Army take on Lahu killing chills to bone
This is the quote of the week, a line that should be emblazoned on T-shirts with the boldest font and distributed to all conscripts. Defending the hotly contested extra-judicial killing of the Lahu activist, 3rd Region Army chief Vijak Sriribunsop said: “Firing one shot at him was reasonable. If it were me, I might have put the [machine gun] on automatic mode.”
The subtext is chilling: Let’s shoot the living daylights out of the boy.
Even if Chaiyapoom Pasae was a drug dealer — a claim staunchly disputed by a lot of people who knew the activist campaigning for minorities’ rights — the general’s statement augurs bloodlust. Any murder is violent, but sometimes the most violent of all are careless puffs of words that set the tone of an official mindset. The “automatic mode” quote is also a verdict nailed on Chaiyapoom’s cold coffin even though the investigation is still under way, even though we’re still reeling in the swirl of doubt from conflicting accounts by eyewitnesses and the authorities — and that verdict judges Chaiyapoom to be a vicious ringmaster of a trans-border drug trade who went around carrying knives and hand grenades. In short, someone who should be pumped with bullets from an automatic machine gun.
The circumstances around Chaiyapoom’s death are murky. That’s why the army’s version of the story — that the man was attempting to cross a checkpoint with 2,800 ya ba pills and threatened to throw a hand grenade at the soldiers — has been met with disbelief. Eyewitnesses have given interviews saying the young man was beaten by soldiers before he attempted to flee and was fatally shot. The plot smells fishy even to amateur detectives: Why would a local drug trafficker breeze through a permanent checkpoint that everyone knew was there?
The Third Reich, sorry, the 3rd Region Army chief is aware of the different accounts. He said the eyewitnesses who saw what happened should come forward instead of hiding behind anonymity. They should come to him and he’ll personally guarantee their safety while the investigation proceeds — the investigation by the army, of course.
That’s proof of how the military is out of touch with the reality of this militaryrun country. Chaiyapoom’s guilt or innocence will have to be proved, but his death and the ongoing probe implicate an issue larger than him: the culture of impunity, the institutionalisation of military influences, the unfair power structure deepened by the fact that the top brass are now running the show, and the casual arrogance justified by the mantra of national security.
Should the eyewitnesses come forward after the I-might-put-the-gun-onautomatic-mode declaration? Fool me once, don’t fool me twice. The Lahu is a hilltribe minority that has been struggling to acquire citizenship and basic rights, a voiceless people stuck at the wrong end of state rulings and ethno nation building. True, some of them are involved in the drug trade. But when a situation demands fair treatment according to the rule of law, how can they expect to receive it when they already face daily discrimination due to their status?
The structural powerlessness of the Lahu people puts them at a disadvantage enough in general circumstances. When they find themselves thrown into a dispute with the most powerful institution, how much chance do they have? Even Bangkok people with no “connections” pray every day that we won’t step on the wrong feet and get into a quarrel with “people with colour”.
It has become a standard practice lately that when there’s an incident involving military personnel — even when it’s an isolated case of a misbehaving individual — army officials often issue a statement, either to assure fairness or to defend the wrongdoers. Why? Because they know we know, or they think we think, that there would be no fairness in this climate? A road accident early this week in which an army truck hit a car was just that — an accident — and yet the army spokesperson came out to elucidate the matter, concluding that it wasn’t the fault of the military truck.
After Chaiyapoom was shot dead, the prime minister spoke about it. The army spokesperson also spoke about it. Both quickly claimed that the soldier acted in self-defence. Then came the automatic machine gun million-dollar quote. Topping that off, we also hear the claim that the soldiers are defending the country from bad people, which is true, of course, though such a monopoly on patriotism sounds increasingly stale. In the meantime, the eyewitnesses prefer to remain anonymous. Faceless in life, voiceless in death, such is the fate of some people here.