Open letter: Thailand OFWs ask PH to free ‘Koko Narak’

The following statement is an open letter from the Filipino community in Thailand to the Philippine Bureau of Immigration. A Thai citizen, Praserti Kosin, faces deportation after racial slurs he made on social media against Filipinos went viral. The slur sparked outrage among Filipino netizens. The letter says that despite the hurt feelings, releasing Kosin is a matter of protecting free speech.  

Dear Commissioner Mison,

We write you today to express our deep concern regarding news that the Bureau of Immigration (BI) lodged an undesireability charge against Mr Praserti Kosin and subsequently arrested him on May 6, 2015.

We heard news reports that the basis for the charge and subsequent arrest is that Mr Cosin allegedly called Filipinos “pignoys”, “stupid creatures”, “low-class slum slaves” and “useless race in this world”.

We appeal to you to drop all charges against Mr Kosin and release him immediately.

Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which the Philippines is a State Party, guarantees the right to freedom of expression. This right is also embodied in Article 3, Section 4, of the Philippine constitution.

The right to freedom of expression does indeed carry with it special duties and responsibilities and may be restricted in certain exceptional circumstances.

However, these restrictions or limitations must be the exception to the general rule and must be kept to the minimum necessary. Most importantly, when the restrictions are imposed on the exercise of freedom of expression, it should not put in jeopardy the right itself.

Indeed, the statements of Mr Kosin were offensive and have obviously sparked outrage from netizens.

But offensive, hateful and downright irresponsible as they are, they are not criminal. If the authorities believed that his statements were recognizably criminal in character, they should have charged and prosecuted Mr Kosin using applicable penal laws and respecting his right to due process of the law. This did not happen in this case.

While the Bureau of Immigration may, for better or worse, have a wide discussion to deport foreigners it deems “undesireable,” the Filipino community in Thailand entreats the Bureau to exercise maximum tolerance before punishing non-criminal acts of foreigners.

While deportation is, by legal fiction, not criminal in nature, its impact is as harsh – if not harsher – than a criminal penalty such as a fine or community service.

In this case, we believe that the charges brought against Mr Kosin, his subsequent arrest, and handling before the media, are disproportionate responses to the statements he made and did not have any basis in law.

The response of the Bureau of Immigration has jeopardized the right to freedom of expression itself. Mr Kosin has already issued a public apology. Let’s accept the apology and move on.

We Filipinos always pride ourselves as one country in ASEAN where people can freely speak their minds. This freedom is a critical foundation of our democracy and it will help make us mature as people.

By dropping the charges against Mr Kosin and releasing him, we will be setting an example to our ASEAN neighbors, in a region where freedom of expression is severely under attack.

We will be demonstrating that we are not afraid of contrarian statements and we welcome a wide variety of views from all people.

We need to show that we are a civilized nation where people engage each other in debates and discourse, without fear of being imprisoned or deported from the country.

That is how we promote our democracy. That is how we should lead, not only our fellow Filipinos, but also the rest of ASEAN.

We reiterate, we appeal to you, to drop all charges against Mr Kosin and release him immediately. – Rappler.com 

This letter was sent to Rappler by Ms Emerlynne Gil of the International Commission of Jurists and signed by 35 other members of the Filipino community in Thailand.