Instead of sitting in a luxury tattoo shop on Khao San Road, he was behind a three-metre-high wall of Bangkok’s Thon Buri Remand Prison, the overcrowded home to about 6,000 inmates.

Like many prisoners he will be released after paying for his crime, but he will also be marked forever as a jail inmate.

Tattoos have become the label of a jailbird – a symbol for many who’ve spent time behind bars. For inmates who’d lived in jail for many years, it was easy to recognise where the tattoo had been made, inside or outside of prison.

When the individual got out to try to make a new life, the inked arm was a permanent marker telling the world this man was a “bad guy”, barring him in future from many an opportunity. The pressure would force him and many of his fellow jailbirds back into a prison life cycle.

Receiving a long sentence from the court would give a prisoner plenty of leisure time to ponder the wisdom of these tattooing sessions.

Ae (assumed name) was among 6,000 detainees in the Thon Buri jail. His whole body was covered by tattoos, which left only a clear space on his face. It took about eight years of needle work to achieve that painful beauty.

He had been jailed three times for sexual abuse of an underaged child, and possessing and selling drugs. His first time in jail began when he was 20 years old with a mind fearful about the world behind a wall. He was afraid of being different from the other prisoners, but then he found tattooing, which was so popular among his companions behind bars.

“I took it on my arms first, and then chest and legs followed. My cell friends thought the tattoo was cool and they admired it.”

Tattoos and jailbirds were like a heaven-made couple who came together in a hell-like place. Like other partnerships in the world, it all starts with sweet joy but is followed by bitter suffering. People with tattoos often cannot get a decent job, especially those who got them in jail. Ae said when money was needed, drugs came along like a priest finding a lost soul.

“It was my first time as a drug dealer, so I was not very good at it and I was back in jail again and again. Therefore, I’ve used my tattoo as life’s vengeance – but I’ve also had to pay a lot to cover my whole body with painful ink,” he admitted.

“I was personally fascinated by tattooing, especially in jail where getting a tattoo came at little cost. I planned to use my passion for tattoo art to make a new life. I might open my own tattoo shop later because tattooing is the only thing I’ve learned during my eight years in jail,” he said.

It was also true for Bee (assumed name). Bee was another prisoner in Thon Buri jail. He said that people with whole bodies covered in tattoos were seen as constant lawbreakers, and outsiders would picture them as savages.

Bee admitted he’d been jailed previously for selling drugs, and this time he was locked up for six years. “When I got back to society, people would look down on me and judge me for my tattooed skin. I could not get a job, so I returned to drugs,” he said.

“Most of the prisoners have nothing to do in their leisure time, so tattooing is a big interest. I saw them walking around with cool tattoos, so it provoked me to have one too.

“Nobody was forced to have a tattoo, it was all a personal decision. I got my tattoo after drafting it first with a ballpoint pen – then I went to see a ‘master’ to make my draft come alive. Most of the tattoos in prison are not much different – dragons, Japanese koi fish, or angry devil faces. There were no gang tattoos, because those with the tattoos would have been given them before their jail time,” he said.

Bee said those with a whole body covered by tattoos, including faces, might be making a statement about their lives.

A jail problem was that no matter how many prisoners were fascinated by tattooing, it was still an offence to take a needle into the institution and would be punished. Such a threat could not diminish prisoners’ interest in tattooing, however, and many took the risk and smuggled needles into the lockup.

Meanwhile, to get a tattoo, the prisoner would design one ahead for their tattoo artist, known among inmates as “The Master”. This man would have several years of experience in tattooing and was known for his drawing skills.In each tattooing ceremony, 10 to 15 needles would be purified by alcohol before painting began in ballpoint pen-ink on the subject’s back. Each tattoo session would cost around Bt500 to Bt2,000, which customers would pay by cash or packs of cigarettes. The vocational academic and professional career trainer of Thon Buri Remand Prison, Wiwat Rangketkarn, said the main duty of the Corrections Department was to detain prisoners. But career training was also implemented as part of the sentence in a bid to return the prisoners to society as good citizens.

