BANGKOK -- The Thai Ministry of Defense recently released a 605-page report of a team that investigated a May 1992 uprising in which soldiers shot dead dozens of prodemocracy demonstrators. To people abroad, the news headlines may make it appear as if Thailand finally is coming to terms with political atrocities of the past, as several new democracies in Latin America, Africa and Asia have done in recent years.
Actually, while Thailand has made significant progress in democratic development since the 1992 bloodshed, it has made little if any progress in confronting the crimes of the past.
The report into the 1992 uprising was released only after newspapers and activist groups including the relatives of those killed or reported missing filed petitions under a new law that compels the state to release certain types of information. The military censors, citing "national security," inked out more than 60 percent of the report -- including names of officers and their units -- before releasing it, making it impossible to tell who did what in 1992. The media and activist groups criticized the move. But instead of ordering the release of the full report, Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, who is also defense minister, asked the Defense Ministry to see whether people mentioned in the report would agree to having their names released -- as if the privacy rights of soldiers who killed unarmed demonstrators was more important than the right of the Thai people to know the truth.