absolutelyBangkok archive · Being farang
Originally published Feb. 22, 2009
He has shocked many, saddened a few and warned others. Now Harry Nicolaides, a previously completely unknown author who rose to fame thanks to Thailand’s rigid laws on lèse majesté, is back home on Australian soil. With big career plans.
A royal pardon was granted surprisingly fast to the man you could call slightly naive. Freedom though came not without further humiliation and pain. Hours before receiving the pardon Harry fell into a prison’s sewerage tank.
He then was asked to kneel before a portrait of the king and was told his mother suffered a stroke two weeks ago. “I’ve been crying for eight hours” he told reporters after arriving back home in Melbourne where he has become a cause célèbre.
Now, if you’re a suddenly famous writer, what would you do after such an ordeal. Right, you’d write a book. That’s exactly what Harry already suggested. “I certainly will,” he told reporters.
He’s got a sure bestseller looming, mixing his tell-all nightmare with his enduring love for Thailand. That’s right, also his partner Jintana Suttanu is Thai.
Somewhere I read that he even wants to go back to Thailand. If that’s possible. To my knowledge such offenders are put on the kingdom’s blacklist.
Depending on what book he writes how, he could find himself in the exceptional situation of being accused of lèse majesté not only once, but twice.
Or what book will you write when you’re describing yourself after the ordeal as “I am angry, I am frustrated, I am perplexed”?
Harry, this time do some proper proof reading — and choose your travel plans wisely.
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