“The prisoner could be trained in several areas according to his interests – like carpenter, metal worker, or artist, which focused on the Ten Traditional Arts. They include carving, engraving, turning, casting, moulding and sculpting, model building, lacquering, metal beating, and plastering.

“The prisoner would focus on learning new skills, and avoid breaking the law in future. As we know from keeping in touch with former prisoners, many could sustain their lives and make a living from skills learned from us,” he said. With many of those flocking to the career programme interested in tattooing, the prison officer answered their desires by bringing a tattoo artist to train them. And with the skills learned, the insiders can perhaps make a living by doing this outside.

An informed source disclosed yesterday that cages containing five tigers were loaded onto two six-wheeled trucks at the temple, officially known as Wat Pa Luangta Maha Bua Yannasampano, in Kanchaburi’s Sai Yok district on Thursday and driven away.

Officials from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) were involved in the operation with representatives from the temple’s foundation also on hand, the source said. “But we don’t know exactly where these tigers have been sent.”

The source said the animals may have been sent to either Khao Pra Thap Chang Wildlife Breeding Centre or the Khao Son Wildlife Breeding Centre in Ratchaburi province. However, the decision to carry out the transfer at night has raised several questions. Last year, the DNP demanded that the Tiger Temple hand over its 147 tigers to the authorities, as it has no permits to keep them.

However earlier this month, the Wat Pa Luangta Maha Bua Yannasampano Foundation reportedly lodged a complaint against the department, seeking Bt147 million in compensation for the 147 tigers that it has raised for more than a decade. The court was scheduled to start hearing testimony from plaintiff witnesses next month.

But an informed source said the foundation and the DNP reached a deal. “Under the deal, the foundation has agreed to hand over 70 tigers to the DNP so that it can keep the rest for income-generating tourist activities,” the source said.

To date, the DNP has refused to respond to any questions about the reported deal. Reporters were barred from entering the Khao Pra Thap Chang Wildlife Breeding Centre or Khao Son Wildlife Breeding Centre yesterday. Heads of the centres declined to speak to the media.

 

According to the Foundation for Community Educational Media (FCEM)’s study on ‘Media Ethics and the new media regulation model in the convergent media era’, it is more difficult to regulate the media in this complex era of media convergence when it is not just about the technology.

The study which also had support from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission (NBTC), looked at several models of media regulation in the convergent media era in three countries – South Korea, Indonesia, and France. It found that South Korea was seen to have a single regulatory body to regulate all media platforms, while France and Indonesia still had separate regulatory bodies for different media platforms. Even though South Korea has a single regulatory body to control different media, they have separated the rules between content regulation and infrastructure regulation.

France has media regulatory bodies for each media platform and the regulators follow EU directives. Meanwhile, media regulation in Indonesia belongs to the government yet overlaps between governmental and industry regulation.

The common problem from the three different models of media regulation in the converging media era is causing a gap in new media regulation.

The NTBC also hosted a seminar on ‘Lessons learnt from news presentation on social media: infringing on human rights’. Nattha Komolvadhin, vice president of the News Broadcasting Council of Thailand, said media ethics must always be embedded into the media working process, since in the news gathering process to news presenting, it does not matter which platforms they are on.

“All stakeholders must be concerned, reporters, editors, media owners, and audiences. The challenge of media regulation is increasing according to the advanced and converged technologies. For example, technology allows reporters to do live broadcasts at any time, therefore, being a gatekeeper must be a skill for each individual reporter. And, in this scenario, the media regulation is more complex,” Nattha said.

Mana Treelayapewat, dean of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce’s School of Communication Arts and committee member of the National Press Council of Thailand, said that currently, the five major media associations and councils including Thai Journalists Association, Thai Broadcast Journalists Association, The News Broadcasting Council of Thailand, the National Press Council of Thailand, and Society of Online News Providers have been working on developing self-regulation among media across different platforms in the converging media era.

