Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul also known as Panasaya Sithijirawattanakul (; ; nicknamed Rung or Roong; born 15 September 1998) is a Thai student political activist and university student leader who is also the spokesperson of the Student Union of Thailand. She is well known for her criticism of the Thai monarchy. During the 2020 Thai protests, she was one of leaders who pioneered revotionary demonstrations calling for major structural reform of the Thai monarchy. After being jailed for Article 112, she has been on

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

against the ruling since 30 March 2021.

Biography

Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul was born in 1998 in

Nonthaburi Nonthaburi ( th, นนทบุรี, ) is the principal city of the district and province of the same name in Thailand. On 15 February 1936, Nonthaburi town municipality (''thesaban mueang'') was established, which only covered Suan Yai su ...

and was 19 at the time as the youngest child in her family and has two sisters. She was born in a middle-class family which runs an auto workshop. She grew up with little political knowledge. Panusaya apparently had a quite

introverted The traits of extraversion (also spelled extroversion Retrieved 2018-02-21.) and introversion are a central dimension in some human personality theories. The terms ''introversion'' and ''extraversion'' were introduced into psychology by Carl J ...

personality and grew up as quite a shy person. She was bullied by her friends at primary school. Her parents sent her to a five-month student exchange program in the United States which eventually helped her to express herself with more confidence and to be more proficient in public speaking. She initially had little interest in politics. Her father strongly encouraged her to research politics following the

2014 Thai coup d'état On 22 May 2014, the Royal Thai Armed Forces, led by General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Commander of the Royal Thai Army (RTA), launched a coup d'état, the 12th since the country's first coup in 1932, against the caretaker government of Thailand, foll ...

. She became more interested in politics, having discussions and arguments on the subject with her friends at high school, after revising for her university entrance exams about the history of

Thai politics Until 22 May 2014, the politics of Thailand were conducted within the framework of a constitutional monarchy, whereby the Prime Minister of Thailand, prime minister is the head of government and a Hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarch is head ...

. She is currently pursuing higher studies at the Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology at

Thammasat University Thammasat University (Abbreviation, Abrv: TU th, มธ.; th, มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์, , ) is a public research university in Thailand with campuses in Tha Phra Chan area of Phra Nakhon District near the ...

. On October 15, 2020, Panusaya was arrested by the Royal Thai Police. On October 27, 2020, she was reported to be detained at the Central Women's Correctional Institution.

Activism

Panusaya entered Thammasat University and became more interested in politics. She began her political activism as a third year undergraduate student. In 2018, she joined a student union political party called Dome Revolution. In February 2020, she was part of the fresh pro-democracy protests against the Constitutional Court's decision to abolish the

Future Forward Party The Future Forward Party (FFP) ( th, พรรคอนาคตใหม่, , ; literally 'New Future Party') was a political party in Thailand founded in March 2018 by Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, former vice president of Thai Summit Group, a ...

, a popular reformist party which had the support of many Thai youth. In June 2020, she was issued an arrest warrant for violating the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

safety measures and for breaching the COVID-19 pandemic emergency rule after taking part in a protest conducted by the Student Union of Thailand over the

forced disappearance An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organiza ...

of prominent Thai activist Wanchalerm Satsaksit. On 10 August 2020, she led demonstrations under the banner ''Thammasat will not tolerate'' calling for major monarchical reform and delivered a speech on a 10-point manifesto (the 'Thammasat Manifesto') in front of thousands of students. The speech was deemed controversial and sparked a political backlash in Thailand as authorities warned that the demonstration had seriously defamed the monarchy. Her speech included phrases such as "All humans have red blood. We are no different" and "No one in this world is born with blue blood", an allusion to the Thai monarchy. Following her controversial and widely reported comments, some critics and observers compared her to

Agnes Chow Agnes Chow Ting ( zh, t=周庭, born 3 December 1996) is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. She is a former member of the Standing Committee of Demosistō and former spokesperson of Scholarism. Her candidacy for the 2018 Hong Kong Is ...

of Hong Kong because of risking up to 15 years imprisonment under the provisions of the Thai lèse majesté law. On 20 September 2020, Panusaya along with fellow activists and protesters installed a people's plaque near

Grand Palace The Grand Palace ( th, พระบรมมหาราชวัง, Royal Institute of Thailand. (2011). ''How to read and how to write.'' (20th Edition). Bangkok: Royal Institute of Thailand. .) is a complex of buildings at the heart of Ban ...

in Bangkok. The protesters claimed victory after submitting their monarchical reform demands to the authorities. On 10 November 2021, the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

ruled that Panusaya, Arnon, and Panupong aimed to overthrow the state and the monarchy in their speeches. The court ordered them and other protest groups to end all monarchy reform movements. The petition was filed by Natthaporn Toprayoon on 3 September 2020.

Awards

She was on the list of the BBC's 100 Women announced on 23 November 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sithijirawattanakul, Panusaya 1998 births Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul BBC 100 Women Hunger strikers Living people Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul Political prisoners Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul

Biography

Activism

Awards

See also

References