RAJPRASONG — A large-scale, coordinated military and police effort was credited on Sunday with the successful containment and suppression of a single blank sheet of A4 copy paper.
The paper, which measured 8.5 by 11 inches, was apprehended by soldiers at the corner of Phayathai and Rathawithi roads in the Victory Monument area of Bangkok at 3:47pm on Sunday, and subsequently charged with sedition and violation of orders from the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).
“We are pleased with the results of our peacekeeping operations,” said NCPO head General Prayuth Chan-Ocha. “This sheet of paper needed to be stopped, and our forces did their duty.”
Rumors of the possible illegal assembly of blank pieces of paper spread on social media over the weekend, leading up to the massive response by army troops and police brigades. As of 10am Sunday, no fewer than 600 soldiers and 450 riot-armed policemen, supported by 50 vehicles, were present at key locations throughout the capital, including Victory Monument, Democracy Monument, Rajprasong, Lumpini Park, and a dozen large shopping malls.
Statements on Thai television by the NCPO had specifically banned the gathering of more than 5 sheets of blank A4 paper, and threatened lengthy jail terms for any paper bearing messages that were contradictory to national unity.
By 1pm, no paper had showed up at the monitored protest sites, leading to a reduction in security forces and the re-opening of key streets in the areas.
However, at approximately 3:45pm, a person standing in front of Ratchawithi Hospital held up a blank sheet of paper in front of soldiers and reporters, in a symbolic protest against the coup and military rule. The paper was quickly surrounded, subdued, and taken away in a police van.
Photographs of the paper indicated that it was blank, white, and probably from a ream of standard 70-gram photocopy/laser printer office paper. Its brand was not immediately identified.
A statement from police said only that the paper was being examined, questioned, and would be released or charged in accordance with the law. A later comment from the NCPO indicated that the sheet would be tried in martial court for violating army orders and inciting disorder.
Human Rights Watch has issued a statement condemning the arrest and demanding that the A4 sheet is permitted legal representation, and declaring that the current Thai environment violates “the fundamental rights of paper, printed or blank.”
Social media in Thailand has been divided on the issue, with anti-coup netizens calling for a massive show of blank paper at flash mobs throughout the city on Tuesday, while supporters of the coup have called for the paper to be cut in half, or even shredded. Many claimed that the sheet of paper was of foreign origin.
One group on Facebook calling itself the Thai Patriots Network Under The King even went so far as to call for a blanket boycott of all paper in A4 size, suggesting that “True Thais should only use A3 or A5 in their offices and homes, and make sure that it is pre-printed with statements that support our sacred institutions.”
According to social commentator Sulak Sivaraska, the hostility towards blank sheets of paper is not surprising given the current political and cultural environment.
“Blank paper is, in many ways, more threatening to the conservative Thai than one printed with an aggressive statement,” he said. “The creative possibilities inherent in a blank paper, its invitation to think, wonder, and imagine without constraints or pre-conditions, is anathema to the ruling mythologies of forced unity.”
“One could say that any paper that doesn’t have some logo on it, corporate or cultural, causes dissonance to the Thai mind,” he added.
The NCPO remains firm in its position that it acted in the interest of national security, stating in a press release that “The massive deployment of armed troops is entirely necessary to subdue this kind of counter-patriotic aggression.”
“While we are working towards a future environment where all kinds of paper and paper products are welcome, the roadmap to this environment requires a temporary zero-paper policy.”
