Organizer: Royal Society for Asian Affairs

Type/Location: Virtual

Description:

What is it like to be wrongfully accused and imprisoned on political charges in Thailand? In this lecture, Dr. Paul Chambers, a foreign academic living in Thailand for over thirty years, discusses his experience being the first foreign academic to be wrongfully accused and imprisoned for violating Section 112 (lèse-majesté) of Thailand’s Criminal Code and Computer Crimes Act. He was later forced to wear an electronic ankle bracelet, his passport was taken, and his visa was revoked by the state. He was then dismissed from his job as an Instructor in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Naresuan University. The charges against him were eventually dropped and he was able to depart Thailand on May 29, 2025. However, his visa remains revoked and he has not been reinstated at Naresuan University. Military officials have continued to insist that they will find and bring new charges against him.

About the Speaker:

Paul Chambers earned his PhD at Northern Illinois University in 2003 and currently serves as Lecturer and Advisor for International Affairs at the College of ASEAN Community Studies, Naresuan University, Thailand. He is also research fellow at both the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore and the German-Southeast Asian Centre for Public Policy and Good Governance. Finally, he is editor of the Journal Asian Affairs: An American Review. His research focuses upon civil-military relations, security-sector reform, and democratization in Southeast Asia.

Registration:

To attend the event virtually, please purchase a ticket here.