Rap Video Blasting Junta Reaches 6M Views After Police Threats
Image: Rap Against Dictatorship / YouTube
Views of the 5-minute music video “My Country’s Got” (“Prathet Ku Mee”) spiked after its strong lyrics triggered vows of prosecution from authorities, including the computer crime unit which said yesterday it had launched an investigation because the song “defames” the country.
“From the initial investigation, it might have breached the Computer Crime Act… as it poses a threat to national security,” spokesman Col. Siriwat Deepor said. “Investigators are trying to identify those in the clip, because the content is quite defamatory to the country and causing a lot of damage.”
The response came hours after deputy police chief Gen. Srivara Ransibrahmanakul said authorities would summon the rappers as the song might have violated a junta order.
The video, subtitled in English, had been watched more than 840,000 times on Friday morning and surged to more than 6 million views by this morning. The song was released Monday on YouTube.
The artists have said that the song does not attack anyone in particular and only talks about the current state of the country.
Newly appointed government spokesman Puttipong Punnakanta on Friday said the administration feels “sorry” that the young generation wants to “hurt the country.”
“They should’ve used their musical talent in a way that is more beneficial to their motherland and become good role models to others,” he said. “I don’t want people to think that doing this is cool or fun. I’m not sure if they did it on their own will or if there’s someone else behind this.”
He said an investigation found “the source” of the video, but declined to say whether the government would seek to block or delete it.
Puttipong, a former Democrat MP who led protests that triggered the 2014 coup, took over from Lt. Gen. Sansern Kaewkamnerd as a government spokesman earlier this week.
Police to Summon Rappers Who Criticized Military Govt
Image: Rap Against Dictatorship / YouTube
BANGKOK — A group of rappers that released a song lambasting the junta earlier this week may have broken the law, a deputy police chief said Friday.
Deputy police chief Pol. Gen Srivara Ransibrahmanakul said there’s a “50 percent chance” the song “My Country’s Got” (“Prathet Ku Mee“) by Rappers Against Dictatorship may have violated a junta order. Srivara did not elaborate on what order the song could have breached. In the 5-minute piece, the group of 10 take turns mocking and criticizing the junta’s rule.
“Let me warn musicians to not do anything risky against the laws because it won’t be good for you and your family if it’s found that there was wrongdoing,” Srivara said.
Rapper and co-producer Pratchayaa Surakamchonrot said Tuesday that he doesn’t believe the song violates the law. He said however that four of 10 rappers chose to remain anonymous for fear of facing a backlash from the junta.
Pratchayaa said Friday morning that he and his collaborators would not report to police until formally summoned.
The developments came two days after Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai told reporters other countries are amazed that the current administration is run by “a coup government but gives [citizens] full freedom.”
With ‘My Country’s Got,’ Thai Rap Voices Rare Dissent Against Junta
BANGKOK — A rap video criticizing the junta had been watched nearly a million times on Facebook and YouTube as of Wednesday, less than 24 hours since its release.While a producer and rapper from the Rap Against Dictatorship crew said the song isn’t illegal, he said four of the 10 artists featured in the video covered their faces to remain anonymous for fear it would paint them as pro-democracy activists.
“They don’t want to have their lives implicated with this issue. They are not activists,” said 33-year-old Pratchayaa Surakamchonrot, one of four producers who took part in the collaboration protesting military rule.
The 10 underground rappers, including Hockhacker, Liberate P and ET, adopted different aliases to maintain their anonymity for the song.
Pratchayaa, a former singer and songwriter with label RS, said their six months of work on the song appeared to pay off, as the song, “My Country’s Got …” (“Prathet Ku Mee”) attracted wide attention on its first day of release.
Former Pheu Thai MP Chaturon Chaisang – himself charged with sedition for challenging the junta’s claim to legitimacy after the 2014 coup – took to Facebook to say he likes the song.
The song is a rare voice of dissent from the popular culture; mainstream performers and celebrities are loathe to speak out on political matters and have been criticized for cooperating with the military government.
That reticence is absent in the 5-minute song in which the 10 rappers take turns denouncing what they see wrong with Thailand.
The lyrics speak about the hypocrisy of being under military dictatorship, the deep political division, deaths on both sides and the failure of self-righteous moralism:
“My country preaches morals but has a crime rate higher than Eiffel / My country’s parliament house is a soldiers’ playground / My country points a gun at your throat. Claims to have freedom but gives no right to choose / “My country’s government is untouchable. The police use laws to threaten people / My country asks you to stay quiet or in jail.”
Pratchayaa, who has been rapping 15 years and considers himself a pro-democracy activist, said they hope the song inspires other performers to recognize that they can make a difference, no matter how little.
“I have no concrete expectations. But I expect the idea to spread so that other hip-hop artists can do it too. They can encourage others to think and express themselves,” the rapper said, adding that he hopes a music festival against dictatorship could be organized soon. He said they would try to go ahead with one, even if it’s banned.
The song, which has been shared more than 20,000 times on Facebook, is not without the usual profanity:
“You can’t say ‘shit’ even though your mouth is full of it / Whatever you do the leader will see you / The country where assholes own the sovereignty / You must choose to either eat truth or bullets.”
On the current state and promised elections, there are more expletives: “Four years already, motherfuckers, still no elections. Free country? Fuck it! Don’t tell me that I can choose. Even the PM is still picked by the army.”
To top up the ambiance, the video was filmed on a set evoking the beating of a lynched student’s corpse during the Oct. 6, 1976, massacre at Sanam Luang by right-wing ultra-royalists.
Pratchayaa said the rappers, himself included, chose the backdrop to highlight the senselessness of Thai society back then that could return if people are not mindful.
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