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The 22-year-old student who dared to challenge Thailand's mighty royal house

Pathum Thani, Sep 30 (EFE/EPA).- When Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul, a 22-year-old university student, in August read a 10-point manifesto to reform the monarchy before thousands of protesters, she left Thailand in a state of shock. Never before in the recent history of the country has anyone dared to directly challenge the mighty royal house in public in this way.Rung is one of the most visible faces of the student movement that began in February and since July has flooded the streets of Bangkok to demand democratic reforms and a review of the role of monarchy, a taboo subject in Thailand. (Camera: NARONG SANGNAK).SHOT LIST: PANUSAYA SITHIJIRAWATTANAKUL, A THAI STUDENT POLITICAL ACTIVIST, DURING AN INTERVIEW WITH EFE AT HER STUDENT DORMITORY IN THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY RANGSIT CAMPUS, PATHUM THANI, THAILAND. SOUND BITES: PANUSAYA SITHIJIRAWATTANAKUL (IN THAI).TRANSLATION: 1. The main problems in Thailand is the political intervention of the monarchy, it always happens. Thai politics does not make progress, it is always been intervened. It is always whatever the monarchy wants it to be. To solve this problem, it is necessary to reform the monarchy as I said in the 10-point manifesto. The monarchy first. All that was the reason why our group presented the ten demands to reform the monarchy. (00:17-00:54). 2. Now, I am not afraid at all. But I used to be very scared, because this is something that has never been done before. It was something that I was not familiar with. I thought that anything could happen to me. But now, yes, surely there are consequences. And no, I don't know where it will lead. I would probably go to jail for this. Anything could happen. I don't know where it would end. The only thing I can do is to prepare myself. I know that an arrest warrant was issued for me. But since I'm not yet in prison, I still have time to speak. And it is my duty to speak out. I just want to make people understand my message: why it is important for the monarchy to be reformed. (01:06-02:00).3. What we have achieved so far is to launch a public debate on the royal institution, not only in public places, but also in parliament. We can also see some academic seminars or conferences, some were organized by parliamentary committees, that discuss mainly the royal institution… and I can say that addressing the royal institution seems wide open now. (02:08-02:38).