Apart from journalists, currently, social media and new media allow anyone who can create content to possibly infringe on human rights. This is an area of great concern. The solution starts with the media organisation, news agency, and reporter to strongly rely on media ethics and codes of conduct no matter what media platform they are, social media, new media, online, and mainstream media.

“To reduce the infringement of human rights, not only done by journalists but regular people as well, as there are a lot of citizen journalists and where anyone can create content, then anyone can infringe on someone’s human rights,” Mana said.

Pipope Panitchpakdi, a freelance journalist, said that currently the infringement of human rights has been done by both journalists and citizen journalists. The regulation that the five media organisations are working on can be used as guidelines for citizen journalists as well.

“In the era of media convergence, media literacy is the key. But it still requires punishment for those who intend to infringe on human rights,” Pipope said.

“The Thai government feels deeply disappointed in the report. It is not accurate and does not reflect the progress of reform and the government’s determination to stick with road map to strengthen democracy,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee.

In the 659-page World Report 2016 released on Wednesday, HRW reviewed human rights situations in 2015 in 90 countries around the globe.

“Despite initial promises to restore democracy within one year, the junta in 2015 exercised increasingly dictatorial power and continued to systematically repress fundamental rights and freedoms,” said the report in its chapter on Thailand.

“Instead of paving the way for a return to democratic civilian rule as promised in its so-called ‘road map’, the junta has created a political system that seems designed to prolong its grip on power,” it said.

Sek argued that his government had committed to holding a general election in June next year, with an elected government to start working in July.

On March 31, 2015, enforcement of the Martial Law Act was replaced with Article 44 of the interim constitution, which handed unlimited administrative, legislative and judiciary powers to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha in his capacity as NCPO chairman. The interim constitution also absolves from legal liability anyone carrying out actions on behalf of the NCPO.

The HRW report detailed many cases it claimed were rights violations, including the junta ban on political gatherings, the arrest of dozens of people on charges of sedition, and the suspension of media outlets.

Sek maintained the government’s line on the matter: “We affirm that the government respects freedom of expression and human rights as it is evident that the media can freely criticise the government.”

“But in a few cases, it was necessary to take action to safeguard peace and order and prevent division in society as we are reforming our country and bringing about reconciliation,” he said.

The report said that, “Prayut has made lese majeste prosecutions a top priority of the NCPO”. Since the coup, 56 lese majeste cases have been filed, 43 against individuals for online commentary, it said.

The junta had also enforced arbitrary detention, summoning at least 751 people for questioning since the coup in May 2014. It had also issued arrest warrants and revoked the passports of at least 10 exiled dissidents for failing to respond to summonses, it said.

On the refugee issue, the report accused Thai authorities of treating asylum seekers as illegal migrants and subjecting them to arrest and deportation. Thai authorities continue to violate the international prohibition against refoulement (forcible return) by forcing refugees and asylum seekers back to countries where they are likely to face persecution, it said.

Defending the HRW report’s criticism of the use of military courts to try civilians, Sek said that only four groups of suspects were treated in this way – those charged with security offences, with lese majeste, with weapons offences and with violating NCPO orders.

Meanwhile the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand had been downgraded to observer status after a review by the International Coordinating Committee (ICC).

Police are trying to determine whether tax payments for the car were evaded.

The monk who gave the abbot the car, and who was promoted to the rank of Phrarachakhana at a young age, also allegedly arranged the Bt1-million purchase of the “Khor Mor 99” licence plate for the car from a businesswoman.

Department of Special Investigation (DSI) investigators, forensic officials and Mercedes-Benz experts yesterday inspected the car, which is on display at the temple’s museum.

The inspection initially found the car’s parts were original, suggesting it may have been imported as a whole car instead of being locally reassembled.

The probe is 80 per cent complete and should be complete by the February 20 deadline, DSI chief Colonel Paisit Wongmuang said.

Somdej Chuang has the Supreme Sangha Council’s nomination to become the next Supreme Patriarch.