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Dear Honorable Mr Robert Oakeshott,
I desperately need your help to gain justice and respect for an inspiring grouping of poor, proud and patriotic predominately rural people. I witnessed these courageous patriots who only asked for an election terrorized and then murdered by an unelected government that classifies the lives of Thailand's rural majority as completely worthless.
On April 10th I was tear gassed and shot by two plastic bullets in Bangkok. Here I witnessed a gross disproportionate response to a demonstration that never at any time launched an assault, but reacted to a military assault. This reaction involved them throwing plastic cups and bottles, stopping heavy armored vehicles with civilian vehicles.
Later massive, unashamed violations of international law were committed by the military as they used volumes of live 5.56mm M16 ammunition and 12.7mm sniper rifle rounds against the demonstrators.
Crimes against Humanity continued into May as the courage of the demonstrators refused to waver in the face of a brutality never tempered by conscience.
Estimates of the casualties amongst the civilian protest vary (with official government estimates obviously minimizing the numbers affected). However, 91 fatalities have been acknowledged by this regime, with approximately 1800 maimed, crippled or otherwise injured by the unprovoked violence.
These figures obviously do not include the thousands of witnesses suffering from Post-Trauma, whose dreams will be permanently scarred by nightmares.
I felt that it was my absolute duty to speak against these crimes. It was duty not just as a man, but as a man who had been taught as a 17 year old the value and responsibility of personal courage at Kapooka initial military training and at Singleton Infantry School. As a member of Tobruk platoon at infantry school it was my great personal privilege to socialize with the esteemed elderly gentlemen veterans of the 'rats of Tobruk'.
We come from a proud heritage and lineage in South-East Asia. It was Australian soldiers who were the first to prove the armies of the Empire of Japan were not invincible when we halted their advance on the Kokoda Track. Our allies gained great courage from our stand in the most inhospitable terrain against an enemy considered hitherto unstoppable.
It was a proud Australian, the President of the UN General Assembly Dr H.V. Evatt who drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. It was upon the stringent insistence of the Australian contingent to the United Nations that the Universal Covenant on Economic and Social Rights was added to it's twin Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Once upon a time Australia had great statesman.
More recently, under the leadership of Australia the United Nations placed it's soldiers directly in harms way to protect the electoral decision of the terrorized people of East Timor. Several groups in the protest told me they had heard a rumor that the United Nations lead by Australia was sending monitors to protect them from the military units surrounding and menacing them. I unfortunately had to admit to each such group that I did not believe that the present Australian government had the statesmen necessary for such leadership.
At this point the military was firing random, undiscriminating shots of 40mm grenades from M79 launchers and 12.7mm sniper rifles into the demonstration. The crowd was predominately female and contained many elderly. The Thai military severed the demonstration off from all sources of water, food, medicine and sanitary services.
It is an acknowledged fact that no property damage occurred until the overwhelming military assault with heavy armor on the 19th May. It is also a fact that the Thai military stopped ambulances trying to come in to assist the dying and maimed. In addition it is a fact that the Thai military intentionally targeted medics for cold blooded willful murder.
We have a blood bond with the people of Thailand. The second speech I made was the one it was eventually explained to me that I was incarcerated for. Two days into this incarceration a gang of 7 prisoners assaulted me from behind utilizing the guards sticks, which they had conveniently made available to them. This group of criminals it was subsequently explained to me were utilized as the guards 'attack thugs'. I was then denied medical treatment for 13 days. I was crippled by agonizing muscle spasms to the extent that I could not move my arms above my shoulders and had to be assisted by other prisoners in order to dress myself.
When I finally got to see the prison doctor and was given a prescription for anti-inflammatory based pain relievers and anti-spasmodic medication the Australian Embassy officials who came to see me on their mandatory once a month visit refused to purchase the medication. They said that since I was not a convicted criminal I was not entitled to a prisoner loan. The medication cost less than 30 dollars, but I was left in agony for several more days until a wonderful, kindly regional Thai Doctor called Dr Pongsak bought the medication for me.
