School Hazing Gets Stern Penalty in Military-Ruled Thailand

BANGKOK— At a military facility outside Bangkok, a drill sergeant barks orders at a group of film students learning the hard way that creative license has its limits in Thailand.“You are here to learn discipline,” the officer shouted. “Do you underst...
School Hazing Gets Stern Penalty in Military-Ruled Thailand
In this Sept. 14, 2015 photo, a group of 53 film students from Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University are ordered to sit in a circle with arms around each other as part of a three-day boot camp designed to "break down their ego (and) humiliate them" as punishment for a hazing incident in Nakhon Nayok province, Thailand. AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit
The Associated Press
Updated:

BANGKOK— At a military facility outside Bangkok, a drill sergeant barks orders at a group of film students learning the hard way that creative license has its limits in Thailand.

“You are here to learn discipline,” the officer shouted. “Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir!” shouted back the group of 53 aspiring artists — boys with shaggy hair, girls with tattoos and yoga pants.

“Discipline means respecting the rules and regulations,” he told them. “If you misbehave, you must be punished.”

In military-ruled Thailand, this is how university hazing is handled. The offense: a video posted online that showed a half-dozen fully clothed freshman doing an erotic couples dance as upperclassmen cheered. Social media dubbed it a “love-making dance.” The punishment: three days of boot camp for a new type of disciplinary punishment known as “attitude adjustment.”

In this Sept. 14, 2015 photo, film students from Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University crawl on their stomachs through muddy jungle paths as part of an endurance test designed to "break down their ego (and) humiliate them" at a military boot camp ordered as punishment for a hazing incident in Nakhon Nayok province, Thailand. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
In this Sept. 14, 2015 photo, film students from Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University crawl on their stomachs through muddy jungle paths as part of an endurance test designed to "break down their ego (and) humiliate them" at a military boot camp ordered as punishment for a hazing incident in Nakhon Nayok province, Thailand. AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit