Now he feels his life may be in danger.

An assistant at Vasant's office, who asked not to be named, said it was better that Vasant did not speak about the matter due to the high level of stress he was under.

"Let him rest his mind for a while," said the assistant, adding that Vasant believes he is being followed and that his life may be in danger.

The assistant said Vasant had a bodyguard everywhere he went. "Vasant has seen what happened to Muslim human-rights lawyer Somchai [Neelaphaijit], and what the police are capable of doing. He can't help but be worried," said the aide.

The aide was referring to the disappearance of Somchai two years ago. A number of police officers have since been charged in the case, which Vasant is following as a human-rights commissioner.

Another activist, Supinya Klangnarong, believes that at the very least, activists' phones are being tapped.

An equally alarming case is that of Pithaya Wongkul, an anti-government media critic, who is now too afraid to live in his own house. He believes that his life is in danger.

"Pithaya believes some kind of laser beam has been projected onto his computer [by the state] to deteriorate his health. He also believes that his phone, aside from being tapped, has been affected by some kind of [electro-magnetic] wave that has been projected onto to it, making conversion on the phone a health hazard," said Suriyasai Katasila, coordinator of the anti-Thaksin Shinawatra People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), of which Pithaya is a key member.

Pithaya is so worried for his safety he spends alternate nights with friends.

Human-rights lawyer Somchai Hom-laor said the cases were indicative of a society living in fear and one which has lost trust in the state as a guarantor of people's safety.

"This sort of situation never happened before, even during military dictatorships. It was never this bad.

"The state's function has been turned upside down. State machinery has become a mechanism for threatening people," Somchai said.

"The National Police must be reformed because [caretaker prime minister] Thaksin is now using the police as a tool for his benefit."

With 18 human-rights defenders killed during Thaksin's five-year rule, and one human-rights commissioner fearing for his life, Charnchao Chaiyanukij, the director-general of the Rights and Liberties Protection Department at the Justice Ministry, admitted not much could be done in the short term.

"The point is, what can be done to make the police force transparent and socially acceptable? The cause of these problems stems from the lack of trust in the government," he said.

Short, medium and long-term solutions must be sought, he said, and it must involve the very state apparatus in which people like Vasant, Pithaya and others have doubts. "If we keep looking for a new system or mechanism, it would be like embarking on a journey into the desert in the hope of finding water."

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation