I'm not a habitual tourist, but I've worked in more than 40 countries over about as many years. Some for no more than a few weeks; lived in other places, more and less in others. It would be less than nothing for me to give up Indo, Cambodia, Thailand (have worked in all, plus Siem Reap when something fell through inconveniently). Mentioning these facts because if you have a wanderlust or specific thirst to visit these lands, you'll want to take those different priors into account.
While almost every trip anywhere, any time, has included great people (yet also every other kind) out in the world, on the street, in shops and as colleagues and partners, I cannot say the same for officialdom, especially in terms of declining reliability over those decades. We may mock the global 'rules-based order' but institutional constraints in any of those countries are drastically less likely to protect you from arbitrary decisions that can alter the rest of your time on this earth. It is different; don't discount that.
To be sure you continue annoying the right people & defending civilization and especially for your kids (per your other piece), I'll strongly recommend you minimize risk of spending 15 years in jail in Indo - as noted by others, however, that that ship has sailed. You're at non-zero risk for the foreseeable future whether or not you take the post down.
That being the case, I wouldn't even transit / layover in those countries' airports if I were you, personally. Things can go sideways for the slightest, and oddest, reasons, or no reason at all. I've newly become a huge Rubio fan, but he's wearing more hats than Bartholomew Cubbins these days and I wouldn't count on soft hearts in your direction from the Embassy crowd.
What you can do is consciously leverage the Streisand effect. Sure, reach out to State, and also look into other similar cases, and connect with lawyers defending firms and people against all the censors, and make your case known to anyone amplifying others. Make more memes to mock the meme-sensitive, until they cry, and then make memes about them crying. All part of annoying the right people and defending civilizational values, just writ a bit larger than before, maybe.
Are you saying that you live and posted this picture of the Indonesian president in a bikini in the USA and the THAI government (not the Indonesian government) put you on notice of a violation of Sec 112 of the THAI law and threatened prosecution ?
I am very familiar with the Thai law, policy and position on these issues but I have never heard of a case where Thai authorities threatened section 112 prosecutions with no connection to Thailand or the monarchy or government of Thailand.
Please clarify - this is important to understand and your article is confusing. The THAI government threatened section 112 for a photo published in the USA of the INDONESIAN President in a bikini ?
Note also Indonesia and all of the countries in the region have criminal defamation statutes.
This is my point also. I really like this guy, Mr Muse, but now I have to question the authenticity of his publications. Thailand is not involved in any of this bikini affair.
Exactly. I have extensive experience with the laws and culture of Thailand as an attorney and this article seriously needs clarification.
At first I thought perhaps that the article was written by AI but AI would not confuse actions done by the Indonesian government with the Thai government. The extensive background and description of Section 112 and other its misuse is one thing but how does that connect to Indonesia and the bikini photo?
I subscribed the Amuse but I won’t be renewing unless this is clarified and makes sense.
You will be judged either way, no matter what you decide. Not necessarily by me, but people will have their opinions; a hallmark of a free society, by the way. That’s why my best advice, is to make the decision you can live with.
We have freedom of speech, which is our business. We say whatever we want to say. If they want to stop their people from reading it, that's their business. Not my monkey, not my circus.
Alex, Good luck with your heart failure progress. Sounds like you are ahead of it all...will monitor with you have cared for more than I can count.
As far as free speech, that is far more important than those places, all of which I have visited. They are heavily invested in tourism. You should see if you can leverage this either with State or otherwise so that they can change the risk level for travel. This would have a major and instant impact and I would bet would get a response. You need to invert the FAFO if possible. But good for you for proceeding ahead in support of what is important.
Keep it up. We cannot lose the fight for free speech. You know that there is a massive global effort to extinguish free speech. In fact, the US Constitution is probably in the crosshairs of every globalist. When you get right down to it, the US Constitution represents the only cure for tyranny that I know of. We must protect it at all cost.
If you never plan to go to Indonesia, Cambodia or Malaysia, consider leaving the post up.
If you plan to go to Indonesia, Cambodia, or Malaysia, consider going somewhere else that does not infringe on your freedom. This Substack article and any other (X) posts you make about it helps others think other travel options as well. If enough people decide not to vacation in Indonesia, Cambodia or Malaysia, maybe things will change back to how they were before.
What country/countries should folks consider travelling to instead?
If you must travel to these counties, it's a harder decision.
Don't bend. Don't need any of these countries. Their population tolerates it. So be it. Their choice. Always excellent well-thought out articles, nicely researched. Party on
Agreed. 👍
Maybe you should put all leaders of countries banning free speech in bikini's 😂
If they're that uptight maybe it's a place not worth going anyway.
Do no comply
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever.
- George Orwell
Not Thailand! Indonesia and Malaysia only, X and Grok are working fine here in Bangkok.
I'm not a habitual tourist, but I've worked in more than 40 countries over about as many years. Some for no more than a few weeks; lived in other places, more and less in others. It would be less than nothing for me to give up Indo, Cambodia, Thailand (have worked in all, plus Siem Reap when something fell through inconveniently). Mentioning these facts because if you have a wanderlust or specific thirst to visit these lands, you'll want to take those different priors into account.
While almost every trip anywhere, any time, has included great people (yet also every other kind) out in the world, on the street, in shops and as colleagues and partners, I cannot say the same for officialdom, especially in terms of declining reliability over those decades. We may mock the global 'rules-based order' but institutional constraints in any of those countries are drastically less likely to protect you from arbitrary decisions that can alter the rest of your time on this earth. It is different; don't discount that.
To be sure you continue annoying the right people & defending civilization and especially for your kids (per your other piece), I'll strongly recommend you minimize risk of spending 15 years in jail in Indo - as noted by others, however, that that ship has sailed. You're at non-zero risk for the foreseeable future whether or not you take the post down.
That being the case, I wouldn't even transit / layover in those countries' airports if I were you, personally. Things can go sideways for the slightest, and oddest, reasons, or no reason at all. I've newly become a huge Rubio fan, but he's wearing more hats than Bartholomew Cubbins these days and I wouldn't count on soft hearts in your direction from the Embassy crowd.
What you can do is consciously leverage the Streisand effect. Sure, reach out to State, and also look into other similar cases, and connect with lawyers defending firms and people against all the censors, and make your case known to anyone amplifying others. Make more memes to mock the meme-sensitive, until they cry, and then make memes about them crying. All part of annoying the right people and defending civilizational values, just writ a bit larger than before, maybe.
Sorry if too long but you did ask :)
I read your article and am frankly very confused.
Are you saying that you live and posted this picture of the Indonesian president in a bikini in the USA and the THAI government (not the Indonesian government) put you on notice of a violation of Sec 112 of the THAI law and threatened prosecution ?
I am very familiar with the Thai law, policy and position on these issues but I have never heard of a case where Thai authorities threatened section 112 prosecutions with no connection to Thailand or the monarchy or government of Thailand.
Please clarify - this is important to understand and your article is confusing. The THAI government threatened section 112 for a photo published in the USA of the INDONESIAN President in a bikini ?
Note also Indonesia and all of the countries in the region have criminal defamation statutes.
This is my point also. I really like this guy, Mr Muse, but now I have to question the authenticity of his publications. Thailand is not involved in any of this bikini affair.
Exactly. I have extensive experience with the laws and culture of Thailand as an attorney and this article seriously needs clarification.
At first I thought perhaps that the article was written by AI but AI would not confuse actions done by the Indonesian government with the Thai government. The extensive background and description of Section 112 and other its misuse is one thing but how does that connect to Indonesia and the bikini photo?
I subscribed the Amuse but I won’t be renewing unless this is clarified and makes sense.
Do you really need to go to Indonesia? Would it be worth the risk at this point, even if you took down the post?
You will be judged either way, no matter what you decide. Not necessarily by me, but people will have their opinions; a hallmark of a free society, by the way. That’s why my best advice, is to make the decision you can live with.
We have freedom of speech, which is our business. We say whatever we want to say. If they want to stop their people from reading it, that's their business. Not my monkey, not my circus.
Alex, Good luck with your heart failure progress. Sounds like you are ahead of it all...will monitor with you have cared for more than I can count.
As far as free speech, that is far more important than those places, all of which I have visited. They are heavily invested in tourism. You should see if you can leverage this either with State or otherwise so that they can change the risk level for travel. This would have a major and instant impact and I would bet would get a response. You need to invert the FAFO if possible. But good for you for proceeding ahead in support of what is important.
Is there some reason you would want to go to one of those three shitholes?
Well, damn! I guess I can't go now, either!
Good.
Keep it up. We cannot lose the fight for free speech. You know that there is a massive global effort to extinguish free speech. In fact, the US Constitution is probably in the crosshairs of every globalist. When you get right down to it, the US Constitution represents the only cure for tyranny that I know of. We must protect it at all cost.
Absolutely leave it up!
If you never plan to go to Indonesia, Cambodia or Malaysia, consider leaving the post up.
If you plan to go to Indonesia, Cambodia, or Malaysia, consider going somewhere else that does not infringe on your freedom. This Substack article and any other (X) posts you make about it helps others think other travel options as well. If enough people decide not to vacation in Indonesia, Cambodia or Malaysia, maybe things will change back to how they were before.
What country/countries should folks consider travelling to instead?
If you must travel to these counties, it's a harder decision.
Don't bend. Don't need any of these countries. Their population tolerates it. So be it. Their choice. Always excellent well-thought out articles, nicely researched. Party on