On the cellphones, in the streets, in the cars: the beats of a rap song reverberate
throughout Thailand.
Prathet Gu Mi, or in English: "What my country has", criticizes Thailand’s military government
and the lack of freedom.
In a country under a military dictatorship THAT has struck a nerve, especially among
young Thais.
The song got more than 20 million clicks on youtube in just a week.
It’s sort of a voice for teenagers, for young adults, who can think but can’t act.
We can only talk amongst each other but we have no liberty or rights to speak out freely.
If you do speak your mind it’ll only be bad for yourself.
And you can’t change anything anyway.
Not daring to speak out – something the group Rappers against Dictatorship wanted
to change.
That’s why they wrote Prathet Gu Mi.
We think that anyone can use the phrase “what my country’s got...”, the title of the
song to speak out about whatever’s on their mind, what they think is the matter with our
country.
We hope people will start being more critical when it comes to politics.
Speaking out against the powerful has never been without risk in Thailand.
But since the latest military coup four years ago, it’s become even more dangerous.
Also for Rappers Against Dictatorship.
The police at first declared they were investigating the group for a possible violation of the
so called ‘computer crime act’ - it could get them 5 years in prison.
But what that announcement got the SONG, was 5 million CLICKS in two days.
The authorities have since backed down.
The lyrics don’t contain anything that insults anyone personally.
That’s why I never thought the song would draw attention from the authorities.
But when the police started talking about it, that’s really when it became so popular
all of a sudden.
On the outside, Thailand looks like a peaceful country – but there are deep divisions.
Time and again, the country has been on the brink of civil war.
For Now, the military government is keeping a lid on things, but below the surface its
starting to heat up again.
There haven’t been elections in more than four years.
They’re scheduled for February.
But what will they be worth if society doesn’t change?
People should develop a critical mindset in their everyday lives.
I think if that were the case, there would actually be less conflict within society.
Conflict happens when people don’t accept that others have a different opinion.
If we could get there, reach a compromise instead of fighting with those who don’t
share our opinion, that would be an important step toward a better future.