Is censorship right?

Infamy, as the inverse of fame, might not be a bad thing for my business but, on the whole, I do prefer to have my site live!

Now I doubt very much that any Thai authority is going to come after me but the point is that they might. If they do so there is nothing I can do. I have no recourse, no appeal, nothing.

I will say again, for the record, that I accept censorship is occasionally necessary. However, when it comes to censorship of the arts, Thailand needs to introduce accountabilty for decisions made, and it needs to remove the Ministry of Culture as sole arbiter of the national interest.

The arts will not thrive if both government and the cultural elite continue to impose their rigid, absolutist and “old” thinking. I happen to like paintings of the Buddha. I even enjoy classical opera. More than ever, however, I want to see Thailand become a thriving, innovative, even radical center for the arts. The talent is here now but remains largely suppressed.

Censorship can be necessary but the actions of the Ministry of Culture over Ayodhya show that any system of censorship requires transparent rules. I believe that the Ministry has harmed the reputatiion of Thailand. What a pity because this is, in so many ways, a wonderful country.