Survivor calls for military withdrawal

A SURVIVOR of the 1976 Thammasat University massacre said yesterday that only a military withdrawal from politics could save Thailand from division and never-ending conflict. 

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of the atrocity at the campus, Surachart Bamrungsuk, from Chulalongkorn University, used a “roller-coaster” metaphor to explain how the Kingdom has struggled to gain people-based politics via a series of events, one of which was the 1976 demonstration against the return of ex-dictator Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn.

The perpetrators of the massacre, including members of the Armed Forces and police, have never been prosecuted.

“We have been on this endless loop, like riding a roller-coaster,” Surachart said yesterday during a commemoration event at Thammasat University’s Tha Prachan campus, where the massacre occurred. 

Surachart also joined the demonstration as a student at the time and was jailed after the bloodshed. 

“Our politics is continually going up and down, with civilians and the military taking turns ruling the country, but no remedial action was ever offered to sufferers of this ‘forgotten’ yet deadly incident,” he said.

“Military officers should return to their barracks and let politics take their natural course.” 

He added that “out-of-system” powers should also no longer be used to abuse the balance of power – a possible reference to the interim charter’s Article 44 that grants absolute power to the current prime minister.

Admitting he saw only a glimmer of hope for a just resolution to the long-obscured incident, the academic said he nevertheless had high hopes for a younger generation empowered by the dynamics of social media. 

“It should be remembered that it’s not only about complaining but also about how young people can become effective political administrators,” he said. 

“Thai politicians need to talk. We should not blame each other but instead step over conflicts and look forward together.”

Fellow survivor Thongchai Winichakul, who is now a Professor of Southeast Asian History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, called for justice for the victims and their “rehumanisation”. The massacre 40 years ago was conducted by security forces and right wing mobs against a pro-democracy student movement the military viewed as a threat to national security during the Cold War struggle against communism. Nearly 50 people died in the brutal attack, beaten, hanged and burnt to death. Some were dragged out of the campus to be hung on trees at nearby Sanam Luang, next to the Grand Palace. A photo showing a man striking the hanging corpse of a student with a chair shocked the world, but the perpetrator nor the victim depicted have been identified.

Thongchai, who is also a historian, has spent years researching the identities of his dead fellow students. He read out 41 names of victims yesterday’s commemoration but didn’t have photos to put faces to all of them. “Reading out their names is done to ‘rehumanise’ them,” he told the audience of survivors, students, scholars and activists. 

The massacre was commemorated on many campuses yesterday. At Chulalongkorn University, more than 900 people registered for “The 40 years of October 6: The New Generation’s Commemoration”, a discussion held by the university’s faculty of political science and joined by young representatives ranging from high-school students to a science lecturer.

Prominent Hong Kong student activist Joshua Wong also hosted a talk titled “Politics of the Young Generation” via Skype, after he was turned away at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Wednesday.

With police officers recording the event, Wong spoke about his activism against national education, which his Scholarism movement dubs patriotic brainwashing by the one-party Chinese state.

 “Sometimes you may feel discouraged with political situations,” Wong said. “But please remember that young people around the world, despite their diverse cultures, share the same values of democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law. They share the same sense with you.

“Time is on our side. I hope you build a future in the country where you were born and live,” he said. “Long live democracy in Thailand.”

Said a high-school student from Saint Gabriel’s College: “We want to see more talk on what our textbooks mention so little. Of course, history is written by the |victors [but] we want a more rounded view.”