The speech I was arrested for was written on ANZAC day. I referred specifically to the soil of Thailand being consecrated by the blood of the ANZAC, European, American and other allied soldiers who are buried at Kanchanaburi near 'Hellfire Pass'. I believed then and will continue to believe until the day of my death that whilst the soil of Thailand holds the bodies of our heroes, Australians aware of their heritage must never accept a situation were the citizens of Thailand are held down servile at the point of a gun.
I presented two of the medical assistance tents with an Australian flag and a United Nations flag respectively. I was in constant contact with the medical personnel of the democracy demonstration as my plastic bullet wounds were heavily infected, and hence needed to be cleaned and redressed twice a day. In addition to this I obviously had to take antibiotics. It appears that the Thai military tore down and desecrated both the Australian and United Nations flags during their assault on the 19th of May.
I assure you that this condescending attitude of the richest sections of Bangkok's population to the rural majority is extremely prevalent. The idea that a farmer who demonstrates against his vote being disrespected, and a deterioration in the living conditions of his family, his village and his region has no right to protest this situation shocks all our democratic sensibilities.
I am in contact with Dr Gothom of the Mahidol University Institute for Peace Building. He is a prominent member of the Thai government committees investigating the horrendous events of April and May. Most Thai democracy supporters believe these Committees will be just a whitewash. It is a fact that the committees have refused to release autopsy results to defense counsel and the relatives of the dead.
These results would amongst other things prove the downward trajectory of the bullets soldiers used to murder civilians taking shelter in a Buddhist temple agreed to (organized by Dr Gothom) as a safe haven for civilians. The military continues to deny that they positioned soldiers on the skytrain to fire deliberately into the unarmed crowd that took shelter in the temple. In addition to this defense counsel have been denied access to CCTV evidence of the final assault on May 19th.
I have chosen to engage in dialogue with these committees due to my status as a foreign witness. I have promised Dr Gothom that I will expend all my energies to ensure appropriate foreign persons can be engaged to assist and legitimize the work of the Thai government investigative committees. I have already received positive responses from the Honorable Senator Lt General Romeo Dallaire.
I am trying to frame an appropriate resolution with the Honorable Julie Bishop who I have been in constant contact with to empower this foreign contingent to the investigative committees, which will in addition form the core of an election monitoring group. I am going through the Catholic Church to contact General Cosgrove and an appropriate Pilipino ASEAN partner. In addition I am hoping to engage Justice Kirby who has strong regional standing due to his previous position as the United Nations special envoy for human rights to Cambodia from 2003-2006.
Following the suggestions of Alexander Downer I am hoping to gain the assistance of an appropriate Indonesian Muslim democracy advocate. This will serve the dual purpose of increasing the ASEAN presence in the committee and potentially assist Dr Gothom with his ongoing endeavors to engage in productive dialogue with southern Thai Islamic insurgents. Unlike some members of the relevant Thai government committees I have been assured that Dr Gothom is doing his work in good faith.
I am hoping we can count on your vote on an appropriate resolution. In addition I hope you can approach your colleague the Honorable Andrew Wilkie. Due to his status as a former highly ranked military intelligence officer, and his personnel status as a proven man of conscience, his personnel presence in providing oversight to an investigative committee may be appropriate.
I assure you that there are many elements within the Thai democratic movement who believe that if this investigation constitutes nothing more than a whitewash then armed resistance will be the appropriate response. We need to expend our energies to stop a conflict before it starts.
Please find attached a powerpoint I composed with the assistance of a Thai Doctor (which amongst other things shows the soldiers on the skytrain firing into the temple). Please also find attached a letter from the sister of Fabio Polenghi, an Italian photojournalist murdered by the Thai military. In addition please find attached photos of my friend in jail, Thanthawnthi Thaweewarodomkul or Kenny. This gentle, polite man is being held in a cell with 31 rapists and murderers. He is held under false Lese Majeste charges, which this unelected Thai government utilizes to silence political opponents. Kenny is the sole parent of a 10 year old boy, his 'little man' as he likes to call him. This young boy now has no one.
With respect and the greatest hopes for your personnel attention
Conor David Purcell
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