Southeast Asia Thread

BANGKOK (Reuters) - The Thai princess whose stunning announcement she was running for prime minister was quickly opposed by her brother, the king, thanked her supporters on Saturday, saying she wants Thailand to be "moving forward", but she did not comment on her candidacy.

Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya Sirivadhana Barnavadi, 67, shocked the country on Friday when she announced she would be the prime ministerial candidate for a populist party loyal to ousted ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, in a March 24 election.

But her foray into politics - breaking with royal tradition - looked to be short-lived after public opposition from her younger brother, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, which is likely to lead to her disqualification by the Election Commission.

The Thai Raksa Chart party, which nominated Ubolratana cancelled a campaign event planned for Saturday but party leaders would not comment on the king's opposition.

King Vajiralongkorn, 66, issued a message late on Friday, saying his elder sister's candidacy was "inappropriate" and it was against the spirit of the constitution for royalty to be involved in politics.

While the Election Commission has the final say on approval of candidates, it seems unlikely its members would ignore the powerful influence of the king in making its decision.

In an Instagram post on Saturday, the princess did not directly mention her brother or her political hopes, but thanked supporters for their "love and kindness toward each other over the past day" and expressed gratitude for their support for her.

"I would like to say once again that I want to see Thailand moving forward, being admirable and acceptable by international countries, want to see all Thais have rights, a chance, good living, happiness to all," she said, concluding with "#I Love You".

Thailand has been a constitutional monarchy since 1932, but the royal family has wielded great influence.

Friday was the last day for parties to declare candidates.

Her main opponent in the March general election, if her nomination were to stand, would likely be Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who was army chief when he led the 2014 coup and now heads the ruling junta, who also announced his candidacy on Friday.

The Election Commission declined to comment when contacted by Reuters late on Friday night, with an official saying its members will hold a meeting on Monday.

The leaders of the princess's nominating party, Thai Raksa Chart - an offshoot of the larger pro-Thaksin party that was ousted from power in the 2014 coup - have declined to comment on the king's statement.

The party cancelled a planned event on Saturday in Bangkok featuring leader Preechapol Pongpanich, according to one of its parliamentary candidates. The princess had not been scheduled to appear at that event.

Ubolratana relinquished her royal titles in 1972 when she married an American, a fellow student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Peter Jensen. She lived in the United States for more than 26 years before they divorced in 1998.

Thailand’s Election Commission has ruled a princess out of next month’s election as uncertainty hangs over the fate of the political party which tried to nominate her as its candidate for prime minister.

The name of Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya, King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s elder sister, was left out of a list prime minister nominees released by the commission on Monday (Feb 11). There are 69 names, including that of current Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, on the list.

“All members of the royal family have to abide by the principle of being above politics and politically neutral,” it said in a statement.

Under new election laws put in place after a 2014 military coup, political parties have to submit the names of candidates they want to propose for prime minister.

Thais were stunned last Friday after the 67-year-old princess was unveiled as the candidate for the Thai Raksa Chart Party, a three-month- old party linked to fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Thai Raksa Chart is a splinter party of Pheu Thai Party, which won the last election in 2011 but was ousted by the military in 2014.

Although she relinquished her title in 1972, and sometimes refers to herself as a “commoner”, Princess Ubolratana “has been maintaining her status as a member of the Chakri royal family”, a statement by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, released last Friday (Feb 8) night, stressed.

“Any attempt to involve a high-level member of the royal family in the political process, by whatever means, would be tantamount to breaching time-honoured royal traditions, customs and national culture. Such action must be deemed transgression and most inappropriate,” it added.

Political activist Srisuwan Janya, who heads the Association for the Protection of the Constitution, on Monday filed a petition with the Election Commission to dissolve Thai Raksa Chart, saying that its actions have violated electoral laws.

If found to have violated the law, the party can be dissolved and its executives banned from politics. This will upset its strategy to help Pheu Thai scoop up as many parliamentary seats as possible and get around a post-coup system meant to cap the number of seats that big parties like Pheu Thai can win.

It will also put former army chief Prayut – running on the Palang Pracharath Party’s ticket – in a better position to return as premier after the election.

Meanwhile, Thailand maintains a lese majeste law that prescribes up to 15 years’ jail for any act deemed to have defamed or insulted the king, queen, heir-apparent or regent.

Thai Raksa Chart, which had kept a low profile all weekend, cancelled a meeting and press conference on Monday. Many of its key executive members were not present at its party headquarters in Bangkok.

Ms Sutisa Prathumkul, a member of the party’s candidate screening committee, told The Straits Times: “It was a last-minute notice and so many executives could not come in time. So we postponed the meeting until further notice.”

