General

[BP:A quick comment. BP didn't realize there was doubt over the authenticity of the letter or the photos. We have photographic evidence + Andrew Marshall's authenticating of the letter in his blog post. If it helps BP can also confirm the letter is authentic, but this is not the subject that people want to go on the record in confirming. Given the sensitivity of the subject, this is not surprising.]

By Moo Ping ,

Photographs of a letter, appearing to be signed by HM Queen Sirikit and addressed to Napas Na Pombejra, or “Zeze” (the woman who wrote an open letter to CNN criticising the media giant for “reporting one-sided or unverified facts and distorted truths drawn from superficial research”), have been circulating on the internet and published by some media outlets, including New Mandala and Prachatai. New Mandala has the photos here. There is also a photo of a meeting between Zeze and Thanpuyinig Jarungjit, the Queen’s close aide, which does not appear on New Mandala.

The letter is dated July 24, 2010, and has what appears to be the Queen’s signature. Reuters’ Andrew Marshall has translated the letter into English:

“I read your letter to CNN. I feel proud of you that you stood up as a Thai person to respond to the foreign journalists in a forthright way, politely and clearly, which made the world community reconsider the reliability of CNN.

I greatly admire you for your help upholding the nation’s reputation.”

Now two interesting questions.

1. Are the photos real? (Does the letter exist? And did the meeting ever take place?)

New Mandala made a reservation that they “cannot confirm that the letter is authentic”, although some readers commented that forging the Queen’s signature would be a “severe crime”. It is worth noting though that while New Mandala said they were requested to take down the photo of the meeting between Zeze and Thanpuying Jarungjit “in the interests of privacy”, they didn’t seem to be requested to take down the photos of the letter itself. Does this suggest that the letter is real? Maybe, but far from conclusive.

Andrew Marshall, Reuters’ chief correspondent for political risk, told me that he has checked with some “knowledgeable sources” who confirmed to him that the meeting did take place between Zeze and Thanpuying Jarungjit, the Queen’s close aide, and that the letter was presented at the 

Zeze’s tweets around August 2 also mentioned the news about the letter, but she didn’t mention at all that the letter was fake. Again, the absence of a rejection of something false does not make it true. So you have to judge it for yourself.

2. If the photos are real, who brought them out into the public eye?

Considering the way the photos are taken, especially the one featuring Zeze and Thanpuying Jarungjit, I think it’s unlikely that the photos (if they’re real) were taken without the people involved noticing. So presumably the people involved know that these photos exist, although it’s not clear whether the people who appear in the photo were the only people who had access to the photos (and thus were capable of spreading them out).

It’s possible that some of the people involved – e.g. Zeze’s family – might have shown the photos to their friends. It’s also possible that the photos were taken by Thanpuying’s aides and might have leaked through them. Alternatively it’s also possible that the photos were taken and intentionally spread out in the knowledge of the parties involved. So a lot of possibilities here.

The best we spectators can hope for is for Zeze to come out and clarify this matter to the public herself.

Update: New Mandala has an update on their website about the source of the photos:

Based on an  email I received following my recent post on the letter, I can confirm that the letter is real. The photographs were distributed after being placed on the Facebook page of one of Napas’ family members. I have asked for permission to publish the email which sets out these details, but I have received no response.

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