US embassy cable - 05BANGKOK3327

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BANGKOK 003327 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/BCLTV, USPACOM FOR FPA HUSO 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/18/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, TH, HUMAN RIGHTS 
SUBJECT: THAILAND:  MAY 1992 DEMOCRACY HEROES TO BE 
REMEMBERED WITH MONUMENT IN BANGKOK 
 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Robert J. Clarke, Reason: 1.4 (d) 
 
 1. (SBU) Summary: Families of democracy demonstrators 
killed, injured or missing from a military crackdown in May 
1992 laid the foundation stone for a new memorial in Bangkok. 
Opposition Democrat Party leader Abhisit spoke in praise of 
those who "sacrificed to bring democracy" to the Thai people. 
 No Royal Thai Government (RTG) officials attended.  Victims 
and their families lamented the fact that the RTG has never 
taken official responsibility for the deaths and injuries 
caused by security forces 13 years ago.  One pointedly 
invoked the current violence in the South and the tragedy at 
Tak Bai as illustrating that the lessons of 1992 have not 
been fully learned.  End Summary. 
 
MONUMENT PLANNED TO HONOR 1992 "MAY HEROES" OF THAI DEMOCRACY 
 
2. (U)  On May 17, Poloffs attended a foundation-stone laying 
ceremony organized by the May 1992 Heroes' Relatives 
Committee.  The simple Brahmin ceremony was officiated by 
social critic Dr. Prawes Wasi, who is also a member of the 
National Reconciliation Commission (NRC).  Also present, in 
addition to many families who lost relatives in the 
crackdown, was opposition Democrat Party (DP) leader Abhisit 
Vejjajiva and DP Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin.  A group 
of Northeastern farmers from the NGO Assembly of the Poor 
made up a large part of those gathered.  Those farmers had 
come to Bangkok on May 16 to demonstrate at Government House 
about rural debt issues.  Prominent representatives from the 
National Human Rights Commission and the NGO Campaign for 
Popular Democracy also attended. 
 
3. (SBU)  Representatives of the RTG or the Thai Rak Thai 
(TRT) party and significant numbers of middle-class 
Bangkokians, who made up the core of the demonstrators in 
1992, were notably not in attendance.  Chamlong Srimuang, the 
former head of the Phalang Dharma Party, an early political 
mentor (and current advisor) to Thaksin Shinawatra, and a 
leader of large demonstrations in 1992, also did not attend. 
He did send a wreath.  (Note:  PM Thaksin was busy in Buriram 
province at a "mobile cabinet meeting" which took place at 
the ancient Khmer temple of Phanom Rung.  Deputy Prime 
Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng, perhaps the most liberal member 
of Thaksin's cabinet, sent a commemorative wreath.  End Note.) 
 
4. (U) DP Leader Abhisit told the crowd that he felt a 
personal responsibility to those killed in may 1992 as he had 
made his initial foray into national politics as a Member of 
Parliament in the first elections held after the May 1992 
crackdown.  "While we are confident we won't return to a time 
of military rule again, we must continue the fight for 
democracy in order to honor those who have suffered so much," 
he said.  Later, Bangkok Governor Apirak pledged full 
cooperation with the victims' families in completing the 
monument, which is to be a small park with a conical "stupa" 
at one end honoring the dead. 
 
FAMILY MEMBERS STILL SEEKING GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY 
 
5. (C)  Later on May 17, Poloff met with Mr. Adul 
Keioboriboon and Ms. Jirapha Suebsaihan, members of May 1992 
Heroes' Relatives Committee, at the Royal (Ratanakosin) 
Hotel, located just across the street from the site of the 
proposed memorial.  Adul's son was shot and killed on May 17, 
1992,  Jirapha's son is still missing and presumed dead.  In 
1992, the hotel served as a makeshift hospital and sanctuary 
for some of the demonstrators during the crackdown.  Adul 
stated that officially there are 44 dead and 38 missing from 
the incident.  Eleven persons are permanently disabled and 
approximately 47 more suffer long-term medical or 
psychological complications as a result of injuries sustained 
in the crackdown. 
 
6. (C)  According to Adul and Jirapha, families and victims 
have received some compensation for those who have died, are 
missing or are injured survivors.  He refused to specify the 
amount received thus far.  Adul stated that the money comes 
through the Social Welfare Department and has been granted in 
small piecemeal amounts under a "special circumstances" 
provision in the social welfare system.  No separate 
compensation fund or comprehensive settlement has ever been 
reached, as the RTG has never officially accepted 
responsibility for the deaths and other losses.  In July 
2003, the Minister of Defense did issue a letter to victims 
expressing regret, but failed to take responsibility.  In 
December 2003, the cabinet of the Thaksin I administration 
approved nearly all of the recommendations from an 
Independent Commission (IC) chaired by former PM Anand 
Panayarachun that investigated compensation issues for the 
May 1992 victims.  That IC disbanded in January 2003 after 
recommending that compensation be paid directly to victims 
and that the RTG build a memorial to them.  Adul and Jirapha 
said that, to date, none of these recommendations have been 
implemented.  The Heroes' Relatives Committee has already 
commissioned an architectural design for the memorial. 
Estimated construction costs are 25 million baht ($640,000). 
Adul said the Committee could easily raise the funds 
privately but wants the RTG to take responsibility and 
recognize not only the mistakes made but also the historic 
significance that the democracy movement of May 1992 has had 
on Thai political history. 
 