Last Saturday (Feb 9), the party issued a statement stating that it would comply with the King’s wishes. That day, Princess Ubolratana thanked people for their support in an Instagram message, writing: “I wish to see Thailand move forward to be admired and accepted by the international community.”

The country has been deeply divided for over a decade, wracked by bitter rivalry between royalist pro-military factions and groups linked to Thaksin, a billionaire tycoon who upended traditional patronage politics when he came to power in 2001.

Thai teen idol Namsai feared being booted from her band after a photo of her wearing a t-shirt with a Nazi swastika went viral, but without the uproar she says she would have remained ignorant about the offensive implications of her fashion choices.

As Europe battles a surge in anti-Semitism, including the desecration of graves in France, Southeast Asia is wrestling with a lack of understanding about the provenance of Nazi paraphernalia that casually creeps into public spaces.

From swastika-adorned trinkets on sale at Thai markets to selfies with Hitler statues in Indonesia, Nazi symbols are easy to find — a problem critics attribute to ignorance and a misplaced fascination with the fascist regime.

"I was shocked," the contrite singer said of the outcry. "But I felt it was my fault. I wasn't aware even though I should have known."

The 19-year-old is a member of BNK 48, one of the most popular girl bands in the country, performing choreographed J-pop-style numbers to adoring crowds.

But Namsai, whose real name is Pitchayapa Natha, waded into controversy when she wore a red-and-black top showing a Nazi flag and swastika during a televised rehearsal last month, prompting the Israeli embassy to express "shock and dismay".

Namsai, who has more than 370,000 followers on Instagram, swiftly posted an apology for what she called "my mistake", met with Israeli diplomats, and offered a tearful onstage apology.

Now she says she may join them in conducting seminars on Holocaust education in Thai schools.

In the meantime, she is researching Nazi history on her own.

"It was a bad experience," she said. But it also presented an "opportunity" to learn, she added, citing a visit to the Holocaust memorial at the UN in Bangkok also attended by other band members.

While Hitler's forces carried out atrocities in Europe, his Japanese allies led a scorched-earth campaign across Asia during World War II.

As a result, Japanese wartime actions are the more immediate prism through which many view the region's history.

The Holocaust is covered in high school textbooks in Thailand but it's "a small portion" of the world history sections, said Chalermchai Phanlert, an academic at the Education Ministry.

That means less emphasis on Nazis and their impact on Europe.

Derived from Sanskrit and with roots in India, the swastika is a commonly displayed motif in Hindu temples across Asia.

But Chalermchai said younger Thais do not fully understand the swastika's European context or Nazi history in general. Instead, Third Reich symbols are used to sell fashion and anti-establishment culture.

In September a love motel outside Bangkok sparked outcry after photos online showed a portrait of Hitler hanging in one of its themed rooms.

Red-and-white swastika badges, stamps, flags and other Nazi-themed trinkets are on sale at Bangkok's popular Chatuchak weekend market, while a vendor on tourist hub Khaosan Road hawks t-shirts of a naked Hitler enjoying a beach holiday.

Enthusiasm for Nazi iconography and portrayals of Hitler have earned rebukes in other Southeast Asian countries.

In 2017 an Indonesian museum that allowed visitors to take selfies with a wax sculpture of Hitler removed the exhibit following global condemnation.

But awareness of the offence caused is growing.

In Myanmar's biggest city Yangon shopkeeper Ko Ko Aung said he used to be part of the punk scene where clothes with swastikas were part of a spirit of rebellion.

Now he says he understands that "punk and Hitler are not connected".

It is both "inaccurate and unhelpful" to draw a link between a vogue for Nazi chic and anti-Semitism, says Elliot Brennan of the Institute for Security and Development Policy in Stockholm.

"That is not to say that anti-Semitism does not exist in Asia but one could argue these are led more by anti-Israel positions than anti-Semitism," he said.

Thai history lecturer Tul Israngura Na Ayudhya said the fascination with Hitler has to be seen in context, adding that a lack of education is only part of the story.

Many countries in Asia have a complex relationship with strongmen generals and leaders who are sometimes wrongly applauded as nationalist modernisers.

He cited Mao Zedong, a figure whose policies cost countless lives but who has been the subject of nostalgia in some quarters of late.

And so Hitler is not necessarily "associated with the devil" by everyone in the region.

Tul teaches one of the few university courses devoted to Nazi Germany in Thailand at Chulalongkorn University, where his syllabus begins with Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel's memoir "Night".

One of his students, German major Thanapon Danpakdee, laments the carefree approach to Nazi symbols in Thailand, even when it is not meant to offend.

"I think they ignore the other side," he said.

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