hand power over to the elected government after the Asean Summit concludes in Bangkok on June 23. (Story continues below)
Tipping the scales: The votes of 250 unelected senators outweigh those of several million citizens, say high school seniors at Chumphol Phon Phisai School in Nong Khai. (Photo from @hanatawann Twitter account)
Mr Thanathorn posted his own message on Thursday, saying all people have the right to air their political opinions. He also criticised attempts to silence students in schools.
The FFP leader referred to a visit to the school in Phon Phisai district on Thursday by security authorities to talk to the students who made the trays. The officers asked the teens to delete pictures of their handiwork from their social media accounts.
Phon Phisai police chief Pol Col Phuwit Siripanitch told Thai Rath TV that he had ordered police to go to the school as part of a routine patrol. One of the officers saw the trays, took pictures and sent them to him, he added.
Army spokesman Col Winthai Suvaree denied the army had ordered authorities to visit the school.
Chumphon Phon Phisai School director Pipat Srisukphat said on Friday that police had come to check security at the school.
Suthep Chittayawong, the acting secretary-general of the Basic Education Commission, on Friday asked all schools under its supervision to observe wai khru in the right spirit and advised teachers to make sure that the activities of their students are appropriate.
The director of Chalermkwansatree School in Phitsanulok said on Friday that the school allowed students to create the topical trays to show their creativity, on condition that it would not lead to conflict in the school.