VICTIMS' FAMILIES: RTG RESPONSE TO VIOLENCE IN SOUTH 
INDICATES LESSONS NOT FULLY LEARNED 
7. (C) Adul recounted his sadness upon reading the reports 
about the RTG's crackdown on demonstrators in October 2004 in 
Tak Bai, Narathiwat.  (78 Muslim demonstrators suffocated to 
death when they were being transported to a Thai military 
base, seven others died of gunshot wounds.)  He wondered if 
the Thai military or police would ever learn from their 
mistakes.  Based on the abuses that occurred at Tak Bai, Adul 
concluded, the military was still using crowd control tactics 
similar to those that led to the death of his son. 
 
8. (C)  Jirapha, a businesswoman from the Northeastern 
province of Sakhon Nakhorn, expressed her sympathy for the 
family of missing Muslim lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit. (Note: 
Somchai has been missing since March 2003 and is presumed 
dead.  He disappeared a few months after taking on the case 
of three Muslim defendants accused of instigating unrest. 
End note.) She said she had recently visited Somchai's widow, 
Angkhana, at the Neelapaijit family home in Bangkok.  She 
said that when she went to see Angkhana, she was surprised to 
see the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) security 
detail staked out (dual holstered hand guns prominently 
displayed) on the ground floor of the family home.  (Note: 
This detail was posted after Angkhana reported receiving 
threats, but now apparently is resented as intrusive.  End 
Note.)  Jirapha said that she and Somchai's widow had to go 
upstairs to Anghana's bedroom and talk behind closed doors 
for privacy.  Jirapha encouraged Angkhana to come to the May 
92 commemoration events but Angkhana declined, saying that 
she was afraid to go out and furthermore did not like having 
her DSI detail go with her everywhere.  Jirapha said she told 
Angkhana "Don't let them win, you must go out and speak up 
for your husband."  While recognizing that Angkhana's DSI 
"bodyguards" have a different duty than the undercover police 
that Jirapha said followed her for months after her son 
disappeared, she expressed sympathy with the situation faced 
by Angkhana and her family, who have become close friends. 
 
9.  (C)  Both Adul and Jirapha lamented the apparent lack of 
RTG interest in the commemorative events.  They noted that 
every year since 1992, the Speaker of the House of 
Representative of the Thai Parliament had attended.  This 
year, Adul noted, the RTG had provided the Committee with 
some financial assistance to hold the ceremony (in the form 
of a donation).  Adul also complained that the Bangkok middle 
and upper classes seem to have forgotten the May 1992 events, 
commenting that "these days the youth seem more interested in 
cars and cell phones than politics."  But he expressed his 
hope that if the Committee can build the monument by the 15th 
anniversary commemoration in 2007, public awareness of the 
events of 1992 will be renewed. 
 
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ON THE EVENTS OF MAY 17, 1992 
 
10. (U)   On May 17, 1992 Thai security forces began 
operations to break up massive public demonstrations against 
the government of then-Prime Minister Suchinda Kraprayoon, 
who had seized power in a military coup which ousted the 
democratically elected government of former Prime Minister 
Chatchai Choonhavan in February 1991.  For nearly a week 
prior to the crackdown, large demonstrations demanding the 
ouster of Suchinda and calling for new democratic elections 
were led by former head of the Phalang Dharma Party, Chamlong 
Srimuang.  Crowds were estimated at over 100,000 massed in 
the sweltering heat of mid-May, creating traffic gridlock in 
the heart of Bangkok's historic capital district.  The 
demonstrations started at the Sanam Luang, or Royal Parade 
Ground, near the beloved Grand Palace and Temple of the 
Emerald Buddha and progressed down Rachadamnern Road to a 
large traffic circle at Democracy Monument. 
 
11.  (U)  On the night of May 17, the demonstrations 
continued to grow.  As tensions between police and military 
units and the demonstrators heightened after several 
successive nights of protests, the order to arrest Chamlong 
and demonstration leaders was given.  Clashes erupted between 
the crowds and security personnel, and government units began 
to open fire on the demonstrators with automatic weapons, 
causing scores of deaths and hundreds of injuries.  The 
extent of the casualties from security forces gunfire is 
still debated.  A few days later, King Bhumibol called 
Chamlong and Suchinda for a public rebuke and an end to the 
clashes, later appointing Anand Panyarachun as caretaker 
Prime Minister and setting Thailand on course for a new 
elected government. 
 
12.  (U)  During the violence, the former Public Relations 
Department building was burned to the ground.  This is the 
site where the proposed "Monument to the May 1992 Heroes" is 
to be built. 
COMMENT 
13. (C)  Comment:  The failure of the current government to 
send a representative to the commemorative events 
disappointed many observers.  The events of May 1992 remain 
politically sensitive with some factions in the Thai 
military, particularly the issue of compensation for victims. 
 Most Thais, however, consider the protests of 13 years ago 
and the democratic reforms in its wake as a significant 
turning point in the evolution of Thai democracy.  Since that 
time, the military has "returned to the barracks" and kept 
out of coup-making.  The civilian administration of PM 
Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai party (and the democratic 
opposition) in a real sense owe their existence to the 
sacrifices made in May 1992. The government's decision to 
ignore the anniversary event will strike many Thais as ironic 
and callous.  End Comment. 
ARVIZU